World of Warcraft still exists in 2024. The game’s 10th expansion was released in August, and while it doesn’t command quite the same influence as it did during its early-millennium prime, millions of players still step through its portal every day. But the dynamic I’m describing—the complex social contract, the acquaintances waiting to be forged into brotherhood—is nowhere to be found. The chat box that used to chirp with shitposts, gossip, and hyperlocal banter is conspicuously barren. If you do partner up with someone for an adventure, words are rarely exchanged. When the final boss is toppled, everyone leaves the group and dissolves into the ether. It used to be something of a faux pas to play without a microphone, but I honestly can’t remember the last time one of my fellow dwarves has beckoned me to join a voice channel.
This is part of a shift that can be felt across video game culture writ large. Even though some of the biggest franchises in the world—Fortnite, Call of Duty, League of Legends—pit a server’s worth of players against one another in lethal combat, the softer interactions those places once fomented are on the decline. We are all in front of our computers, paradoxically together and separate, like ships passing in the night.
This is a difficult trend to prove empirically, but it certainly has been felt by lifelong gamers. There are multiple somber YouTube video essays about the lack of conviviality in multiplayer lobbies, and most of them bear titles that gesture toward an elemental wound in the culture. (One video, titled “Modern Gaming Is Becoming More and More Isolated,” has over 500,000 views.) A similar despondence has struck the domains of Reddit and GameFAQs, which have historically served as the premier watering holes for fans of the hobby. (“No one uses voice chat these days,” wrote one user. “People don’t chat in gaming anymore,” added another.) On a more macro level, about half of Americans are currently experiencing loneliness, particularly among millennials and Gen Z, who represent the industry’s primary consumers. All of this is evidence of a generation that has come to believe that a reliable source of intimacy—even if it’s down the scope of a sniper rifle—has gone awry. I would find it pathetic if I didn’t totally relate.
The lack of static servers and prevalence of random matchmaking has made multiplayer gaming so bad. At best nobody talks. At worst, the people talking are toxic as fuck. Who cares, right? Never gonna see these players ever again. Nobody accepts friend requests either anymore because 9 times out of 10, they only wanted to add you to talk shit.
To be honest, I don’t really see why the developers/publishers should run the actual mutiplayer servers.
They should only run the master server that lists the multiplayer servers in the server browser.
I am no huge fan of Epic, but they deserve all credit for running the master server for Unreal Tournament 2004 multiplayer for almost two decades.
And when it shut down, fans had made their own master server that was ready before the main server went down, you just had to modify the ut2004.ini file with the new master server and it just worked.
It felt more like Epic passed the torch than shut down a service.
I’ve had the opposite experiences with Deep Rock Galactic, I think mostly because there’s no enemy team, but I’ve also had good experiences with Deadlock (valves new moba). Of course there’s still toxic shitheads in Deadlock, but they are few. I think this is because of how bans work; you’ll still be able to play the game, but depending on why you were “banned” you won’t have certain features. Like if you were reported for abusive text or voice chat, you won’t be able to use text or voice chat, only the in-game pings (which are pretty good IMO). Similar with other reports, but they aren’t exactly relevant.
Interesting. Deadlock went straight in the “mega toxic comms” bin for me. Same experience as I had with DOTA.
Damn, I’m sorry about that. Some of my steam frens have said the same thing too. Idk what’s up with that. Maybe it’s my subtle, yet devastating comebacks: “Your depression doesn’t scare me” (they don’t know they’re depressed) and “Meow” (someone just called someone else a “Pussy”).
I’m also a big fan of the Mute button (which they recently added for the enemy team as well); it can make for an awkward game though, saving/healing someone that you muted. I haven’t used it recently though. >.>
DRG is in a class of its own for a cool playerbase.
Deadlock isn’t as bad but god, the amount of racist, bigoted, and straight up fucked up things people have said are tiring and enough for me to never want to be on a mic
There’s only so many times you bother listening to someone yelling at their teammates, throwing out slurs, or even telling people
CW
to get raped
Before you just start considering perma muting everyone
I think it’s community (and lack thereof). When you had to talk to others on your server only, sit in LFG and shout in Ironforge for a UBRS group, then all schlep to Blackrock Mountain, then spend an hour battling through the instance, that was a shared experience with players you’d see more or less often. Now, it’s get in a random queue, get teleported there, race behind some tank who can solo the whole thing, then everyone drops at the end before you can even say thanks.
I miss playing multiplayer games other than VRC. However, multiplayer games just aren’t fun anymore for the exact reasons you just laid out.
And back when we had community hosted servers, evading a ban was so simple, change server or restart your dial-up connection to get a new IP and change nickname, yet it was incentive enough to behave, because people recognized you just through your text (voice chat was usually limited to clan games)