In a recent survey, MyVoice polled 15,000 Japanese and found the majority still preferred in person gaming to faceless counterpoint of online gaming:
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Americans are sufficiently inundated with (and excited by) online play that they can no longer imagine console gaming without it. But in Japan, as many as 50% of people are wary of playing over the tubes.
Take what you will, but it does explain why both Nintendo and Sony have been slow to this whole online thing.
I wonder if college gaming habits play a large role in this divide. An American campus is a perfect breeding ground of online play by allowing highspeed, free access, lots of friends and a ton of free time.
Well it's easier for them to get in person gaming going, their whole country is the size of a shoebox. Seriously, they're literally stacked on top of each other.
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I way prefer sitting in a room with my friends to playing over the tubes with some asshole. I find that when you play with your friends in the same room it becomes a much more social experience, where as playing online no one has to deal with the consequences of being an asshole to peoples faces so they are just generally disrespectful. I know not everyone is like this, I try my best not to be, but there are enough of these shitheaded friendless pricks to make me think twice everytime I start to fire up an online game.
I wonder if college gaming habits play a large role in this divide. An American campus is a perfect breeding ground of online play by allowing highspeed, free access, lots of friends and a ton of free time.
But by the same token, Smashing it up with your frat boys on the same TV is just as easy.
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Originally Posted by YoungAlCapone
I way prefer sitting in a room with my friends to playing over the tubes with some asshole. I find that when you play with your friends in the same room it becomes a much more social experience, where as playing online no one has to deal with the consequences of being an asshole to peoples faces so they are just generally disrespectful. I know not everyone is like this, I try my best not to be, but there are enough of these shitheaded friendless pricks to make me think twice everytime I start to fire up an online game.
I didn't think I would like it at first, but now I'm starting to dig the lack of chat in Brawl. Even with your friends. It means just getting down to business and playing the damn game rather than listening to a bunch of wankers.
That said, I love the ignore feature. I am a big ignorer IRL, it really gets under peoples' skin to have thier input be inconsequential, so if I find you to be annoying I simply act like anything you say which doesn't add to the conversation was not said. I find online games where people just start talking trash as soon as they enter the room, I mute them, and if they take it upon themselves to fuck with me for the rest of the game I usually never even know.
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I way prefer sitting in a room with my friends to playing over the tubes with some asshole. I find that when you play with your friends in the same room it becomes a much more social experience, where as playing online no one has to deal with the consequences of being an asshole to peoples faces so they are just generally disrespectful. I know not everyone is like this, I try my best not to be, but there are enough of these shitheaded friendless pricks to make me think twice everytime I start to fire up an online game.
For me, it depends on the game. For FPS and racers I want the screen real estate all to myself. I loved four-player GoldenEye back in the day, but online multiplayer has made me selfish. I can't stand looking at the game through half or quarter of the screen anymore.
Fighters, sports, adventure, and platforming are always more fun with buddies in the room. That being said, I'll take a choice if you offer it over the way Nintendo constantly constrains their online service.
I wonder if college gaming habits play a large role in this divide. An American campus is a perfect breeding ground of online play by allowing highspeed, free access, lots of friends and a ton of free time.
tons of free time? yeah, if you are a brainless frat guy or jock who doesn't go to class...speaking of which, I'm playing bully at the moment.. lots of fun.. uh what were we talking about? oh yeah, the japanese...
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For me, it depends on the game. For FPS and racers I want the screen real estate all to myself. I loved four-player GoldenEye back in the day, but online multiplayer has made me selfish. I can't stand looking at the game through half or quarter of the screen anymore.
Fighters, sports, adventure, and platforming are always more fun with buddies in the room. That being said, I'll take a choice if you offer it over the way Nintendo constantly constrains their online service.
I have a good friend who feels the same way, and that gets to me as well. It probably has more to do with his overall attitude though.
I understand the preference, and if you are lucky enough to have online friends to play with it would be nice, but he absolutely refuses to play split screen anymore. He would rather we take turns online. Even on a decent sized screen, like a projector, where everyone else is just fine. God, makes me want to punch myself in the face, always has to have his own fucking way or he throws a hissy fit, constantly rude as if he has no fucking clue how to not be rude, sitting around all day never having to do shit then bitching to me about how rough his day was, schadenfreuden asshole...
If you ever played Phantasy Star Online or Final Fantasy XI, you know there are plenty of Japanese gamers who do play online. Maybe they're not in the majority, but it's not like the market avoids online gaming outright.
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Japanese internet community MyVoice polled 15,000 members on their opinions. According to their answers, individual and in-person gaming (think Wii Sports tennis matches) trump the importance of online functionality. Is this bad news for North American gamers?
If they asked me, I'd probably say the same thing. More often than not, I care more about the single player experience (with the exception of online-focused or online-only games, like MMOs). There's probably a good portion of the U.S. gaming market that doesn't care about online very much or at all. And not just among Wii / casual gamers.
I guess you could say I'm "wary" of online gaming, depending on what games you're talking about.
While I don't doubt the results at all, I do have a question: what is the nature of the MyVoice site? The survey only tells us what their members who filled out the survey think, not Japanese as a whole.
I have a good friend who feels the same way, and that gets to me as well. It probably has more to do with his overall attitude though.
I understand the preference, and if you are lucky enough to have online friends to play with it would be nice, but he absolutely refuses to play split screen anymore. He would rather we take turns online. Even on a decent sized screen, like a projector, where everyone else is just fine. God, makes me want to punch myself in the face, always has to have his own fucking way or he throws a hissy fit, constantly rude as if he has no fucking clue how to not be rude, sitting around all day never having to do shit then bitching to me about how rough his day was, schadenfreuden asshole...
What the fuck were we talking about again?
I'm not sure what we were talking about, but I want to know why you are friends with this guy if he is such a whiny prick.
If you ever played Phantasy Star Online or Final Fantasy XI, you know there are plenty of Japanese gamers who do play online. Maybe they're not in the majority, but it's not like the market avoids online gaming outright.If they asked me, I'd probably say the same thing. More often than not, I care more about the single player experience (with the exception of online-focused or online-only games, like MMOs). There's probably a good portion of the U.S. gaming market that doesn't care about online very much or at all. And not just among Wii / casual gamers.
I guess you could say I'm "wary" of online gaming, depending on what games you're talking about.
Guess I'd be in the same boat... the last game I put any effort into online before TF2 was Phantom Dust, and before that PSO. It's not that I don't particularly dislike online gaming, I prefer it in a social context if its multiplayer, and solo if it's single.
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I'm not sure what we were talking about, but I want to know why you are friends with this guy if he is such a whiny prick.
We have been friends since we were kids, like really little kids. Plus, its not like he is a terrible person, he just has a really shit attitude. I happen to hang out with him a lot and his attitude seriously gets to me sometimes, like recently. When it comes to good friends though, like the kind that have your back when you are in trouble, they really do not get much better than him.
On topic: I am sure it also helps that the genres that are popular in Japan tend to be either single player or multiplayer that basically requires the social aspect, like DDR. Now, I am no expert on Japan, but it seems to me like multiplayer centric genres that benefit from online play, like RTS, racing and FPS, need to be more popular first.
On topic: I am sure it also helps that the genres that are popular in Japan tend to be either single player or multiplayer that basically requires the social aspect, like DDR. Now, I am no expert on Japan, but it seems to me like multiplayer centric genres that benefit from online play, like RTS, racing and FPS, need to be more popular first.
I guess it depends on how you see the development of the gaming culture, japan focuses on Arcades, RPgs and handhelds, games which either focus on solitary play, or social, face-to-face gaming. They never had that boom of PC gaming as a cornerstone of multiplayer which I think is what drives Microsoft and their focus of Live. Even back in the day when they had the Megadrive and the Super Nintendo online, the focus was on upgrading the single player experience.
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