I checked my phone all day Sunday for updates on Bungie's new generational IP Destiny. In the car, filling at the pump, grocery shopping, at the mall, on the walk with the dog, etc. Don't mistake me for a die-hard fan of Bungie: I did start with Halo and Oni and enjoyed them both, but they aren't walking on water with the work they do. Instead, I was more interested in how their first reveal since their 10-year Activision deal would go. In short, disappointingly.

To quickly go over the good, the story and setting are downright gold. It looks darker than Halo, with a Ridley Scott tone. I was reminded of movies like Alien, Battlestar Galactica, and District 9. The potential to steer shooters away from bombastic styling without losing set-pieces is fantastic. It could become, dare I say, an artistic game.

The problem is, it can't (and won't) steer any developers anywhere because it refuses to either tread new ground or forge new paths. Let's be honest: Destiny is quickly gaining a reputation in forums as a co-op RPG/FPS blend (Borderlands) with a sci-fi epic focus (Mass Effect/Star Wars) where social media is king (WoW, every MMO) and the game is set through a hub world (Dark Souls). Now some of these games I enjoyed (Dark Souls) while others I hated (Borderlands), but I find the problem is that whole "social media" aspect.

You see, to date almost every game I've played that I could call artistic has been single-player. There are exceptions (don't worry...I'll think of some eventually) but in short artistic games are created solely for a single player's interaction. Like any marriage, it's harder when other players are added because then the focus gets taken off of that singular interaction. Once a developer decides co-op or multiplayer is the way to go the game's artistic integrity becomes divided between the players. There's a reason multiplayer story-focused games don't exist: it's just too damn hard. The developer automatically has to make every enemy encounter capable of taking on multiple players at once, every small detail examined to make sure it can't be used to grief another player. The more players that are added, the less work the developer can put into an efficient artistic universe because that developer is having to devote that time to making a functioning universe for thousands of players. By the time that's finished they barely have time to throw an art cover on before it's shipped.

I'm not saying it's impossible for Destiny to somehow become a game that tugs heartstrings and evoke emotions, I'm just saying it's hard when multiple players are shouting in my ear and tea-bagging aliens. "So play the single-player then." Well, you missed the point. Take those extra players out and the wallpaper comes down to show the game for what it's truly worth: mediocrity at best, terrible at worst. Multiplayer shooters are a framework, not a whole house: playing Left 4 Dead becomes lonely after the first round trip through the levels. I'd know, I made at least twenty.

What's more, this is supposedly a 10-year deal with Activision. That means players are to expect new iterations in the coming decade. But what more is there to do? Bungie's written themselves into a corner when they threw the whole "social media" thing in. The only thing a developer can do is add more social function and more customization. Maybe we should start referring to it as the COD effect: drowning players in a bazillion new maps, gamemodes, weapons, social aspects, hats...wait, this is TF2, right?

Halo in 2001 made the scripted shooter popular for consoles, and I'd tenatively call the first one a milestone, if not a work of art. Bungie apparently thinks they're treading new ground by injecting a social media aspect into their new shooter IP. Sadly, that won't breathe new life into the shooter genre. It's only going to dilute it more.