Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

A recent entry over at Joystiq on the subject of Nintendo’s apparently lack of interest in online gaming got me thinking. There’s some interesting information in the comments following that blog entry. Plenty to chew on about how popular online gaming really is and why that might be the case.

Which got me to thinking that I just don’t get the online gaming craze. Maybe its old age. Maybe its just me being cranky and anti-social (hardly a first I know). But I just get zero pleasure out of them.

I don’t want to chat with a bunch of 12 year olds who twist English beyond all understanding. I certainly don’t want to hear them slurring, and mumbling about absolutely nothing.

Nor do I have any interest in being repeatedly blown up by people who spend far far too much time playing a single game and who (since I have, you know, work and stuff) I’ll never be able to compete with. I’m not interested in MMORPGs where you just level up and up and up with no real progression or story or… reason.

I’d much rather play in a single-player, self-contained environment where your actions matter and storylines evolve as a result of your actions. I’d rather compete against a computer opponent whose difficulty can be adjusted to my own feeble level.

Considering that playing online involves additional costs, additional equipment and usually results in a poorer game environment, I’m left with no compelling reasons to spend any time in online play.