One of the more unexpected side-effects of the difficult last couple of years I’ve had was that I stopped playing multiplayer games. Completely, totally stopped, to the point that I was almost phobic about them, even making excuses in order to avoid them both personally and professionally. Why? Well, “it’s complicated”, but I suspect it’s as simple (and pathetic) as not wanting to feel humiliated in front of strangers in the very likely event I played poorly, for fear it would compound my other various self-loathings and anxieties. Don’t I sound fun at parties, eh?

Now, I’m not going to claim that Titanfall is some miracle cure, or that the profundity of its multiplayer achievements puts all else in the shade. H However, I have, genuinely and very quickly, found that I can tread onto a server full of strangers without worrying about it and then have a fine old time, usually ending even a losing match feeling I achieved something of personal merit and often trembling slightly with adrenal excitement. The last multiplayer game which did that for/to me was Team Fortress 2. … [visit site to read more]