mhg83

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That's one of the reasons why i didn't renew my xbox live subscription. Now whenever i go on playstation online, I'll play without a mic. Has Xbox live improved with filtering out the idiots that go on there? Something like a three strikes and you're banned rule should be implemented.

Michael Corvin

Why the double standard? Don't like it, unplug your 360 mic. As for filtering out the idiots? Keep dreaming. Why not take control of your own experience? There are settings to where you only hear people on your friends list. Also, certain games, like Halo 3 offer quick ways to mute someone if they are getting on your nerves. Built in solutions for a simple problem.

Spicollidriver1

How can you understand anyone on live I usually cant here shit

mhg83

When i had live on 360 i did that. I just dont have the time to do online that much which is why i dont want to pay for online. The only online game i've played so far on ps3 is Soul Calibur 4.

pinata242

Man, Sessler was shaking he was so mad. Good for him to say that stuff. Too bad no one will see it, let alone heed it.

We need "prolific" (word used cautiously in this case) people in the industry to call out the idiots like this.

Yes muting is an option. Probably the best we'll ever get even though it's just a band-aid, not a solution. Still, it's nice to dream of a world where we don't have to hear that that noise.

But, I'm more of a "closed circle" gamer anyway. Rarely do I venture out into the wild unless there's just no one else playing. Have met a few decent folks out there that share my gaming interests as well.

I suppose it does help that I don't play the pure competition games that seem to attract all those attitudes. I mean, I don't get called a cracker playing Commando 3 or Tetris online much.

CKMorpheus

Meh... I don't experience it that much, and when I do, we usually call for a vote to kick them from the server, and then make sure everyone on the server reports that person to XBox Live, as well as gives them a poor rating.

Giantrobo

Soooo, maybe the real issue for you is paying for online play and not Bigoted players?


Anyway, I've said it for some time now but I truly believe that MS's LIVE marketing angle of, "Trashtalk over LIVE!!", probably added a lot of incentive for asshats to act this way. I mean Human Nature being what it is people are always going to act this way. But MS didn't do anyone a favor by emphasizing "Trashtalk".

lordzeppelin

Robo, I was wondering why I hadn't seen you on live in a while...

but really, there's enough of us here on DVDtalk, 8-bit, DHGx, and if you venture over CheapAssGamer, that you can make a little community of your own and not have to venture outside of that too much. You're still going to get a moron on a semi-regular basis, but it's no different than the actual real world.

Michael Corvin

So which is it? You didn't renew Xbox Live because of bigots or because you don't have time to play online? Sounds like creating this thread was just a backhanded way to slam Live.



Whatever. There are tools at your disposal. I have my chat at the global setting in the Dash to where I don't hear anyone who isn't on my friends list in any game. I haven't heard trash talk, bigots, excessive cursing, screaming, 12 year old brats, singing or any of that annoying shit in over a year. It's paradise. I guess it could be considered a band-aid, but it is a very effective one. Leave feedback and avoid players you don't like.

Spicollidriver1

That was good. I don't disagree with him at all. I really don't like x-play but a lot of times when you take him and her out of that show and they speak freely they are much more entertaining and smart then they show on tv sometimes. I actually think that Sessler is almost as good,and smart as Tommy Tallarico and they other guy (name escapes me right now) on Judgement day but Judgement day seemed to care less about the common denominator then X-Play.

edstein

Sessler. While I agree with Corvins comments regarding xbox live tools, I also think that the adult gaming community should take a little responsiblity and set an example. It's not just teenagers running off at the mouth it's adults as well. We need to take a little effort to reiterate Sessler's message and then use the xbox live tools to send negative feedback to these asshats.

dgmayor

cruzness

There have been a couple of times when what is obviously little kids are spouting off racist garbage. It is truly sad to hear this kind of hate coming from a little kid. And I usually make it my mission to beat them down unmercilessly (in the game).

JasonF

If Microsoft really wants to kill this, they should slap a 60-second buffer on Live Chat. If someone calls you a f*****t or a ***********r, you hit hit a button to save the contents of the buffer, send it off to Microsoft, and they TOS the guy off of Live forever.

mdc3000

^That would be wicked - 12 year olds everywhere would weep.

Michael Corvin

Brilliant idea. The buffer would need to be larger though because if you are focused on, say, a Halo match, it might take a few minutes to determine who the asshat is.

You should submit that idea over to Major Nelson.

lordzeppelin

uh...yeah...and where would these recordings be housed? on your HD? On the server? how would it be determined whose voice it is? There's a ton of holes in that...and it's a little extreme, you know?

Microsoft has provided, as Draven outlined, many ways to deal with it, but policing it more than what's there is going to cost a ton of money, be filled with problems, and simply end up doing the same job the current systems do.

Ultimately it falls on the consumer to take steps provided to limit exposure. And if you need to be completely sectioned off so you never hear anything that can be remotely offensive (seeing news stories today, we'll use "retard" as an example here), then you probably shouldn't be playing the games which are too violent and offensive to begin with, or be on live. I'm quite sure this isn't happening in Viva pinata too often, you know? Halo is an M rated game. GTA, CoD4, etc, are all clearly for older teenagers and adults.

thelwig14

I play a lot of hours on live and the whole bigots argument is crazy overrated. And when I get in a room like that, I unplug my mic or I just switch to mute. Or I realize which one is talking and mute him. It takes two seconds. If something so childish prevents you from using an amazing service like XBOX Live, I guess I just don't know what to say.

lordzeppelin

Furthering the discussion, I think something like an age-tiered system would be much more effective. Sure, it would probably be abused, like current games are to begin with (i.e. 12 year olds on halo). But it could at least provide some way for more mature gamers to control who they end up matched against. Settings could be placed that would give more weight to finding opponents within that age range, and others could be avoided. Matchmaking algorithms would probably take longer to produce results, especially in party situations, but it might be worth it. Matchmaking is really the key to a good online experience anyways.

Most of the morons I've seen end up being probably 14-18, trying to act cool (and really, didn't we all at that age to some extent? we just weren't doing it on live). But there's no amount of controls or policing put in place that will cover bad parenting and assholes on the whole.

slop101

I want to know how in the name of fuck a 12 year old gets:

- a $500 video game machine
- a $50 subscription to Live
- a $60 game M-rated game
- unattended playtime to spew hate into his head-piece

You need all of this in order to get to the issue being discussed.
Seriously - that's a lot of scratch and time. There's no way a parent could be this absent - unless there really are that many bad/clueless parents out there.

TruGator

This is an interesting discussion because it's something I have noticed as well. I hear little kids say "the N word" all the time, and I just wish they would use it in front of a black person one time because they would get their ass kicked. Luckily, COD4 makes it pretty easy to mute people, and do so quickly, so I do that a lot but it really gets old to hear that garbage.

sracer

For many parents that is cheaper than daycare/babysitter.

edstein

Parents, like myself, play these systems too. I bought my son his own xbox live gold account for his 13th birthday this year. I set the parental controls such that he can only hear/talk with people on his friends list. I have two younger sons that play games as well but I don't let them play on xbox live. Controls are out there, parents just need to take an active roll in what their kids are playing and how they act online.

JasonF

I assume on your HD. A 60-second voice buffer doesn't take up that much memory.

You don't have to match the voices. If you, me, and xmiyux are having a voice conversation in a game of Halo, the XBox can (or should be able to) tell which data is coming from my mic, which from yours, and which from xmiyux's. If I cal xmiyux a f*****t and he records it, then Microsoft should easily be able to tell that it came from my Gamer Tag. It's all just bits and bytes, not actual audio recordings.

Is it extreme to boot someone from Live just for using an epithet? Probably. But if you want to stop that kind of language on Live, probably nothing short of the "death penalty" will do it.

I should be able to play Halo without being called a f*****t c***sucker ***********r. The fact that I want to shoot pretend aliens doesn't mean I want to be exposed to racist, sexist, or homophobic taunting.

JasonF

The problem is the bigger the buffer, the more HD space you need to set aside for it. My thinking is that if I'm offended enough that I want to report someone to Microsoft, 60 seconds is more than enough time for me to pull up the dashboard and hit record. I can sort out who is the asshat later.

Maybe I will. How would I go about doing that?