Microsoft: Online behavior reducing sales

by Terrence Stasse { Apr 3rd 2008 at 8:00PM }

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?

Tags: microphone, microsoft, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

smak @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:06PM

Anonymity = Annoying behavior.

Once they add real names to profiles, this type of nonsense will die down.

ALH @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:51PM

i doubt it, even if my real name was attatched to my profile, if i was an asshat i would still be one to random strangers on live- its not like im ever going to meet them anyways, and if i did, how would they know who i was?

Dick @ Apr 4th 2008 9:55AM

Morons like you want cameras on every street corner, anonymous internet postings to be replaced by your full name and address, and more intrusion into our private lives.

And FYI - Owning asshats via live will be much more difficult when they start calling you by your real name, and really figuring out more and more personal ways to get under your soft, doughy, pasty skins.

(I'm lookin at people named Clancy, Gur, or Dick here.)

How long before you want us to have mandatory cameras on our xboxes so you can see if Im playing in my underwear or not? Nudity is offensive, and if I stick my dick n the cam and send it to someone, thats bad.

Better monitor me now, shit.

James @ Apr 4th 2008 11:57AM

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

This is not news.

Bravo6 @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:09PM

Gee, maybe MS should have thought about enforcing the rules and having the reporting actually do something?

ArturoRRG @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:11PM

I use the Mute option a lot.

lothar @ Apr 4th 2008 5:28PM

Same here Mute button gets enforced right away if someone is annoying. Also after the battle I will post a negative review of them.

That said I've gotten into some vocal battles with idiots singing and they've left bad reviews on me. Now I just mute them and quietly ignore them.

evilJaze @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:11PM

Well, what do you expect from a bunch of hyped-up 14 year old zit-faced boys?

Anyway, I know it has kept me from wanting to pay $60 per year. Also, I have a PS3 so I generally go for the games on that platform. Also PSN seems to have less f#cktards.

Manvir (El Homer) @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:32PM

hey im not 14 im 13...gosh. lol

YoRone22 @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:38PM

I have met as many annoying 35 year olds as I have annoying 14 year olds. Age plays no part in this at all. It's all about maturity level.

mcwattersm @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:54PM

I disagree, I usually hear some pre-pubescent preteen repeatedly saying [insert random racial slur here] over and over again. Sure you can hit avoid player (no matter what anyone who's have an xbox live account for over a month will have 5 stars.) or file a complaint... but you never hear about anything happening with that.

My idea, people with certain reputation can have limited administrative powers to force kick, or even temp ban certain trouble makers.

Maybe I should pitch it to Microsoft?

Justin @ Apr 4th 2008 3:09AM

I agree that Microsoft should enforce something

Have an option that reports the guy (not just the reps) if he has like behavioral problems, like yelling constantly, is annoying, is an asshole, teabags.

We need people to grow and be mature. I'm sick and tired of all the immature people out there gaming. Something should be enforced where they can only play together. So you would have a bunch of hyped up immature people (including 14 year olds and 35 year olds) and let them yell at each other. Thatd' be funny :)

mike @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:14PM

Whatever. People who whine about asshats have probably also been asshats a time or two. The community is what it is. Let's hope the Shadowrun guy isn't saying this because of Shadowrun's sales. That game was bad (in a bad way).

AnOffday @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:57PM

lol. I wondered that too. Shawdowrun was pretty crappy.

stinger503 @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:53PM

Your dead on. You don't see Halo sales suffering and it supposedly have some of the worst offenders.

Magic Whiskey @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:13PM

It''s mob mentality. Take away your 'real' identity and most people feel invulnerable to the world.

Go out to any grocery store, retail parking lot or mall and observe how people JUST DON'T CONSIDER OTHERS anymore. They do what they want, move or drive the way they want without looking, crowd others out, offend without caring and say the rudest things in public without tact.

It's not just LIVE..it's America!

(But speaking LIVE-centric, the asshats have gotten so bad I immediately mute all voicechat in matchmaking unless I'm with friends. It's gotten that bad for me.
The worst are the little kids spouting the most ignorant, halfbrained vocabulary you can imagine.

Sporia @ Apr 4th 2008 5:10AM

haha so true...

Michael S. @ Apr 4th 2008 8:15AM

amen brother! I stopped playing on live for quite a while because of those people. I'm back on now, but usually don't wear the headset...just set it aside. Problem solved.

DiscoGhost @ Apr 4th 2008 8:40AM

Haha, I do the same thing...it's so easy to mute in halo too, it takes like 5 seconds and everyone i see who has a mic, and isn't on my team is muted.

H3G HADES @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:17PM

I think trash-talking is part of the game. Thats what makes xbox live so fun. However, it is limited to people who go to far with racial slurs and such. But overall, i think gamers should just suck it up and deal with it. How could microsoft possibly enforce such nonsense... If they did, they would raise xbox live prices.

Scott Summers @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:14PM

Yeah, I've been noticing the same thing. Idiocy like this is what kept me away from multiplayer games except for when my buddies wanted to play custom games in Halo 3. Then I got into it with COD4 and like I expected- the asshats started coming around. So much for that "gaming zone" thing they have you put on your profile.

h0munkulus @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:16PM

what's the problem? set your privacy settings that you only hear and talk to friends and the problem is solved. i mean honestly there is like never any game related or even tactical talk in the voice chat of any public games...

DBoyFlex @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:06PM

Agreed. I never talk strat to anybody but friends anyways. In the past I have always had voice through the headset so my daughter doesn't hear 13 year olds constantly dropping racial slurrs and every 'bad' four letter word. Now with the better privacy settings it is not a problem. No longer do I need to mute everybody individually, now I can do it once and never worry about it again. As for dropping in sales, I would attribute that to a crappy game rather than the online community itself. Also, the gamer zone should have more of a bearing on the content of the matches themselves. If you are in underground, say whatever and disable the bad language feedback, but in family zone, enforce the feedback. For that to work though they would have to match players up from the same zone and that might not always work too well. I always play with people in different zones.

emirabal @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:14PM

I would agree with taht but the best games i have played are with people who use the mics and work together using the voice chat, you can find me playing gears all the time. And the asshats are there, i just leave the game if it gets to bad.

Jon @ Apr 4th 2008 6:28AM

I think that defeats the point of socializing... How the hell are you going to meet people if you are ignoring everyone. Half the people on my friends list I've met playing a game, but I haven't added anyone to my list in nearly a year.

SugarDaddy @ Apr 4th 2008 8:57AM

Um, that IS the problem. You shouldn't have to set it so that only your friends can hear it.

Anyway, this whole thing kinda stems from the fact that society is filled with a bunch of assholes anyway. I mean, Americans elected George Bush TWICE!

Dark Morford @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:16PM

Yet another example of John Gabriel's "Greater Internet F**kwad Theory."

Wickedneoq @ Apr 4th 2008 1:15AM

Agreed. But in the case of some games, I don't think it could be helped. First Person Shooters especially. And maybe to a degree online sports games.

L4MB @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:17PM

Yeah, when i use my mic mute is my best friend. most times i just leave it on the couch beside me. i use it for tactics, but when i get told to stfu for trying to help my team, it's just not worth it.

mike @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:17PM

also, I agree with Magic Whiskey that it isn't just live these days...

manicbomber @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:20PM

Competition drives trash talk, negative behavior, and people's self-worth is going to be threatened and they are going to react.

You can't rely on the reporting system, because it's horribly flawed (why can you report me for "trash talk" when it's in the description for the zone I picked?).

Why are we talking about PS3? Talk to us again when PS3 gets half as many people online as Xbox Live.

Competition and the environment it causes isn't even remotely exclusive to Xbox Live (see: soccer). I'm hoping for Midtown Madness 4 - great social game that promoted fun and casual conversation.

aaron @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:19PM

i think it would be pretty easy to fix.... have a simple thumbs up/down icon next to each person in the xbox guide and when enough people object to a person they are either removed from the service or you could do something like they recently did with the cheaters and create a new group for them and let games filter to no include that group.

that way all the idiots can play together. communities are always better when they are self moderated because no amount of moderation will be able to successfully manage that many people.

Cal @ Apr 4th 2008 10:41AM

A system like that would be abused though, just like rep. For example, before playing Gears of War ranked for about 2 months with friends (and muting the whole other team) my rep was in the high 80%s positive, but afterwards my rep had fell to nearly a 50/50 split, and it was a similar story for my friend.

Grant @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:24PM

It's a good point, the amount of racism circulating on LIVE is astonishing, and ridiculous. At times it seems as though the younger generations are reverting back to the days of slavery with the way they insult African Americans. All though most of this comes from those players in the south...gee, isn't that a shock. The annoyance factor of XBOX LIVE far out-weighs the fun factor. I find myself simply not talking most of the time because a vast majority of people get on LIVE with the intention of starting an argument. With that reporting them does nothing; I have met a great many players that actually take pride in their 100% avoidance record. It's sad that so many people are so stupid.

bonzai @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:24PM

they should make it where you can only talk to your team. There's no reason to talk to the other team and it would reduce the horrid online behavior. While people still go off on teammates, it is far less it happens then people going off on someone of the opposite team.

Etchasketchist @ Apr 4th 2008 12:15AM

Most games I play are already set up like that. You can maybe hear the other team in a pre-game lobby, but usually when you're actually playing, you can only hear your own teammates. And when your own teammates are complete douchebags, it totally ruins the game. I don't want to be on a douchbag's team. I don't want to try hard to win to help a douchbag. It sucks all the fun out of playing.

nanonyous @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:27PM

I think, as I've suggested numerous times (in other places), that games should come with voice filtering functionality that detects the potential age of the speaker, and appropriately blocks them against a setting on the listener's side.

If it's legitimately simply someone that sounds like a 12yold with something up their bum, the listener can add an exception, if they want.

In addition, a function that throttles the amount a person can talk in an hour, using the headset, could be implemented - again, exceptions for listeners can be set up so legitimate 'friends' don't get automatically muted.

AoE @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:27PM

Honestly, I don't love multiplayer gaming enough to put up with the asshats. I play online with friends primarily, or occasionally i'll play a game online at extremely late/early hours in the hopes of finding mostly European/Japanese players (who tend to be a good deal more enjoyable to play with than many of my fellow American brethren)... but then only games that I know don't share much audience with Halo.

If it's a game shooter fanboys love, I stay the hell away from the online play... it's just not worth it (and I suppose this means MS is right, I buy fewer shooters since I don't ever play them online)

Halwende @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:29PM

I use the "reputation" function to vote-down trash-talkers. I do it all the time, I don't believe it's "part of the game" or the "online / community experience" at all - it's a game, not a general sandbox for your opinion on other's skin colour / country / skill etc

If the people who abuse the voice service had more users vote them down they might stop and take notice when they log in one day and find they only have 1 gold star on their reputation...

manicbomber @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:47PM

except it is a part of the service and it's even in the description for the zone "underground".

AoE @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:29PM

Also, for the record... shit talking is hella fun, and I do enjoy it. But I think we can all agree, good shit talking is usually clever and should illicit a laugh from others you're playing with.

Name calling, "fuck you" "you suck" and the like aren't even remotely clever... it's crap like that that keeps me away from the random online matches. Be clever in your shit-talking people, we all benefit!

DeadPixel @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:30PM

thats the single reason i wont play on live, is because i dont want to be sworn at and called a homo repeatedly by a twelve year old

lyingit @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:34PM

now...I don't talk shit ever...honestly...

I play a nice decent game, regardless of what I'm playing.

I think the root of the problem is all the nancy-boys that have thin skin...who gives a crap about what some random person you'll never meet is spouting off?

just play your game.

and like has been said, remove your headset, unplug it, or otherwise mute the idiots.

but c'mon...it's friggin' words...people get too butt-hurt over some stupid ass comment.

C YOU 1N HELL @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:35PM

Look there's a mute button on all mics U DAM CRY BABIES stop acting like fags. Go play u lonely PS3 junk becuz ur so dumb and lazy u can't turn a mute button on.

Biz @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:24PM

Wouldn't surprise me for an instant if you were one of these white power imbeciles that have inundated XBL lately.

Ian @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:35PM

generally ill play with my friends that i kno in rl and mute people i dont like... its easy?

Arthur Bickford @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:48PM

It's very frustrating to be annoyed by little punks, and the parents that are letting their kids play the games that us adults feel they shouldn't be involved in. They should also stop requiring achievements to be earned by playing online to avoid this problem as well.

Anticrawl @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:51PM

This is why I stear clear of mainstream games if I can. Shadowrun has a fantastic community and Vegas 2 was great from the 11th til the release date then it developed this, "kick everyone who joins your game" policy. Was fun playing the game with the press til it released to the public. I can't play Halo 3 or COD4 because of the types you run into, the mute feature is nice but it becomes tiresome. Then there is the whole Halo 3 and COD4 molded faster than a loaf of bread in a steam room. That probably was more the reason for me putting those games down than the online community.

dylan @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:52PM

All they would need to do is hire about 40-50 people to monitor the games when they first load up, the asshats usually start their tirade within a few milliseconds, then the monitors boot the player for the next 24 hours, if the same player gets booted for racism or gay bashing more than 5 times, they get their account revoked. it doesn't matter that they couldn't police all the games, the mere threat of it happening would stem a great enough portion to make the online experience much more enjoyable.