11-08-2015, 07:45 AM
Been seeing this discussion occur on a lot of multiplayer games' youtube videos lately. The whole ordeal of Wi-Fi Multiplayer versus Local or Couch Multiplayer. What is your preference?
First, I have to say that I have nothing against Local or Couch MP, and realize the novelty of it. Being a 90s kid, this is of course, the only way multiplayer was possible, and it did bring neighborhood kids together, inviting each other over to have gaming sessions. There were only ever 2 people playing at a time though, due to the way most of the games were designed, and also because no one around here had the peripheral that allows 4 players to play at once for the consoles (this includes handheld CONSOLES) out at the time. This, however, is not my personal preference.
In terms of my personal preference, however, Wi-Fi MP is undoubtedly my choice, since it brings a larger group of people together, from all over the world, with the only pre-requisites being the players own the game and have an internet connection. Additional reasons are as follows: Everyone gets their own screen, everyone has their own controller, you can gather a larger number of people to have fun with and scheduling is less of a problem. I've always hated split-screen gameplay; it's distracting as all hell, and it also makes things tinier on the screen. The own controller thing is mostly in regards to keyboards. In old-school, multiplayer PC games, two players would have to huddle around the same keyboard to play together, and since keyboards can only take in a certain number of key presses at a time (3-5 for most keyboards), some player's inputs were constantly dropped or ignored and such. Needless to say, local or couch MP only allows for a very small number of people to play at once, whereas Wifi multiplayer lets you gather a larger group of friends to have fun with. It does depend on the game in question, especially team based games, but in most of the multiplayer games out now, like Terraria, there's a much higher hardcap of players. Finally, the last point about scheduling. To gather friends for local MP, it requires a heavier amount of scheduling, since all parties involved not only have to pick a time and date, but also location, which takes up gas and more time. They can't simply just be at home, get into a Skype group chat or whatever, and start the game; it's much more work involved, and it's easier for postpones to happen because of it.
First, I have to say that I have nothing against Local or Couch MP, and realize the novelty of it. Being a 90s kid, this is of course, the only way multiplayer was possible, and it did bring neighborhood kids together, inviting each other over to have gaming sessions. There were only ever 2 people playing at a time though, due to the way most of the games were designed, and also because no one around here had the peripheral that allows 4 players to play at once for the consoles (this includes handheld CONSOLES) out at the time. This, however, is not my personal preference.
In terms of my personal preference, however, Wi-Fi MP is undoubtedly my choice, since it brings a larger group of people together, from all over the world, with the only pre-requisites being the players own the game and have an internet connection. Additional reasons are as follows: Everyone gets their own screen, everyone has their own controller, you can gather a larger number of people to have fun with and scheduling is less of a problem. I've always hated split-screen gameplay; it's distracting as all hell, and it also makes things tinier on the screen. The own controller thing is mostly in regards to keyboards. In old-school, multiplayer PC games, two players would have to huddle around the same keyboard to play together, and since keyboards can only take in a certain number of key presses at a time (3-5 for most keyboards), some player's inputs were constantly dropped or ignored and such. Needless to say, local or couch MP only allows for a very small number of people to play at once, whereas Wifi multiplayer lets you gather a larger group of friends to have fun with. It does depend on the game in question, especially team based games, but in most of the multiplayer games out now, like Terraria, there's a much higher hardcap of players. Finally, the last point about scheduling. To gather friends for local MP, it requires a heavier amount of scheduling, since all parties involved not only have to pick a time and date, but also location, which takes up gas and more time. They can't simply just be at home, get into a Skype group chat or whatever, and start the game; it's much more work involved, and it's easier for postpones to happen because of it.
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