Defining the true appeal of offline multiplayer

"When you get together to play games with friends, the space you're in becomes a ritual space, like the stage at a concert or the altar at a wedding."

- QWOP creator Bennett Foddy, in a new opinion piece on Polygon These days, multiplayer games that dare to not include online play are dinged by the press and players. But developer Bennett Foddy explains that things are not nearly so simple in an opinion piece that's half a basic explanation of how networking for games works, and half an impassioned explanation of the art of in-person multiplayer. In the piece, Foddy defends games like Samurai Gunn, Towerfall Ascension, and the upcoming Sportsfriends, his current project, from detractors who say they ought to have online modes. "As a designer, I'm looking to recreate the sense of occasion and ritual and importance that I have felt playing local multiplayer games," Foddy writes. "The best local games aren't just offline versions of online games -- they are designed to intensify these social dimensions of gameplay." The full piece is well worth reading, and you can do so at Polygon.