When it comes to multiplayer gaming these days, things have mostly moved online. It’s a natural development, I suppose. Online multiplayer was an instant game-changer once it got real support on the Xbox 360 and PS3, causing many a developer to consider local multiplayer as an obsolete feature in the current era. After all, what need is there for local functionality if you can play with your friends online, right? Except, online isn’t always the better way to play, even now.

Whether developers want to believe are not, people can and often do still gather together in the same room, and those people might actually want to play a game together. I know, shocking right? Yet, local play is still an increasingly rare feature for major releases. Thankfully, indie developers still recognize that there are still people who want to play locally with their friends, and that’s been coming in quite handy for me lately.

Whenever I’ve gotten together with my friends lately, we’ve mostly been sticking to a handful of smaller, indie developed titles. It’s been stuff like Windjammers, Gang Beasts, Ultimate Chicken Horse, and Overcooked. And, yeah, it’s been a blast of an experience every time. There’s just something about enjoying a game together in the same room that just cannot be replicated online, you know?

It’s the same sort of difference that exists between trying to play the physical Uno game vs trying to play its digital, online cousin. You can do many of the same things like arguing, trash talking and so on, but the atmosphere is still completely different. There’s so much that just cannot be conveyed through voice alone. It’s more difficult to tell if someone is joking for one, and it’s even more difficult to really get that fun, energetic atmosphere going for another.

Really, as much as major game makers (and really all technology companies at this point) would like you to think that online play and communication is enough, the reality is that it’s a very poor substitute for the real thing. I found online play to be super exciting when it was fresh and new, and I’ve definitely relied on it more than I would have liked to since moving here.

However, now that I’ve gotten a reminder of just how much better playing games together IRL is, I find myself feeling a bit concerned by just how online everything is now (and how easily we’ve all gotten used to it). Within the realm of video games, enjoying some real local multiplayer fun has no substitute, and I think the same applies to everything else as far as socializing goes. I’m not saying that online doesn’t have its place, but perhaps it shouldn’t be pushed as strongly as it is.

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How do you feel about online vs local multiplayer? Would you like to see more local options or are things fine as they are?

Image from the Gang Beasts Steam page