Counterpoint! Co-op – Really the bee’s knees?

I can’t be TheTrin’s nemesis if I don’t argue back, right?

While I mostly agree with what he said in his article on co-op play in games and what makes it so great, he unfortunately didn’t dabble upon what makes it suck.

Reality.

“Now, rk,” you say in that sexy, seductive voice as you bite your lip in that way that drives me mad, “‘reality’ doesn’t make sense as an argument!” No, it doesn’t. But it’s short, sweet and to the point, and people like that!

Well, actually, the reality of the situation is, people have different priorities. While some of my fondest memories of cooperative play come from Secret of Mana, getting my friends together to play was a bitch and a half. And that half a dog was the ass end.

Thankfully, I could progress my game when my friends weren’t around. But there are still some games where you can’t do this, and most of the time you just feel scummy doing it without your friends.

Now, thanks to the great online frontier, I’m able to get this game on even with my friends in other states, and fuck, other countries, as I play Gears of War online with TheTrin who’s in Japan of all places. Even then, it’s difficult as hell to organize play-time, and sometimes I just dip back into Final Fantasy XII, and lord knows why. But that’s another story for another time.

Cooperative play is actually one of the main reasons I keep going back to MMORPGs, and the reason I keep leaving them. Playing with your friends online is great…until they are twelve levels above you and you’re still cutting up rats to make your Fleece Towel of Ass-Wiping + 1. Games like Gears of War seem to not have this issue due to the lack of levels or equipment, but when one player’s skill rises well above the rest of the players, wouldn’t the same frustration kick in?

I think in the end, even with more co-op games coming, the big onus of playtime lies on the shoulders of the gamers. (Heh, I said “big onus”.) Can we find the time in our schedules to do co-op? Its rewards are definitely up there, but the time sink in preparation can lead to frustration.

Actually, now I’m kinda in the mood for GoW co-op…but let’s see if I can get it started!