Firstly, I love Nintendo. Seriously, I would have Miyamoto's babies if he'd have me. I try my hardest not to be a fanboy, but I have a really hard time hearing or saying anything negative about Nintendo and its franchises. That being said...

I'm getting REALLY fed up with Nintendo trying to tell me what I want regarding friend codes and the lack of communication in multiplayer. The most recent Smash DOJO update talked about the random multiplayer matches, and I quote "Names won't be shown and messages won't be sent. Neither your identity nor your opponents' will be known, so you can play without any worries." No Nintendo, there are worries. I'm worried that my multiplayer matches in SSBB are going to be totally bland because the "people" I'm fighting are no longer people when all evidence of them is hidden or suppressed. Now they're robots, albeit hopefully smarter robots. If I venture into the online world, I'm well aware of the
dangers of strangers having their way with my young mind (I'm actually 21, but you get the point.) I know there are going to be people who will insult my voice, my size, my sexuality, my skin color, the size of my ass, etc. Its an ACCEPTABLE RISK in order to enjoy the experience more fully. I want to hear these things because it essentially gives me permission to say the same to them. Why won't you let me do that?

All that shit in the above paragraph. I could live without it. But what about when I'm playing with my friends? In matches with friends, I'm playing with people that I know and enjoy the company of. Why the hell can't I talk to them? Why can't I chat with them with more than 4 pre-configured messages? I'm playing with them because I like their personality, to include their particular flavor of verbal abuse. I don't play with my friends because I enjoy the challenge of defeating a better opponent (most of the time). I want to play with them because I want to socialize with them. How the hell do I do that with the options that you have presented me? With the current system, they're no longer friends. Again, they're just another robot.

Whenever the subject of friend codes or the subject of communicating with friends is addressed by Nintendo, it's always the same answer. "Nintendo consumers are happy with the current system." No we're not. I don't know what "consumers" you talked to, but I haven't seen a positive comment on the friend code system from anyone, anywhere. Not
from parents, not from old folks, and certainly not from my friends and I. Whoever conducted your research for you, fire them. They forgot about a particular group, the GAMERS. I'm not really sure how... Its not like we're hiding our thoughts on the system. We're not hard to find... In fact, we're pretty vocal about how short-sighted your
decision to implement such a system truly is.

I've been incredibly loyal to you through the course of my life. Growing up, I got money twice a year. $50 for my birthday (used to buy singular b-day present) and $50 for x-mas (ditto). You want to know where that money went every single year? Yeah, I bought more products for my NES/SNES/N64/GC. All I want from you is the ability to communicate with my buddies in-game, whether it be through a separate USB keyboard or headset. Let my friends be more than the alternate AI. If you REALLY have to protect the kiddies, implement more flexible parental controls or restrict chat in random matches entirely. Not letting me chat with my friends, whom I have willingly added to my friend list, is down right insulting to my intelligence.