Treyarch has those who only enjoy CoD’s single-player in its sights
9/30/12 10:40am
The Call of Duty franchise has become one of the gaming industry’s most successful juggernauts over the past decade, with each new installment selling tens of millions of copies world-wide. Of course one of the series’ main draws is the online multiplayer, which in all honesty is the reason why the majority of players pay up their hard earned $60+.
However, even with the popularity of the multiplayer component, there are still those who are only invested in the single-player campaigns and as Black Ops II game-designer David Vonderhaar told One of Swords, this doesn't sit well with the folks at Treyarch.
"As popular as COD is, there are a lot of people who don’t play multiplayer and quite frankly, this bugs the shit out of us. They should all play MP. And Combat Training helps us get there.”
I can understand the developers feelings here, as they've spent so much time building the multiplayer to make sure it’s as flawless and fun as possible and I get that they feel disappointed when they hear about people who avoid it like the plague. Combat Training, which is a valuable tool for teaching new players the game mechanics and the rules of the objective based multiplayer games, is definitely a step in the right direction.
But this only solves part of the problem. It’s not only the complexity of game that makes new players feel intimidated when playing online, it’s also (and probably even more so) the sometimes hostile environment and presence of let’s just call them unfriendly and verbally abusive veterans that tends to “bug the shit out of” new players.
Is every veteran CoD player like that? Of course not. If I gave that impression I sincerely apologize but there’s an undeniable stigma attached to CoD’s multiplayer because of those who take the online matches way too seriously. Sure the Combat Training will mold “noobs” into players who are more “acceptable” and it’s definitely a nice leap forward but the reputation of poor sportsmanship is still quite strong.
Until more is done by the developers and community as a whole to shun this behavior, this unfortunate (because CoD is a fun series there I said it) reputation is still going to linger on.
But that’s just my two-cents.
Sources: Game Informer and One of Swords
If you're a CoD fan, you should really read the One of Swords piece for a fascinating look at Black Ops II's multiplayer.
» Tagged In: #Activision, #Black Ops II, #Call of Duty, #Multiplayer, #Online, #Ryan Conway, #single-player, #Treyarch
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
darkhyrulelord
Hopefully the Combat training will be alot better this time around.
Board_games_r_evil
it bugs me when the single player content is sparse so I just kinda just stop playing it, especially when the MP starts feeling a bit empty after a few hours, a lot of people may like MP in CoD but I'm just not one of them
MGS_Master
you know what Cod needs? A mute all button. So tedious having to mute everyone in every single game. That's how horrible the community is...
FinalplayerRyu
The only shooter that i ever played on a regular basis online is Tribes Ascend, also Counter-Strike but that was back in school on LAN. I have tried a few others but its really people that make it not enjoyable to play online. So i am one of those people, i play quite the amount of FPS, but only singleplayer.
Also in that matter... back when i played LoL i actually put a piece of cartboard over the chat ---> much more enjoyable.
Xaxal Eternitum
Don't think I'll being buying a COD anytime soon, anyway.
pandaraph
and so, pandaraph didnt buy a single cod this year. because fuck you treyarche and your multiplayer. hugs and kisses year round.
TigerNightmare
While I can enjoy multiplayer for a while, it feels like empty calories to me. Aside from issues with players with a swollen head, players that that constantly complain about others' tactics (some guy couldn't help but say "FUCK YOU!" right after I killed him), there's just a limit to the amount of enjoyment you can get out of it. Lame, unsportsmanlike players aren't new, they're just noisier today instead of being forced to only communicate in text while in a safe spot like back in the day. Anyway, it's just an endless grind with the leveling and collecting and when people start to memorize every detail of every map layout, it starts to get tedious and boring. You can have fun playing kickball for an hour or so, but eventually, you're going to want to watch a movie or read a book or something.
Me, I've never played anything from the Call of Duty franchise and for these reasons, I avoid it. I've also heard the single player campaigns are insanely short and the fact that they crank one of these out by every Christmas just screams of complacent development. Whether or not that's true is open for debate, but from what I've heard, the short development cycle (by modern standards) skimps on things like story and a single player campaign to complement it that takes longer than an afternoon or two to complete.
Treyarch seriously need to get over it. Not every one enjoys the multiplayer aspect of games.
DaRuckus
I think it's hilarious when people get mad on COD... I just troll to get them even more pissed lol :D
xTrogdorx
Meh, and here I was hoping the article was going to be about how they were going to make their single player campaigns longer/better. Son, I am disappoint.