Multiplayer games are full of complex mechanics, relationships, and communications. We had a short mention of how multiplayer creates difficulty within games and I wanted to delve further into that topic.
The range of co-op games varies widely. There are co-op games such as Halo Infinite, Portal, and more recently Escape Simulator, and also PvP games such as League of Legends, Monopoly, and others. Navigating the space between co-op and PvP is drastically different. However the similarities between them are still clearly evident. In my experience, both types of games can lead to frustrations. Within co-op, depending on who you’re playing with, the game can become more difficult of become easier. There is a lack of control — in the sense that you can’t control the difficulty directly, you can only choose who you’re playing with — in comparison to the traditional choosing of the difficulty.
I believe that any type of multiplayer game is more difficult than single-player games solely based on the fact that the player has limited control when it comes to multiplayer games. For example, in co-op, sometimes other players who are less experienced can lead to completion of a level or game to take much longer than if just with one player. Although not necessarily adding a literal difficulty to the game, sometimes additional patience is required when moving through the levels at a slower pace.
In another instance, PvP games can vary widely through difficulty based off the skill level of other players. In games like Smash, League of Legends, the each game changes based off who the player is going against. Sometimes games can feel simple and easy if other players are less skilled, and the opposite if the skill of other players are higher.
More difficulty is added when the player has a personal relationship with others they’re playing with. It’s a cliche that Monopoly destroys friendships and families, creating an additional struggle of having to balance wanting to win and wanting to ensure that other players feel welcome (if you care about that of course). A player doesn’t have to consider these additional issues when playing by themselves or playing against or with strangers. These additional frustrations can cause games to become less fun and harder to enjoy.
Overall, even though some multiplayer games may not be labeled with their difficulty directly, the added complexity from relationships and varying skill levels from other players can greatly change how players experience a game. Sometimes the easiest multiplayer games can become more difficult than difficult solo games.
I had a great time in this class and will definitely miss learning about the complexities and levels. Looking forward to everyone’s games.
I saw a really interesting tweet from Maddy Thorson, the creator of Celeste, that said that difficulty is not a static property of a game but rather the relationship between a player and a game, and I think that your post exemplifies that quite clearly. Multiplayer games are the most nonstatic games out there in terms of difficulty, and the player’s relationship to the game is dictated beyond decisions made by the designer (though, of course, things like execution barriers can be intentionally designed) and is put in the hands of those they play with.
Multiplayer competitive games inherently get more difficult on a large-scale the longer they’re played since players who are already good and continue to play will only get better. There isn’t a game out there where the best players play perfectly. This can also be experienced on a genre level with shared mechanics, such as what the fighting game community calls “fundamentals”.