Gamer focus: Campaign or Multiplayer?

As I've played online for the past 3 years I've built up quite a network of friends.   I'm a bit of a pattern recognition and analysis guy so over time I took note of the behaviors of those people on my friends list.   Tracking these individuals, I noticed patterns such as when people typically get online, how long they play, what games they play, and who they play with.  

What really caught my attention though was tracking the gaming behavior of my brother (gamertag: Jaysus).   He has some distinct behaviors which are very different from me, but I noticed one the most which is when Jaysus gets a new game, he will set that thing in the DVD tray, fire up the game, and immediately hit the matchmaking circuit.   In fact, he may ONLY ever play the online multiplayer for that game.      For me, I've always been a campaign guy.  I will normally start my games by playing through the solo campaign, or coop if one exists.  Once I complete the baseline story I will then check out the online experience.   I've had many discussions with him asking why he doesn't play the main story?   

For him, its all about the online experience.  The interaction, the wins, the kill/death streaks.  He wants to be sure to be on top and get the most out of what every other gamer online has to prove.   To me, I sometimes find this appalling.  Not for the fact that he plays online and enjoys it so much, its just that these game designers and developers spent likely 2 years of their lives creating and "perfecting" the campaign experience.  This is what games have been based on forever and will hopefully continue to be.  

I consider myself a gamer who will mix things up for both campaign and online.  Some games excel in one space, others in both.  My favorite online game Bad Company 2 has so much more to offer through its online gaming than I felt was available to me in the campaign.  I do give credit though b/c the campaign was beautifully built, but it just doesn't give me the appeal to go back to it.   It is sad that some media reviews called it a "throw away campaign," but I understand why.  It is a shame though and I do wonder how game developers and their companies feel about remarks like this.  Actions do speak louder than words though, so I'm sure people are analyzing data to figure out what their target users want in games based on the tracked behaviors.  

On a closing note, there has been a significant growth in direct to download games.   I've purchased a number of games through Xbox Marketplace and PSN.   Some I get for simple campaign or puzzle style games I play solo, other games I buy simply b/c they are shared coop or vs experiences online and offer no campaign what so ever.    There is a good mix available and gamers can easily find what they like.    It is good that people are diverse in their preferences and the market tailors to that, and I'm curious to see how things will evolve in the next decade of gaming.