Multiplayer

     Playing solo is fine, but some days you feel like it's missing something. Usually that's other people to play with. Multiplayer is a term that describes games that allow multiple players to interact with each other in the game world. I for one love single player games for their immersive experiences. However, playing in a room with other people makes it even better. There are two types of multiplayer: local and online.

      Local multiplayer is when you get your friends together and play on the same console, or in some cases, multiple consoles. Local multiplayer is great for when you have a bunch of friends that you know getting together to play a game you all love. For me, that was Halo 2. Back in high school, I would attend these Halo Parties where we got three TVs, 3 Xboxs, and 9 people together to play each other. With consoles, local multiplayer is easy to pull off. PCs on the other hand are a bit harder. You can't exactly hook up multiple keyboards to the same computer. You can, however, go online and maybe find your friends through matchmaking.

      Online multiplayer is just that: multiplayer experiences online. Let's say you have somebody you know who has 6 computers (one the size of a server), a speedy online connection, and just found out Left 4 Dead 2 was free for a day. Everybody gets on a computer, downloads the game, logs in, goes to Multiplayer Options, connects and finds their friends online. However, there's only 2 computers in each room, so you have 6 player divided into 3 rooms. The cooperative experience feels a little diminished, but it isn't completely absent. Programs like Teamspeak or Ventrilo offer voice communication services, so you and your allies can connect to a server and speak to other members of your team, provided you have a working mic.

      But what if you want to play with others, yet none of your friends are online? Well, you can always try matchmaking, a service that lets players find other players in a game by grouping them together. The downside is that matchmaking can take a long time if there is a significant lack of players. Not only that, when you do find a group, your team may not be as communicative. They may not have working mics or they just don't feel like they are really cooperating. They may feel as if you are just in the same game as them and hope you know what you're doing. Look at any MOBA-style game. Any team you end up with expects you to be a pro and if you do something wrong, they call you out on it even if you don't know what you did. Games like this usually have toxic communities due to the amount of teamwork required to pull off a winning game. You can't just do one little thing and expect the team to carry you. That's why it's best to find people you know and play with them.

      As for the best way to go multiplayer, I prefer local. You are in the same room as everybody, using the same consoles and playing the same games. Unfortunately, the current generation of consoles don't have a lot of local multiplayer support. So far, only the Wii U has games that feature local. Most PS4 and Xbox One games have online multiplayer only. As for online multiplayer, PCs tend to have an edge in matchmaking. They just seem faster than console multiplayer searches.