Single-Player/Multiplayer
Daniel James Joseph, Lee Knuttila · 2023
This chapter focuses on the concepts of single-player and multiplayer and analyzes the various ways that scholars have theorized them. We describe how there has always been a tension between single-player and multiplayer from the origins of video games and as such a variety of academic perspectives, placing more or less emphasis on singular or social play. We argue that this is partially a result of the disciplinary and methodological traditions carrying through to the interdisciplinary field of game studies. We then introduce our own approach to theorizing single/multi: as an assemblage of social and material actors, not reducible to any one part. Finally, we discuss a variety of examples that showcase the complex interactions between single and multi with examples drawn from the varied layers of platforms, multiplayer matchmaking, bots, and more.