It's not just about scale, but about design and about the nature of the game. Certain small scale games don't lend themselves well to multiplayer implementations - like, for instance, adventure games.
Well, the designers just design a little differently. They're still doing their job. It doesn't require additional gameplay designers.
If you look at the Baldurs Gate games there's very little change to the design. You have a party of 6. In multiplayer you can decide who controls who, who is allowed to pause, who is allowed to initiate a map change, who can save the game, etc.
More often than not the "network guy" is just called a programmer but internally they know who is focused primarily on networking.
However, I don't mean to sound like I disagree with you when it comes to the value of multiplayer.
In fact, you seem to be one of the very, very few people on the Watch who understand just how much more fun games can be when shared.
Beyond that, I would have to agree with you that the VAST majority of CRPGs that have implemented cooperative multiplayer have been significantly better for it.
This DEFINITELY includes D:OS1.
People who think implementing multiplayer necessarily means an inferior singleplayer experience are simply not aware of the reality of game design or development.
Agreed.
It's like I always say; the start of D&D and RPGs was a multiplayer tabletop game.
In the day of goldbox AD&D games, it was much faster to have a computer "DM" do the die rolls but it lost the core of the tabletop experience by forcing one person to play the whole party. It took a while for technology to catch up. I would have been
extremely keen to play AOLs Neverwinter in those days, but being a kid with no money and not having a modem or "it will help with school work!" internet excuse it was well out of reach.
Now here we are in 2019 and "spiritual successors" to BG appear to have completely forgotten about D&Ds roots and many people who claim to be RPG lovers are actively against developers providing the core of the experience.
Some might say "so just play tabletop" but, like I said, it's much faster to have a CPU do the die rolls. There are things a human DM can do better, like make things up on the spot, but that's why Neverwinter Nights and SCL allowed for a DM in the game. We need more games like Neverwinter Nights.
I'm sure I've heard purpleblob talk about how great a user made NWN campaign was. Even years later that toolkit still gets used! If anything, modern publishers are probably the ones not allowing users to create their own content because it lowers the need for players to buy their DLC.
RPG players really need to support multiplayer, toolkits and DM mode so we can finally get a new NWN and the almost unlimited amount of content and value that comes with it.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers none of these things.
