Can you play with other people around?

[TKz]

So, something I've been wondering about, if this is a common thing amongst other gamers or if it's just me being obsessive.

This came up the other day when I was talking with my girlfriend about the fact I'm going to pick up Resistance 3 and (maybe) Dead Island on Friday, but probably won't play them until Saturday/Sunday when she's not around. I'm curious if this is something other people find as well and not with just girlfriends, but friends in general.

When you're playing a game, and I don't mean like... Call of Duty or Wii Play or something multiplayer, I mean more something along the lines of a Final Fantasy, MGS, Deus Ex, Uncharted single player driven experience. Do you find that you can't really enjoy it all that much if someone else is around? I don't really tend to play video games when I've got someone around my house unless it's a two player game or if my girlfriend's on the phone for like an hour, for example. But more so because I find I can't really get all that engaged in the game if I've got someone else around. I'd rather be either hanging out, or alone playing video games, one or the other, I can't really enjoy either if I mix them together, unless it's a two player game or something. When I'm playing a game on my own, I often tend to focus entirely on that and suddenly realize, hey, it's 2am. >_> I can't really get all that involved in it if someone else is hovering around.

So what say you, EWB? Can you enjoy playing a game with your room mate/girlfriend/boyfriend/ladyboyfriend/friend hanging around whilst you do it? Or can you just not stand the chance that they might start asking you a bunch of questions about something when you're trying to kill a particularly hard boss.

[Ruki]

I am the exact same way as you, really. And honestly? When they're just sitting there watching you play, I feel bad because they might be bored and shit...

[Gazz]

Dump the bitch.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Yeah, I rarely play much when the wife is around. The last thing she enjoyed watching was Heavy Rain and I watched my brother play through it when he came to visit and enjoyed watching him go about it in a different way to me.

However yeah, story-led gaming is a solo experience generally although discussing it with others who have played (such as on here) adds to my overall enjoyment.

[Captain Kirk]

I am the same, although I think when I was a lot younger me and a friend could play through a whole Final Fantasy in a weekend quite happily.

[Baddar]

I prefer to play single player games with my nephew. We can both get into it and beat the game together. It helps that he's better than me at most of them, too.

[Guest Canary4life]

If it's a game like Grand Theft Auto, RDR or Assassin's Creed, I am perfectly fine with having other people round watching me. This is because when playing these games, we operate on a rotation thing. For example, one time I had three friends round and we all went on GTA IV Multiplayer. Whenever one of us died, it would go to the next person along until they died, then they would swap. All of us were able to get involved, and it was a fun experience.

[Matt]

If it's someone that's likely to play then I have no problem, we just switch every so often - its usually their suggestion though, I'd rather play a multiplayer game. Other than that I don't play single player when there's other people there, it's rude really. The one exception would be with my ex, I used to play sometimes if she was being a cunt, basically as a way of being a cunt myself. I suppose if you're living with a partner/flatmate, that's different but I've never been in that situation.

[Summers]

Depends on the people. My son, he's too young and just wants to grab the controller. Sometimes I can distract him with the spare. Daughter (six tomorrow) watches when I play. She'll normally want a go, 5 year old girl on COD is funny..but not for my KD. Ruth can be in the room, but normally will read or be on the net. Certain games she will pay more attention to than others.

Other people, depends. Some of my best gaming memories were completing FF8 and Resi 2 with my old best friend. Years and years ago, obvs.

I so rarely get to play games now I do prefer to immerse myself in it when I get the chance.

[Clawson]

Yeah I rarely play single player games with other people around. It's just to weird to me, so I tend to do it when they've pissed off. It's especially awkward when playing something like Dragon Age or Mass Effect where you get to pick how to talk to people. Don't want to come off as an asshole in a video game to people who may be watching.

[Pizza]

Just my niece. She likes everything. I think I enjoyed FF13 more than anybody else mostly because of her jumping around during fights pretending she was part of the team. She also loves stuff like collecting star bits in Super Mario Galaxy, and is actually ridiculously good at Little Big Planet for a 4 year old.

[DavidMarrio]

Yeh I agree with Summ. It depends on the type of game, when my little cousins come round I just watch him on Halo or something games like that I think you can sit and watch other people play cause you can have a laugh.

Certain games like the more RPG focus I don't think you can really do with others around but certain games you can just sit there and take turns like me and my mates used to do with stuff like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear etc etc

[King Ellis]

My brother used to watch me play Final Fantasy 7 and was quite enthralled by the whole thing.

[Regia]

Whenever my girlfriend is round I tend to wait until the night when she goes to sleep to play. I also don't tend to play single player games whenever I have friends round, mainly because it is just more fun to stick on something like Halo or Fifa.

[Skummy]

I'm actually more likely to play with my girlfriend around. I barely play games at all when I'm home on my own, but she sat through most of Chrono Trigger, No More Heroes 2 and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. She generally enjoys it, or else I'll play my game for a bit while she play something on the DS or does a crossword, and we chat while we're doing it.

Back in the day, I pretty much always played Final Fantasy VII with my brother around, because he was into the storyline but quite happy to sit and watch me play it most of the time, and then occassionally just do some battles to get levels up - something he enjoyed, but I found incredibly dull. I don't really remember him playing Metal Gear Solid himself, either, but he always watched me play it. I was always more about storylines and fun, whereas he's a massive stats geek, so we tended to make a good team.

[tenaciousg]

I am the exact same way as you, really. And honestly? When they're just sitting there watching you play, I feel bad because they might be bored and shit...

This... though sometimes I do like to play with others around just so there's someone to talk to.

[Guest twisted_time48]

Depends on the people. My son, he's too young and just wants to grab the controller. Sometimes I can distract him with the spare. Daughter (six tomorrow) watches when I play. She'll normally want a go, 5 year old girl on COD is funny..but not for my KD. Ruth can be in the room, but normally will read or be on the net. Certain games she will pay more attention to than others.

Why doesn't your daughter play as a guest? It doesn't fuck up your K/D.

[AnnIQ Edison]

If I'm playing a single player game then I don't really enjoy having others around. It just feels like I'm being anti-social when 1. They would be at my house and 2. I would have invited them there and therefore shouldn't then isolate myself.

It doesn't help that my main core friend group aren't really into heavy gaming so wouldn't even want to play on rotation or anything. They got bored with Guitar Hero after 3 plays through.

My girlfriend though is much better and watching while I play but she normally suggests it when I say "I want to play but I don't want to leave you by yourself" type of thing. She'll normally help a bit if I get stuck or give some advice but she'll need a laptop or Iphone or something to play on so she can fade in and out.

[stokeriño]

What's awkward in my house is that both stokerina and I tend to play the same single-player games (Assassins Creed, Uncharted, Mass Effect etc.), but stokerina really can't stand being in the room with me if I'm playing a game ahead of her, because once she's seen the upcoming story she loses interest in continuing her save and that annoys her.

So I can play with her around...provided I'm behind her in the game!

Luckily there are some games she is less inclined to play but enjoys watching me play (Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, LA Noire, etc.), so those I'm fine for.

[9 to 5]

I don't mind people being around when playing most single player games, but I seem to hate people watching me playing sports games.