- STOP -

Calm down. I know the title may come as a little shock to you, but I have hardcore facts in this thread which will hopefully heal the diseased citizens of System Wars. So bear with me as I take you on this journey.

Yep that's right. You better hold on tight, Dr.D4W1L4H is gonna take your filthy casual minds on a journey of hardcore realization. Over the years, it has become quite obvious that single player mode is no longer needed in any genre, and may even be considered detrimental to most games. That's right, from FPS to platforming single player mode is killing the industry, and it's up to people like me (hardcore gamers) to remove the poison from the filthy minds of developers and casuals alike.

ITT: Dr.D4W1L4H will guide you young'uns through a detailed analysis of the video game industry, and how single player mode is killing it. Now, lets get the hardcore ball rolling.

Opens the opportunity for rehashes.

You see, there's this attribute among casual gamers that, for some strange reason, forces them to replay old and crappy games like Ocarina of Time or even Chrono Cross. Now you might be thinking to yourself "But Doctor how does this lead to rehashing? How is this the fault of single player mode?" Well, let me explain. When developers see that their old games are still selling, and that people are still playing, they realize that people don't want innovation, they want the same exact experience they got 15 years ago. Now imagine if Ocarina of Time was an online multiplayer game. Would people still be playing it? No. You know why? No one is developer is going to keep their servers up for 15 years. This in turn, forces developers to make new and innovative games. Basic algebra son.

Can cause depression among consumers.

This might not seem straight forward like the first one, but just hold on while I explain. You see, when the casuals choose to play their single player games, they're essentially alienating themselves from any human contact whatsoever. It's basically an equivalent of solitary confinement. The casuals are torturing themselves. Now I'm no psychologist, but I do happen to be close friends with one. I consulted him earlier today and proposed my theory, and this is what he had to say:

[quote="Dr Sigmund Freud"]Research has shown that the routine features of single player mode can make huge demands on limited coping resources. After single player many casuals with mental illness do not receive adequate treatment for their mental health issues, because hardcore gamers turn them away. This is caused by repetitive policies or lack of social interactivity. In a study focusing on adolescent men, those who played online were less likely to suffer from depression.[/quote]

There you have it, a professional opinion on the matter. Can't argue with that.

Causes significant drop in sales.

Don't come in here with that "Buh-buh-buh sales don't matter" bullsh*t I hear every day. If a company can't sell their god forsaken titles, then that tells them the consumers don't want new games; they want single player party games 'cause they sell sh*tloads.

Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the link. Single player games tend to have stories which can be as short 2 hours long or even as long as 6 hours long. 6 hours may seem like a long time in the working world, but in a gamers world we double that playtime in a day... Scratch that, we won't use the word playtime any longer, it has casual connotations. We'll now use the word "exertion-time." Yeah, that sounds hardcore.

Sorry, I got side-tracked for a bit, I'll get on with the link. So, right after you realize the game is done, you also realize you just dropped $60 USD (even reaching as high as $110 USD in some regions) for six hours in solitary confinement. Does that seem like something you want to go through again? Would you want to pay another $60 USD for something that is given to the worst among the worst of society? Didn't think so.

I could go on and on about this really, but I think '?ll stop here for the time being. I think we can all agree this was an enlightening experience for all of us and I sincerely hope this thread will open the eyes of the petty casual System Wars folk which flood this board.

Thank you for your time.

[QUOTE="Mcspanky37"]

Theres a lot more you can do with a single player experience, it will open up your imagination.

[/QUOTE]

Lies. Solitary confinement can scar you mentally for life.