Multiplayer’s latest trend: Avoiding other players

For players who don’t like spending their nights reading about how to get better at something, multiplayer games like League of Legends or Street Fighter IV can sound a little daunting. But as multiplayer games continue make themselves accessible to a wider audience, they’re starting to try something new: distancing players from each other.

Recent multiplayer game now have “creeps,” or A.I.-controlled units that run around the battlefield during a match. Creeps generally act as fodder for players; in some games (like League of Legends), killing them makes you stronger, and players better at killing them can earn an advantage. Having something to attack, even if it’s not the enemy, can make players feel like they’re part of a much larger conflict, since they don’t spend every second of their day hunting down . It can give games scope while acting as a way for players to contribute to the game without facing other players directly.