Over the past number of years, as online gaming has become the embodiment of sports gaming, I have caught some heat for being one of the only serious gamers to not get involved in online competition. Friends of mine routinely ask me to sign up for a Xbox Live Gold subscription and join a world of gamers connected world wide under one network. Yet, still to this day, I have avoided the online community. My reasons are straight forward, though they've always received criticism that I do not expect to see go away.

Playing human peers online is a huge shift in video games, and much like 16-bit graphics were a huge push from 8-bit, playing online almost seamlessly with few hiccups is one of the things that has separated next-gen from last-gen. So with this understanding and an increased focus in developers designing for the online crowd, why have I refused to join the party?

I do not like playing the human gamer. There it is, for the whole online world to read. I just do not enjoy it. I rarely enjoyed it on the same console, at home, with a friend. Now, I'm having a hard time enjoying it with a stranger.

I've heard the arguments against this, and the first that stands out is: fear of competition. That may be true for games like Madden, where I know that nine times out of ten I'm going to lose to my opponent; but, the same isn't true in basketball or baseball games. Despite my staying away from the online crowd, I have on rare occasion signed on and played a random somebody over the Internet. I've actually found myself being mostly successful against these gamers and I'd imagine I'd be even better if I spent more time online.

Gamers have argued that there are sim gamers online that give you the same benefits of playing against the CPU, along with the more desirable human traits of competition -- and I will not argue such a claim.

However, no matter the result or reasons for early disconnection, my feelings during the game nearly always recognize the infallible human traits of success at all cause. Human gamers will almost always resolve to playing a particular way to gain a competitive advantage and often times this direction makes a game unplayable. My experience, either online or at home, is that hardcore gamers will give up early if things are not going well for them, and that casual gamers will simply quit, frustrated that their cheesing methods are not working. That leaves me feeling unsatisfied as a gamer and does not even include how I feel during a game when players run-and-gun like the Phoenix Suns and take 3-pointers 75 percent of the time. That is not enjoyable.

It is true that the CPU opponent is not without its faults, but there is something about the predictable nature of the CPU that seems more realistic than the human gamer. Call it lack of chaos, or call it staying true to the team and players it controls. Either way, the CPU experience is much more rewarding for me.

Gamers have argued that there are sim gamers online that give you the same benefits of playing against the CPU, along with the more desirable human traits of competition -- and I will not argue such a claim. I realize that OS has many gamers similar to me, desiring the same in sports video games. But unfortunately for me there are other pressing issues holding me back.

I play for a goal. The goal in sports games is winning a championship, and the only way to do that is to play a franchise or dynasty mode against the CPU. I do not find enjoyment in beating another human gamer. It seems most of the time, beating a human is for bragging rights and since I prefer to play for recreation and a relaxing moment, I can not get excited over beating my loud, unruly buddy during a game of two-player basketball. Now the CPU, that is a different story as the game was designed specifically so that you can play an enjoyable one-player game against lines of code. At least it's supposed to be enjoyable and realistic. That is competition to me. Competition is playing Mega Man 2 on Nintendo and losing all of my lives after reaching the last portion of a level. Competition is knowing that there are 80 more games left to right the ship, and many more opportunities to recover from the loss.

Of course, things have changed over the years and gamers can now enjoy a full season of games striving for a championship, while playing their friends in an online league. That would be the best solution to overcoming my dislike for online gaming, but this bleeds into the third and final reason why I do not play online.

That does not mean I do not play games. Rare for me is only rare because I once played games all day, every day -- if I was not outside playing sports with my friends.

I do not have the time. With a work life, other hobbies, commitments to other fields of work, study, and pleasure, gaming for me has become a luxury. It is now one of those things I can only do on a rare occasion.

That does not mean I do not play games. Rare for me is only rare because I once played games all day, every day -- if I was not outside playing sports with my friends. Today, I am forced to dedicate a small block of time on weekends and occasionally on weekdays just so I can try to complete a full season of games. It is not easy, and after a long week I rather come home, turn on my next-gen system, and enjoy a game at my own pace and time. Playing in an online league would be impossible and I would just end up being that owner everyone waits on and hates.

I know I'm not the only sports gamer that both feels the way I do and experiences the dilemmas I have while playing online. The online gaming network is huge and caters to over a million users, but somewhere in there I am sure other serious gamers have preferred to stay away. Whatever those reasons might be, just know you are not alone. Not everyone has made the leap into the online gaming network and there is no telling if I ever will.