Why I Will Always Choose Local Multiplayer Over Online

Call me old fashioned but I miss local multiplayer. I grew up in a period before online gaming was the dominant superpower of gaming that it is today. Back when I was child, if I wasn’t playing Metal Gear Solid 1 for the 7th time (that game was pretty much my childhood) I was playing some form of splitscreen mayhem with my friends.

I grew up playing games like Gran Turismo 2 on a splitscreen with friends, which eventually turned into me playing games with my dad when he got home in from work. We would sit in my room playing games like Sled Storm (which FYI if you didn’t play this growing up you seriously missed out!) until my mum would shout upstairs that dinner was ready. Even me and my sister would sit playing Bomberman instead of tidying our rooms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlTkbk9oYwE

And this carried on even into my teens. Me and my friends would sit in the same room as one another, just taking it in turns to mess about on games. Even if they were one player. Neither of us minded sitting there for 15 or 20 minutes watching the other play because it was still fun to us.

But enter the world of online gaming. This, coupled with the shrinking size and increasing capability of the mobile phone as well as the boom of social media, has meant people don’t want that face-to-face interaction with one another anymore. Many people are content with sitting in their homes, catching up with friends on Facebook messenger and playing online with friends and people they don’t know.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love gaming. And I have had many a night playing online with my friends, against people I don’t know, and I have some awesome memories from that. But playing in the same room as my friends, or even my family, will always trump online gaming for me.

Maybe it’s nostalgia that makes me miss local multiplayer. But I think games these days should place more of an emphasis on local multiplayer. I have some international friends I get to play with, but some of my fondest memories (even into my adulthood) have been playing games in the same room as my friends.

I know I can’t be the only one who misses local multiplayer. Playing with friends around you is the best way to play games in my opinion!

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