Anthropologists tell us that gameplay is one of the defining activities of human life, and it's usually a group activity. At least it was until the rise of the computer, when lone geeks closed their doors on society and took up virtual guns.
Multitude, an online gaming company, hopes to usher in the spirit of team play with Fireteam, a frontal assault on solitary gaming launched this week.
"People like playing on teams, people have been trained to play on teams," said Art Min, vice president of Multitude and leader of development for Fireteam. "You can get sick of playing against players, but playing with players is another thing."
Fireteam combines the look and function of a first-person shooter, such as Quake, with the real-time strategy of a game like StarCraft.
The object is to shoot up the opposition. No conceptual leap there, except that a player's field of vision depends on his or her character. The player has to communicate -- with a headset that transmits voice over the Net -- with teammates to fill in logistical gaps.
"When we first started two years ago, the Internet was just gaining as a force," said the 26-year-old Min. "I thought it would be really cool to play a lot of other people, and that's what [competing online-game companies] Mpath and TEN did. But having more opponents is an incremental change to what we already have."
Human interaction among teams allows players to develop sophisticated strategies, said Min, even though the elements of Fireteam are simpler than most single-player games, which have to pack surprises to hold player interest.
"The depth of gameplay comes from the interaction between human beings, which is very deep," he said.
"The thing about voice technology is that it's something that people have been doing all their life," said Min, "It's not another interface that we have to teach them."
Judging from the reactions of devoted players, the addition of sound has worked. "To my surprise, the voice technology worked wonderfully, and the added dimension it brought to the game was incredible," said Nevin Longardner, a 39-year-old player from Columbus, Ohio, who said his first experience with the technology was like "the first time I heard the stereo sounds of the Amiga."
Longardner, a business-systems analyst for a Midwest bank, liked the game so much, he built a Web site devoted to it.
"The game itself is only part of the Fireteam experience," said Min.
Fireteam's designers looked at the Internet's ability to create community and decided that a functioning community would make a strong tool to complement collaborative gaming. To that end, each player gets a Web page. They can join "companies" or teams that are also provided Web pages.
Companies can add or delete members, post classified ads, start mailing lists, and otherwise engage in community activities. Multitude has devoted a lot of time and effort drawing players to the community section.
The strong sense of community seems to be paying off, and Longardner regards that as one of the main reasons to continue playing Fireteam.
"What keeps me coming back is pretty simple, but apparently difficult to achieve in the gaming industry," Longardner explained.
"First and foremost, the game is extremely fun to play. Second, the feeling of contributing to a team, formulating strategies, executing them and watching them succeed or fail against human competition is very satisfying. Third, the voice technology contributes greatly to gaming experience. Finally, the community is great and is strongly supported by Multitude."
Min said that he expects the company to use the game's underlying collaborative technology to create other games, including non-violent gaming for children.
"Collaborative play doesn't have to be all tactical-squad action," he said.
