So the other day I picked up a copy of Halo: Reach and I started playing through it. It was a pretty good game with some minor issues. After I completed it I decided to give online a shot only to discover that it was filled with thousands of little kids yelling at me for “getting their team killed.” Pardon me son, I have other things to do during the day than play Halo all day. But after a few rounds I started to get a hang of the game and started doing pretty good. I stopped for a few days and decided to play some online again. This time I sucked even more. It’s like the same 13 year olds were trash talking me again. Again I asked “don’t you have anything better to do all day?”

Playing games is fun and all, but these people spend all their time playing a single game. But it’s not like they enjoy the whole game, they exclusively play online. I was told that I was crazy for not playing Modern Warfare 2 online. Well sorry, I have a plethora of other games to play instead.

Online games don’t immerse me at the same level as a single player campaign. The single player has a deep and rich narrative which brings the player into the whole experience. During online games, your enjoyment relies on others. If you’re playing against 12 year olds in Call of Duty you’ll most likely have a pretty frustrating experience. But that’s not the game fault, it’s the fault of other players.

Am I saying that online games suck? No, it’s just that the single player experience is also really rich and shouldn’t be ignored. All games do not need a forced online mode. Just look at Metal Gear Solid 4, the online in that game was totally not needed. It was also crippled by the horrible Konami ID system. It just seems like too much people focus religiously on online games, and just they play Halo or Call of Duty all day. PROTIP: There are other games out there, give them a shot!