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Strongly prefer 1P - a big draw for me is figuring out & beating the AI, despite the fact most modern AI uses cheap tactics rather than being well-programmed. Big fan of co-op, but there simply aren't many modern games that have good offline co-op from both a tech and design standpoint.
I also strongly prefer system link multiplayer. I'd rather play splitscreen than online. I find online gaming to be incredibly unsatisfying compared to having people in your presence....preference left from my arcade days, I guess.
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I like the concept of multiplayer, online or off, co-op or competitive but feel it fails in execution for a myriad of reasons. Whether for the nuts-and-bolts reasons of the game itself, or the incredibly fickle mass market, or the high bar required for entry once there is a core base of players.
So with the exception of CoD4 and fighting games, I could care less for co-op. As fun as it was to play TF2, the community (at least on 360) is busted. Oh, I take that back - I'm a big fan of Mario Kart online. Since I can't communicate with assholes who want to scream fag every minute at me, I can enjoy a race against a "smarter" AI than the game normally provides.
Otherwise, it's the same cycle - the flavor of the month game comes out that all pledge undying allegiance to for 2 weeks, until something else with an online component comes around. The only ones left in the wake are those who have already invested so much time in getting good that, it's pretty frustrating to play with/against them.
PS - I think playing with people in the same physical space can be much more rewarding, but technical limitations (split screen, needing multi setups in one room) can hamper it. Maybe that's why I still play fighting games. Again though - anything with a multiplayer element only works for as long as the crowd is willing to support it. Since I've been burned enough by bad groups it's much smarter for me (and my wallet) to buyy into a game with a stronger single player experience, with group play being so far in second place that it's practically unimportant.
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I can definitely appreciate multiplayer, but singleplayer is the most important factor for me. The main problem for me is that I cannot afford to get all the games I want on day one, and by the time I do get around to getting them, when I do go online, I get destroyed and it diminishes any desire I had to get into the multiplayer component.
