12 Classic Things Most Modern Video Games Are Missing

8. Online Multiplayer Focused On Fun (Rather Than Leveling Up)

Before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare became a mammoth hit in 2007, online multiplayer was all about fun and nothing else: it was easy to spend an entire day glued to your PC or console of choice, blasting other players away simply because the multiplayer, unlike the single-player component, never had an end-point, it was never finished. This all changed with CoD, however, which became the first notable game to successfully implement an RPG-esque system of progression, whereby player skill would result in them leveling up, driven by the goal of reaching the level cap some time later. The problem is that almost every online game these days has now adopted that model, incentivising play by way of a flashy "Level Up!" graphic every 15 minutes, to make the player feel a sense of accomplishment. It is, of course, a pretty hollow reward for the most part, given that in most games the number, just as in RPGs, is less an indication of skill and more of the time any given player has poured into the game. Back in the days of Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena, players didn't need this: the fun was enough of a reward in of itself. Nowadays, players reach that precious level cap and often never touch the game again because it's "complete". Such wasn't the case in the past.