Modern Games: "Isolated-Player" vs "Multi-player" experience

General Discussion
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Back in my day… in Brood War, you could easily squelch or block someone directly if they were being a nuisance. That feature was simple, but effective. Just block the person causing trouble, and you could enjoy the game without constant interruptions.

Now, that option is still very much alive in modern games. In fact, you can permanently mute or block someone, effectively removing them from your experience. Players who get reported enough by unique users can also end up permanently muted, ensuring that toxic behavior doesn’t disrupt the game.

These tools have always been available to deal with toxicity since Brood War and continuing to this day. They’re part of the foundation that allows players to have some control over their experience, even when facing disruptive individuals.

However, something has shifted over time. With the introduction of features like “automatically blocking all messages and invites from everyone,” I’ve noticed a troubling trend, especially in Starcraft 2 and other online games. These games, once social experiences where players interacted, have become almost single-player experiences in practice. Even though there are real people behind the other accounts, from a user’s perspective, it feels as though they might as well be bots.

The essence of online games, communication, has been stripped away. You can play the game with real opponents, but you’re isolated from the social experience. There’s a paradox here. While you’re interacting with real people, you may as well be playing against AI because the connection, the engagement, is no longer there.

This shift raises questions about how these games are evolving and what the long-term impact on the community and gameplay experience might be. In an effort to block toxicity, we may have unintentionally erased one of the core features that made online gaming so engaging in the first place — the ability to connect with others.

We need to stop labeling these games as “Multiplayer” when everyone is auto-blocking chat, and start calling them “Isolated-Player” experiences instead.

If everyone was able to toughen up back in my day (Brood War), why can’t modern gamers do the same now? Why have they become so sensitive and reliant on external moderation, instead of handling chat interactions themselves?

We did we destroy the overall social experience of modern gaming in order to shield a handful of snowflakes?

Just now, I wanted to discuss the strange strategy of mass gateway+mech that was used in a Direct Strike game with my allies (the strategy worked!). However, after the game, I couldn’t communicate with either ally because they have everyone on the default option of autoblock.

This isn’t something rare or that jsut happened to me for the first time, but rather pretty much every game. I can never discuss the game with my allies after its conclusion, win or lose.

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This phenomenon almost seems as if it was inevitable. In reality, online gaming was never a good replacement for in-person social interaction, and it’s become easier and easier to dehumanize people on the other side of a screen.

That isn’t to say everyone dehumanizes people online, but I would say what you’re experiencing is a symptom of the larger societal trend.

In balance, online interaction can be good, but it can’t replace in-person play, especially for young people growing up. The lessons in playing with friends on the basketball court or over the board game table, with adult guidance if things get out of hand, are needed to establish healthy social behaviors in other settings.

People who generally just grow up with dopamine-addictive online games and/or social media being their primary form of social interaction will generally be ill-equipped to create a healthy online community.

Moderation and muting tools are less like shielding snowflakes, and more like putting bandaids on a larger sad societal problem that a video game like StarCraft 2 can’t really fix.

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funny, i dont join games with other people to have a conversation, if thats what your looking for, your probably in the wrong place. this aint social hour, and people dont need others endlessly typing away while your trying to macro/micro your heart out especially in rts games. if you want conversation save it for after the game, not while in it.

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I agree, you are making a very important point.
I believe the permission to block all messages is a tool for protection from spam whispers with malicious links and more inappropriate content.
Which I label as “lazy moderation”; and I find it to be a toxic solution.

Personally, I am comfortable and chatty in virtual environment; and have reached out to opponents frequently after an intense ladder game; those chats are often picked up and we discuss what happened, ask questions about plans, decision making and share emotions we have experienced, I find it great.

And it does upset to see messages blocked notification after you’ve sent larger piece of text to someone.

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Yeah, although I don’t think 1v1 ladder is a very social game anyway. I can understand for arcade, even unranked. I see it like chess, you don’t talk, you compete. They’re your opponent, you respect them, but you don’t need to talk to them, except maybe after the game. If it’s a really interesting game, maybe shoot them a friend request afterwards to chat.

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unranked and ranked play together, so like why would you bring that up in the first place.

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I mean when you choose whether to play ranked or unranked, it makes a big difference in mentality.

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how so, other than you not losing mmr in the match

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The mmr is the big reason. Alot of people take points pretty seriously lol

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You just agreed with the premise of the thread.

“if you want conversation save it for after the game, not while in it.”

That’s exactly my point. You can’t have a conversation after the game anymore.

Thanks for agreeing.

And it’s not jsut SC2, its pretty much all modern “multi-player games” which may as well been retitled “Isolated-Player Games”

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yeah cause ranked vs unranked shouldnt happen at all, its one of the dumbest thing blizzard did with this game, probably the first highest big thing they did that ruined it. 1v1 its not so much a problem but in team games 100%. when you get an ally who doesnt give a rats a about wether he wins or lose but you yourself do thats a huge deal. but again this isnt something that is even relevant in the social sphere aspect that the OP is talking about, other than people getting mad at there tm for being a joke.

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lmao, yes you can, if people want to talk to other people they leave there accounts open to do so, most people tho have censorship on cause there child accounts, or did you not think of that one. let alone the majority of people dont come here to start up a conversation, they come to play a game. seriously if you want to have conversations and social hour go to a bar or something in real life. people get on video games to play, not sit here and talk to some stranger they dont know.

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I think ranked vs unranked is good, you need a relaxed environment and a competitive environment.
Team games are always going to be either really good or really bad. I learnt long ago not to rely on randoms for any enjoyment.

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dude, no absolutely not, its not a relaxed enviroment at all, it puts hate on the unrankeds for wasting there tms time. unranked and ranked should not be teamed together period.

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“most people tho have censorship on cause there child accounts, or did you not think of that one”

I did think of that one. And I don’t care.

I was a “child” too, at the age of eight years old on Battlnet 1.0 playing Original Starcraft and Brood War. My life wasn’t scarred, and neither was anyone elses.

HTFU

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Yeah sorry, you’re right. I don’t play team games, combining ranked with unranked is stupid.

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serioulsy you didnt know that. yes if you que as unranked you still play the ladder, you just dont lose mmr if you lose, this goes for both 1v1 and team games. just because you play unranked doesnt mean your playing against others that are playing unranked. your all still playing the ladder

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The people in charge make some bizarre decisions, seriously.

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dude parents are the ones that put the censorship thing on the accounts, not the children themselves. and i agree, i was playing original sc1 and brood war back in the day as well as many other games, i never had parental controls cause my parents didnt care. not all parents are the same tho, ive seen many threads complaining about the parental controls being busted just recently.

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Are you one of those people who need to message their opponent about how bad they are (even if you just lost to them), or that they and all of their family should die of cancer?
Otherwise I don’t see why you would complain about people blocking incoming messages.

During game you can still write in the chat and the opponent will see it (unless they blocked you specifically) and have the opportunity to respond if they want to.