Yes, multiplayer is awesome for the competition, but I really think there are a couple of differences here.
Multiplayer with randoms, like MMO or most competative games, is awesome but lacks the story telling part, and I accept that. To me, the story part has really become just a too slow element for me. I totally accept that it is a very interesting part for many, however. Personally I can't really see why anyone would want to play a game all solo rather than co-op with friends... If skyrim, which looks amazing as far as the content goes, was doable co-op, I would probably dedicate hours and hours into it. Playing all alone makes me sad though.
Oh yeah. I used to play loads of RPGs back in the day... But then LANs happened (as said before), and I just never went back to gaming alone...