I just found this today, I think it gives an interesting insight into the perception of an average player.

http://www.square-go.com/review/905

Most notably:

(emphasis added)

The outside person sees online as a later step in approaching a game, not the basic function.

So single player does get used. Success!!

I don't know about you, but I certainly do. I like to be able to have an understanding of a game and it's mechanics before joining a game with other people who likely know more than I do. Nobody really wants to be the clueless newbie.

Yeah but the way Spring is set up favors multiplayer and most mods are developed MP-first. That's ass-backwards from a user perspective.

regardless of what can be gleaned; props to the favourable review :D she seems like she had a lot of fun playing KP, and i bet that anyone else reading that review would get a good impression as well

It is a pretty good game.