/hide: The Aesthetics of Group and Solo Play

David Myers' essay examines the relationship between solo and group play in the massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes, arguing that these two modes of play are fundamentally antithetical rather than complementary. Drawing on more than 1,000 hours of gameplay, forum observation, and conversations with players, the analysis contends that individual play is a self-determined process of distinguishing self from other, one that persists even in games whose designs strongly encourage social interaction. Solo activities such as costume design and the construction of identity through multiple characters are presented as central to this process.

The analysis traces how group play in the game develops across a progression from informal pickup groups to stable supergroups and then to large supragroups, such as those formed for Hamidon raids. As players advance, group values increasingly narrow and substitute for individual play values. Supergroups are characterized as unstable because collective expectations distort the aesthetic pleasures of solo play, whereas supragroups permit greater individual expression, including "grief play" that designers had initially encouraged during beta testing. Commands such as /hide are interpreted as expressions of a preference for solo expression over social obligation at advanced levels.

The work concludes that group and individual play sustain distinct value systems that frequently conflict, and that supergroup structures can render individual play mechanical, contributing to instability and griefing. Individual play is characterized primarily as a cognitive process oriented toward self-other differentiation rather than the acquisition of socially beneficial skills. From this premise, the author proposes that the evolutionary function of social play, including MMOG play, may be to foster antisocial play that develops self-other awareness. These conclusions are theoretical and rest on qualitative observation, with no quantitative data presented.