[General Discussion] Should Online Multiplayer games be Big or Small?

I think both kinds are just fine. 4 player matches of Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (and its sequels) worked out perfectly: it was more or less the optimal number of players they could have for that game (maybe they could push it to 6 if they really tried, but they'd have to be very careful about it). For those games, low player games work out perfectly.

On the other hand, 64 player Battlefield 2/2142 is great, and of course Planetside wouldn't be nearly as fun if every continent was locked to 32 players or less. Having more players in the game does make you feel like you're not as "important" to the team if you were in a lower-player match, but then it also makes the game far more epic where you really do feel like you're playing a real battle instead of just killing a few people for frags.

Something like Natural Selection is a nice medium between the two, where 12-18 players works best. Enough that you know you won't be able to single-handedly take out the enemy team all by yourself, but not so many that it becomes overwhelming.

So for me...ehh, it just depends on the game. Usually I prefer a medium or high number of players for most games. For specific games like Splinter Cell or when playing coop, the low player limit works fine for it. Aside from those though, I don't think I'd play multiplayer games much if they didn't have at least 8 or 12 player support. 6 or less just doesn't cut it for most kinds of games.

Jam it back in, in the dark.