Dunno, you tell me - I grew up playing MKs 1 to Armageddon largely against just the cpu or against a non-existent player 2 (second controller plugged in... no one using it) just to have fun with fatalities.
Got into MK for the lore, characters and storyline (ok and the inventive use of ultra violence), and actually invested WAY too much time into playing MK Mythologies (to see the FMV play out), Shaolin Monks and the old 3D-era Conquest modes just to learn more about the plot... hell I'm not ashamed to admit that I was even an utterly devoted fan of the TV series Conquest, however cheesy that was in retrospect.
I've not played a single online battle on MKX or MK11, I enjoy just seeing the story unravel and learning more what happens to the characters. That's probably why I still play the games in a classic style, using a lot of sweeps, stun specials and uppercuts (so I'd be useless online and in fact am finding it impossible to complete the tutorial, it's just not my play style), so having much of the unlockables in this game (in which I can get the characters to look like they did in the classic old games) readily available to a solo player has actually been the most satisfying aspect of it despite it being a needless drawn out grind. I'm very thankful so little is hidden behind online barriers otherwise I'd never have unlocked it.