I'm with Graham. Online massive multiplayer shooters and FPS games suck. LAN is the only way to play. Games are meant to be enjoyed with friends, not played over the net against faceless people... to me, the fun of multiplayer is being near the people you are playing against and joking around or having fun as a group.
IMHO internet gaming has ruined games, now everything has to be "internet multiplayer compatible" and it has come at the sacrifice of story, design and single player depth. There are a lot of times that I do not want to play against a bunch of braggarts, the occasional cheater, slow connections, the "I ownz" people and kindergarteners on the internet. I'm really hoping that HL2 and Doom 3 usher in a new age of the development of the single player story based game.
Seriously, how many different ways can you play "get a gun and shoot the other guy before he shoots you" before you get sick of it? Guess what... I'm sick of it.
There are types of games for all types of people. I do agree with you all on most points, but, sometimes when you start growing older and your friends start moving away, the only way you can get together and play games is through online games. Who would travel thousands of miles for an evening of gaming, it just wont happen. So sometimes it is good to meet up online and go kill people, and let out your frustrations with some of your close friends.