My first jump into the Xbox LIVE Call of Duty community left me a bit put off. After finally being able to sit down to a few hours of the multiplayer beta yesterday, I was a bit surprised by meatheads I seemed to be surrounded by. Sadly, it has dulled my anticipation for the game a bit. So I'm hoping this was an isolated incident, but it begs the question, is this what the COD community is all about?
I've played my share of shooters online, mostly free-for-all based on the PC. Voice chat with anonymity has always annoyed me to an extent, but Halo and Gears have numbed me recently. I know what to expect in each of those games. However, I had never played COD online before. I was big into the first title in the series on my PC. Played the hell out of the single player and did some private matches with my friends. I skipped the rest of the PC titles due to what I'd call WW2 genre fatigue.
When I bought my 360 back in October, I still had some residual PC elitism when it came to playing shooters on the console. Especially the military shooters where precision shooting tied more into the gameplay, than say, Halo with its futuristic weapons and explosions. About the time, COD 3 came out I had laxed my opinion a bit and strongly considered buying the game. Then, I started reading up on COD 4 and decided to save my money for a more promising experience.
Now back to the meatheads - I think what annoyed me the most was that the non-stop colorful commentary I was hearing during every session was of the traditional 12 year-old Halo style, but it was coming from all older players. In my two hours of play, I only heard one pre-pubescent voice try and talk smack. Of course, he was immediately put down by the guy who insisted on describing every bullet he was shooting while making up an excuse for every miss. I should have just taken my headset off and enjoyed the game for what it is (it's as fantastic as I expected by the way), but it was one of those carwreck-like experiences where I couldn't stop listening.
I'll be playing this weekend a lot more, hopefully I run into some different crowds. Are my hopes too high? Is COD becoming the other game the frat boys play when they are bored with Madden and Halo?
dude, it might just be, although i like the game, people on it are just stupid, i got cursed at for like a minute straight becuase i got out of the way of an enemy grenade
Although my mic is messed up ( as well as my controller for some reason...) i can still hear all the trash talkin' and most of it comes off as racist comments towards me. And the sad thing is, so far in the beta, all i've encountered are older players. If it were simply some PO'ed kid, i'd simply be "meh" but its not...
Well, it was trash-talk free and little kid free before it was a public beta. That shows you something, eh? I liked it before a public beta. Kinda sounding selfish here, but it was nice when I could just boot it up and get into a game witho- DOWNLOADING GAME SETTINGS
@darkwing - that's exactly what i am talking about. wish i could have seen it before public beta
@lemon - I know that you are right, it is unavoidable. It's just annoying that we have to adjust around them and not the other way around. And I'm a sucker for thinking this would change any time soon.
Amen, Lemon. If you want to have an enjoyable experience on XBL then start playing with people you know aren't stupid as hell. I just ignore the stupid people or make fun of them.. most of the time its pretty easy to shut one of them down. I play with my friends on most every game I play so we usually team up on stupid kids or immature people. Seriously just find some friends on XBL and play with them it makes the experience far more enjoyable.
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about me
26... someone called me decrepit the other day.
Seriously though, we have to be the greatest gaming generation. Growing up with it, watching it scare the shit out of the public so many times. And finally over take all forms of other entertainment. My thirst for games and its culture never fades, only my time to consume it.
Mainly I pay attention to anything dealing with the growth of the gaming industry. It's about respect as an art and entertainment form at this point. I think I have a "violence in gaming" debate at least once every other day at this point. When I'm not on a soapbox, I'm pretty much staring at the next shiny and ridiculous object that I can find, pointing and laughing at it, looking around to see if anyone else sees what I see.
Right now, Rock Band is about the only game I play consistently. That and random XBLA games.
Series Castlevania
Legacy of Kain
WarCraft
Burnout
God of War
Worms
Fav Features intuitive, fun, memorable gameplay
storyline or characters with some teeth to it
scares the shit out of me
addictive multiplayer that's light on the douchebags
watching someone Wii the first time
XBLA demos
Salivating Burnout Paradise
Assassin's Creed
Shiny Rock Band
COD 4
Super Mario Galaxy
Picross DS
No Shame in It Viva Pinata
Animal Crossing
Puzzle Quest
WoW
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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You can like.. turn them off you know.
You can like.. turn them off you know.
dude, it might just be, although i like the game, people on it are just stupid, i got cursed at for like a minute straight becuase i got out of the way of an enemy grenade
haha, but I still have the false hope that with one of these games, I won't have to turn them off
Although my mic is messed up ( as well as my controller for some reason...) i can still hear all the trash talkin' and most of it comes off as racist comments towards me. And the sad thing is, so far in the beta, all i've encountered are older players. If it were simply some PO'ed kid, i'd simply be "meh" but its not...
Well, it was trash-talk free and little kid free before it was a public beta. That shows you something, eh? I liked it before a public beta. Kinda sounding selfish here, but it was nice when I could just boot it up and get into a game witho- DOWNLOADING GAME SETTINGS
We need a way to murder through a TV.
@darkwing - that's exactly what i am talking about. wish i could have seen it before public beta
@lemon - I know that you are right, it is unavoidable. It's just annoying that we have to adjust around them and not the other way around. And I'm a sucker for thinking this would change any time soon.
Amen, Lemon. If you want to have an enjoyable experience on XBL then start playing with people you know aren't stupid as hell. I just ignore the stupid people or make fun of them.. most of the time its pretty easy to shut one of them down. I play with my friends on most every game I play so we usually team up on stupid kids or immature people. Seriously just find some friends on XBL and play with them it makes the experience far more enjoyable.