So dear reader, when was the last time you were on Live? Now, when was the last time you were on Live and did not encounter some form of asshat? However long ago it was, it was definitely too recent, and word is starting to really get around. In an article at Gamasutra, Fulton, a Microsoft employee who worked on Shadowrun, writes that: "the online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales."
And that's just the beginning of an excellent four page article on social design and the future of online gaming with regard to social interaction. The assertion that Live is generally filled with annoying idiots has been widely held among the more hardcore gaming community since the inception of the service, but this is the first that we've ever heard anything out of Microsoft about it affecting them in any manner. In the article Fulton posits that we know and love games so we're willing to work around it or put up with it, but for newcomers to the medium, the fun/annoyance ratio could just be too high. Readers, what do you think?
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 8)
4-03-2008 @ 11:04PM
larrydoomhammer said...
Why don't they just add the group chat so people can talk with just their friends and not everyone else.... Isn't that what everyone wants?
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4-17-2008 @ 3:14PM
Neuromancer said...
You can all change your privacy settings so you only talk to people on your friends list, I think next time I play a team based game with friends and strangers together that's what I'll do.
4-03-2008 @ 11:08PM
BluesmanTLU said...
I'm a little surprised everyone gets so worked up about this. You can't get offended by people's internet behavior; it's not just Live, it's on any internet forum. Does not impact my enjoyment of multiplayer at all, since voice chat is almost always completely optional, and the mute button works well. Compared to my prior experience with PC gaming, I feel that Live's tools are pretty solid.
Anonymity + humanity is a bad combination, and if you are expecting to play anything that has any appeal to a variety of individuals without having to encounter asshats, you will be waiting a long time indeed.
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4-04-2008 @ 12:06AM
Preston Crawford said...
It's not a matter of getting worked up about it. If you're a grown adult and gaming is a stress reliever after a hard day at your job, why would you choose to hang around with asshats who call you names and are basically vile human beings? Why would you choose to do that? It's not a matter of it causing my blood pressure to rise. It's a matter of how I choose to spend my precious entertainment time and dollars.
4-03-2008 @ 11:58PM
stinger503 said...
This whole thing is stupid. Wow hearing swear words while shooting guns and killing people! The horror!
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4-04-2008 @ 12:31AM
Roto13 said...
Try hearing real racial slurs while firing pretend bullets.
4-04-2008 @ 12:42AM
stinger503 said...
Oh so I guess I should call the police because someone said they were going to kill me. Please, these aren't actually racist people. They're tools who just think swearing is cool.
4-04-2008 @ 12:14AM
metallbizkit said...
For people saying this issue doesn't matter... maybe to you it doesn't, but to some it really is annoying and immature. I don't mind trash talking, but racism and constant cursing is really crossing the line.
Honestly, I think the problem can be better handled on Microsoft's end. While there is a growing issue in society, MS needs to make the Rep system actually do something. I've been on CoD4 numerous times with a full group of friends where someone else will team kill the entire team... from there we each hit "avoid player" yet they are able to follow us into the next games we go into.
MS could easily implement a system that would be similar to how Amazon recommends products to you based upon what you have purchased or viewed.
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4-04-2008 @ 12:32AM
Roto13 said...
It's true. This is exactly why I almost never play games online. It's totally not worth it.
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4-04-2008 @ 12:53AM
Etchasketchist said...
Anonymous assholes are easily the worst thing about Xbox Live. I think the whole Halo/CoD4 style where you have a ton of random dudes all jibber jabbering at once has got to stop. Voice chat should be a feature that you have to read the instruction booklet to find. Silence should be default. Mute All should be a button on the controller. The STFU button. Players should have to get my permission to talk to me and vice versa. I don't think I would lose anything from the experience from that set up. I can not remember a single thing some random dude has said over his head set that was a) helpful, b)funny, or c)interesting. It ranges from minor-doucheyness to extreme-doucheyness. And I hate wearing the stupid headsets. We look like complete tools, guys. Seriously. Let's face it.
Also, banning people's mean but branding people's okay. The complaint system right now sucks because it's not transparent. When I complain about someone, I don't know what happens. My guess is not much. Instead I think they should do something like what they're doing with cheaters. When I encounter an asshole on Live, and send in a complaint, that person should get tagged with a letter grade instantly. Your gamertag, no matter where you go on Live will display as "gamertag[X]". A for the first complaint, B for the second complaint, all the way to Z. And these should refresh daily. So if I come into a lobby and I see no letters, I feel comfortable having voice chat on. If I see a bunch of high letters, I know these aren't people I need to hear.
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4-04-2008 @ 9:57AM
Dick said...
Yeah, until a bunch of asshats who know how to abuse your clever little system there go around being Dicks to anyone they want to collectively tell to STFU.
Wont take long for the assholes to figure out how to take anti asshole technology and turn it against us non assholes.
\not an asshole
4-04-2008 @ 1:40AM
matthew said...
It is unfortunate that the community dissolves to this because I really enjoy getting into a game with some decent people and talking about play where guys are at etc...
It really is just the way it is until there is some sort of real penalty for being difficult. I can handle a guy being stupid or just a jerk, it's the rampant racism and sexism that really gets me going. I mean no where in the world should that be socially acceptable.
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4-04-2008 @ 1:51AM
Philip (Fernando Rocker Defence Force) said...
They should make it so that if you mute some one it also brings done there rep. Also they need to give out more power to people in the community. The power of rep needs to be increased or else it needs to be easier to give. Lot's of time I meet little kids that talk the whole game and all I do is mute them because it's to hard to go all the way through the guide to find there GT, if I remember it that is.
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4-04-2008 @ 3:05AM
SHNuKMS said...
I used to enjoy myself playing on Xbox Live ... but after I got a PS3 I noticed that there were less vulgar and racist people there. I wonder if it's the higher price point of the PS3 (which used to be $600 when I bought it) which left the first major buyers of that console people that have "deeper" pockets and "mature" manners. I know that the PS3 has it's idiots but it's nothing compared to Live's.
I used to report EVERYONE who said racist remarks but gave up when I realized nothing happened.
I still like the Xbox's online system though, and it's just too bad that the "trash talking" culture in it has gone off the deep end.
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4-04-2008 @ 9:59AM
Dick said...
More like no one is online playing with you, or it lags out constantly, so no one CAN say anything.
Or if you do, its lost and distorted through the sad little server set up Sony's trying to gambit you PS3 owners with.
4-04-2008 @ 7:28AM
Jayslacks said...
I completely agree. The question is, what do we do about it? How can we remove those morons from Xbox Live? You can't. Its like complaining about traffic. You're part of the problem....
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4-04-2008 @ 7:56AM
jkdoug said...
The reason I only have four stars and not five is simply because I strongly dislike playing games online with all the (yes, 13-year-old) foul-mouthed jerks. I like to swear when the occasion calls for it, but these kids take it too far and can definitely ruin a fun game-playing experience.
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4-04-2008 @ 8:53AM
Random Hangman said...
I'm in a similar camp to jkdoug (and others on here). The only time I pick up the headset is if I am on some sort of one on one chat with someone I know personally. I think that the social aspect of online gaming is a fantastic idea that is ultimately flawed.
Do I like the idea of going online and meeting genuinely interesting and amusing like-minded, thirty-somethings and having a laugh with them? Do they exist? Yes, to both, but it will never happen because of the cretinous element that is so strong online, that I would rather just play the game without having to sift through all those fools.
The downside is that if you want to play any sort of online game (and I stick to single-player now 80% of the time), you have to pay, MS has your cash and there is no encouragement for them to police the area as they get paid regardless.
I like the "tagging" system that previous posters have suggested. Perhaps 5 complaints within a month giving you a "Troll" banner on your gamertag for 6 months may get this kind of thing toned down.
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4-04-2008 @ 9:30AM
Jonman said...
You're all missing a trick. Asshats are there to be ridiculed. Let's face it, your typical Live asshat isn't the sharpest tool in the box. It doesn't take a lot of effort to make them look/sound ridiculous.
One of the best ways to silence an idiot is to make everyone else in the room laugh at them. My stock comeback to someone yelling 'fag' is to dryly reply "Thank-you Proffessor". This invariably makes everyone else guffaw at them, and generally lightens the mood. Either that or angers them to the point of shouting incomprehesibility, in which case everyone mutes them. Job done.
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4-04-2008 @ 10:02AM
Dick said...
Man, with all the comments on here about not playing live games and not playing multiplayer online because of asshats, I think of two things:
1. I cant see where all the co-op/multiplayer love is coming from, what with all the ass-hattery going around on Xbox Live; and
2. I need an asshat, whatever form that may take. As long as its not MY ass for my own hat. Painful.
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