Multiplayer computer games for teenagers

September 19, 2023 1:42 PM

I have a question for the gaming community. My boys are just becoming teens, and I am moving without them to another city. Amongst other ways of keeping in contact, I wonder if there are good multiplayer, interactive computer games to play with them. Minecraft seems like an obvious option - I want to avoid games focused on death-dealing and violence-as-fun. Eve on-line looks interesting but I don't know. A Civilization game would tickle my fancy, but is too much of a time-suck. Any ideas about other interactive exploration/building games?
posted by SnowRottie to Computers & Internet (17 answers total)

I was discussing this with my middle schoolers today: Fortnite is so big with them, which is interesting because even last year it seemed like slightly older students viewed it as a bad joke. Now it seems there are the passionate players and everyone else who finds those people's obsession annoying. Minecraft is still super popular but it seems that many kids, as they get older, want some distance from it being part of their identity as they feel they should have outgrown it. Lol a kid today was trying to convince me that GTA (Grand Theft Auto) was non-violent and I was like "haha nice try, hell no." A lot of kids play random computer games that aren't blocked at school -- or that they can get around -- so I'm sure they'll be able to recommend some soon too.
posted by smorgasbord at 1:48 PM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

You could look at Battle of Polytopia, which is a multiplayer Civ-lite game for mobile. I usually have a game going with a group of friends and it's not a huge time commitment, just a few minutes a day (unless you make it to the endgame on a huge map.) We have a side chat for trash-talking.
posted by credulous at 2:00 PM on September 19, 2023

Among Us, Stardew Valley, Civilization V, but also you can stream on Twitch to hang out while one of you plays Kerbal Space or Roller Coaster Tycoon or Portal. If your tweens enjoy watching YouTube playthroughs, they will probably enjoy that. Portal is AMAZING to problem-solve together this way and is like ten bucks!
posted by DarlingBri at 2:05 PM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe a little too grim, but there's an older game called Don't Starve which has a multiplayer option (Don't Starve Together - they may be sold separately, I'm not sure). It's a "plate spinning" game, where you... try not to starve to death in a strange and spooky land. Has some elements of base building, exploration, and light amounts of combat (mostly against monsters to feed yourself or keep them from harming you). It's lightweight enough that it wouldn't be a huge time commitment unless you want it to be. And hey, Halloween is coming up so the vibe might be right for the time of year.
posted by backseatpilot at 2:08 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

Factorio is great for multiplayer if you're of a particular mindset.

World of Warcraft is really great these days. I'd definitely recommend it over Eve Online, whose gameplay has always been glacial.
posted by Nelson at 2:34 PM on September 19, 2023

Don't Starve Together is indeed a great game for co-op! It's a survival game that involves collecting resources, exploring a big world, and fighting monsters together. I've played it co-op with my friends while running voice chat on Discord. I think it's a good choice because it's both very easy and very difficult. The basic mechanics are easy enough that anyone can pick it up and play for a couple hours and have fun — but also, folks who play the game together for a long time will discover lots of strategies and find the game is quite deep.

If both you and your sons are more experienced gamers, Inkbound might be fun. It's a turn-based roguelike that you can play cooperatively. A bit too difficult for me, as someone who doesn't play a lot of games with skill trees, but my partner says it's great.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 2:54 PM on September 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

I feel like my friends are really into Final Fantasy XIV, and it's free up until level 60, so that could work as a trial for you and your sons.
posted by yueliang at 2:55 PM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

Satisfactory might have what you're looking for. It's a 3D open world factory builder with a lot of exploration. It's currently early access but is pretty stable and is already a great game in its current state.
posted by Limivorous at 3:26 PM on September 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

A lot of the suggested games are entire lifestyles. If you want something more chill, you can all get Tabletop Simulator and play something like Pandemic Legacy. Baldur's Gate would also be good if you all have adequate PCs, because it has an ending.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:54 PM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

They are getting to the age where it might be THEM picking the game, and you trying to learn it and keep up. I had no idea my 12-year old daughter would love Fortnite so much, but it is one of our best ways to bond

You’re a good parent for asking this question. Best of luck staying connected over the distance
posted by tiburon at 4:06 PM on September 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'd second the mention of Satisfactory. It's an interesting problem-solving first-person game, and the tiny amount of combat (hostile alien animals) can be turned off, IIRC. It's also entirely possible for each player to be working on different things at vast distances, while still playing together.

Astroneer is in a similar vein, in which players are building bases on alien planets.

Raft was a lot of fun for my group. The earth is mostly covered in water, and players build a communal raft out of the detritus floating by. There's a story component as well to maintain momentum through raft upgrades. There is combat, though - a shark constantly follows the raft, and some of the islands have hostile animals.

Overcooked and Overcooked 2 are good fun. Up to four players run a kitchen through a series of increasingly chaotic circumstances.

Golf With Your Friends - multiplayer minigolf!

Good luck!
posted by BetaRayBiff at 4:28 PM on September 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

I just want to say that it might not be necessary for you to all play the same game. Another option would be for you to all use Discord and let them stream their gameplay for you to watch while you all talk about it. (With Discord you can stream to just the people in a specific call, its not public.) This can be a great way for you to learn about the games they enjoy even if you don't enjoy them.

But to actually answer the question: Splatoon. Play Splatoon.
posted by anastasiav at 4:30 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

If you like board games, Tabletop Simulator might be something to look into.
posted by panic at 4:55 PM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you all for these ideas! Just discussing them with the boys will be a lot of fun. Have a good evening!
posted by SnowRottie at 6:57 PM on September 19, 2023

Fall guys is teams of two or four and you can have a stranger join to complete a team. It's a silly, difficult, obstacle.course with fifty other players. The most violence you can do is vaguely pushing or pulling another player to knock them off a ledge.
posted by Iteki at 11:57 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

There's the Metaverse which is built around exactly that. Most can be accessed on a PC, although it's a much better experience on a headset. For example, Spatial has pivoted to featuring games. Recroom and Roblox are two others.
I've made a spreadsheet of the 180ish active metaverse platforms.

In VR there's a lot of multiplayer games available on Sidequest. There's also shared multi user things like MultiBrush where you can make 3D paintings together.
posted by Sophont at 12:02 AM on September 20, 2023

Spelunky 2 has online multiplayer. If they enjoy challenging 2D roguelike platformers, the main benefit of Spelunky IMO is that games tend to be short. So it's an option even if you have less than 20mins available, and it's not a massive commitment / timesink.
posted by snarfois at 5:58 AM on September 20, 2023