Creating an immersive single-player experience was once the main focus of every game developers. In recent years, things have been changing and developers are paying attention to multiplayer. Almost every modern game supports both single player and multiplayer features.
At the core of game developing is to make as much profit as possible. And what better way is there than to develop games that keep people hooked for months? Multiplayer gaming has already been proven to be a working business model. It brings in profits to developers, gamers love it and keep them playing the same game for longer.
So, what can we expect from multiplayer gaming in the future?
Increased use of Custom Chats
Custom chats or canned replies involve the use of preprogrammed words and phrases to communicate with fellow players online. Instead of pausing a game to type ‘Hello’ to your competitor, simply select the word from a collection of phrases and use it to greet your competitor.
Canned responses help save time if you have to compliment, congratulate or trash-talk your opponent. They also ensure you don’t lose your momentum on the game. And true- -a huge number of gamers would rather play games without voice chats than have to use them.
Keep in mind that live chat rooms are a haven for all kinds of offensive talks. Xbox received backlash throughout 2017 for its chat room users’ constant use of offensive language. Mid-last year, the Microsoft Company announced it would start banning people off their platform for using abusive language.
Instead of dealing with abusive language and the distractions that come with live chats, gamers are now more receptive of canned chats. They may not be everyone’s way of communicating, but they are starting to appear in major multiplayer games. Canned chats won’t go away any time soon. Expect them to come to your favorite game any time in the future.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality is the future of video content, online gaming included. It’s an expensive technology, which is why it’s not yet available in all major games. Currently, the biggest games with VR are Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Beat Saber and The Climb.
VR uses computer software to alter the way you view objects, images, and video. If you are playing online games, virtual reality could make you feel like you are in a real casino. In an action game like Blood & Birth, you are immersed in the action as though you were fighting your opponent in real life.
Online games are at the forefront of adopting VR to their games. For an industry worth more than $37 billion, it can easily absorb VR costs. The challenge lies in incorporating the technology in popular games and convincing players that VR on game platforms is worth it. Why wouldn’t they love it?
VR has been tried on TV before and it wasn’t exactly a success. In fact, major manufacturers like Samsung and Sony no longer make VR televisions. Having to wear VR head-mounts to watch regular programs and side effects like headaches (for some) pushed many consumers away from the TVs.
Easier Way to Choose Opponents
With most multiplayer games, you have no say of who you get as an opponent. Your skill level may be used to choose a competitor, but you don’t get to know about them until they are picked for you. Some games also allow you to play with friends through Local Area Networks.
In the future, multiplayer games may shift toward a method that gives you more control over whom you play against. You could view a list of players online, where they come from and several more details. You can then request them to compete against you.
At least one game, Dark Souls 3, allows you to summon strangers to team up with you. That way, you have a team to work within missions where team engagements are required. With time, expect to have a bigger say in the people you choose to play against.
Of course, there will also be limitations. To avoid some players not getting opponents, games will keep intact conditions for qualifying to play against specific types of players. But for the most part, you’ll have the freedom to play against gamers you believe you have certain features in common.
Shared In-Game Experiences
Multiplayer gaming is all about keeping players connected to one another. The experience starts by playing together but it doesn’t end there. Some popular games that simulate real-time events have shared rides and pawns. With ZombiU online game, you can use spray paints to leave clues and messages to your enemies and gaming friends.
Economically, multiplayer-driven games are dominating the market. From Fortnite to Clash of Royale, some of the biggest games of 2018 centered on providing in-game experiences. An example is Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The FPS game took a chance at multiplayers, ditching its single-player mode once and for all.
These kinds of shared experiences won’t go away any time soon. Sharing platforms and interacting with fellow players in the gaming world is intriguing. Gamers love the experiences and inspire them to play the games more, which is what every developer dream about.
Story Driven and Good Gameplay Games
What makes a gameplay intuitive, attention-grabbing and re-playable? It’s hard to answer with all the elements found in a game, but a game’s story is at the core of it. Not every good game has an attractive story. Some like Angry Birds, are more about great gameplay rather than overcoming obstacles to win.
With the biggest videos games, however, the storylines are complex and deeply engaging. A game like Call of Duty has a story worth completing. In fact, some would argue the game owes its success to its great storyline.
On the other hand, some gamers are only concerned about the gameplay. When most people decide to play Call of Duty online, they are usually interested in its gameplay more than its storyline. With that in mind, the future of online gaming will involve creative storylines with good gameplay as well.
To Conclude
Multiplayer games came as a way of giving players a new experience. The future of this growing niche looks to follow the same path: giving gamers better experiences at every turn. Whether that involves VR or more control over their opponents- -expect the industry to continue reinventing itself.
Interface designs have been changing over the years and it’s pretty cool to see how things change.
Virtual Reality is definitely the future especially with already existing VR systems such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality. Contemporary multiplayer games such as StandOut: Virtual Reality Battle Royale are already designed for all the aforementioned VR systems.
I’m really looking forward to some amazing Virtual Reality multiplayer games. It’ll be awesome!
Custom chats sound cool for multiplayer games. One idea I’ve always thought of is, what if you could talk to the game, and the game just has speech recognition where it outputs the text version of what you say? I’m pretty sure custom chats have been explored in all kinds of perspectives, but have never had any meaningful outcome. Like the biggest problem would be language barrier, which makes custom chats (of any kind) a bit unachievable, because you have to account for various languages, accents, etc.
Virtual reality is something I’d expect very little of. It would work for some multiplayer games (like the popular MMOVR game “VRChat”), but not for every multiplayer game, especially for games where you have to move a lot (FPS games) or games where you’ll invest tons of hours on since it would probably be nauseating to move your head around with weight on your face. Besides, I find controlling a mouse more precise than controlling a VR headset while holding VR accessories. Plus having to stare at grainy pixels through a VR headset gives me a headache, and surely it’s not good for the health of your eye. VR just seems to be more of a burden to gaming than a benefit.
A bunch of the other features mentioned in this article have been around for a long time already, and there’s only so much you can do with them, so there’ll probably just be smaller progressions for those. For instance, it’s already easy to choose opponents in many online games; I think the biggest area for improvement is making ranked battles more equal or balanced, because there are still tons of games that haven’t done ranked battles right. Other things like story-driven (probably best for co-op play) and good gameplay (whatever “good” even means) games are more on the subjective side since there are just different views on what multiplayer games should entail.