I was playing Destiny the other day on my Xbox One, when I realized, Online multiplayer just isn't as fun or the same as it used to be.
I first got on Xbox Live back in February of 2007, when I bought an Xbox 360 which was bundled with Need for Speed Most Wanted. I also bought Tomb Raider Legend, Burnout Revenge, F.E.A.R. and Condemned Criminal Origins as well. The first game I played online was Burnout Revenge (Very Fun Game). I remember being in multiplayer lobbies, and having actual conversations. Talking about the game, or other games, or life in general. There were for the most part, normal, reasonable, educated individuals. We would also see when each other would be online, and have gaming nights as a group, I miss those people.
One of the things that I absolutely enjoyed about playing against actual people online was, the competition. I had played through a bunch of the races in Burnout, where the AI was only so competitive, and after half to three quarters of the course, you were out in front for the rest of the race. I remember there was a 5 race series online, where another gamer and I swapped placing first and second all the way through the series, it was awesome, and lots of fun.
Then, I decided to play online with F.E.A.R., which is an awesome First Person Shooter (and one of my absolute favorite games made), and in my opinion, is a million and a half times better than any Call of Duty. I immediately fell in love with this game, and it's online community, and to this day the year and a half I spent playing that game online remains my absolute favorite online gaming experience. It is also where I met one of my best friends online, he lives in PA, and I in MN, but we became fast friends, and a great duo online. We got to the point where we were number 1 and 2 on the Xbox Live leader boards for F.E.A.R., and would take on just us two vs six others in Capture the Flag, and win!
Fast forward to October 2015: I currently have my Xbox Live settings to all communications blocked except people on my friends list, which has less than 10 people. It's sad, just sad.
Why is this? Well, the online community in general has gone so far down the toilet, it is just pathetic. So many unattended 8 year olds screaming obscenities into the mic, for no other reason than they can because some worthless parent is using the Xbox as their babysitter. Don't get me wrong, I am not against blurting out a good hard FUCK here or there, I mean it is a great adjective to use to express frustration, but seriously, it is really bad online. Or all the people calling each other homos, fag, etc.. I just don't need to hear that shit constantly.
Then there are the music people. I love music (if you are a follower of my blog, you are fully aware) and enjoy listening to some music when I am playing online, but I don't feel the need to share it with the whole lobby, or sing to my fellow teammates. Seriously people, have a little common courtesy and respect. You also have the people who are playing online in a room with their friends, family or whatever, and feel the need to carry on a conversation, which we have to hear one side, turn off your mic asshat!
Speaking of mics. Turtle Beach makes very nice headsets for online gaming. I love my Turtle Beaches I have for the 360 (too bad they wont work with my Xbox One, Oh Well will buy another set), when playing online multiplayer it really helps to hear where people are. I can tell if they are in front of or behind me, to the left or right, hear a grenade rolling, they are awesome! But, the mic is also overly sensitive, so when using them, Courteous players turn the volume down or off on their television, otherwise the Turtle Beach mic picks it up, and broadcast it back through the mic.
Overall online gaming can be, and is generally fun, but I find myself playing more and more Single Player campaigns these days, Forza Motorsport 6 is great, and I am having lots of fun. Wolfenstein the New Order and The Old Blood are both great games in this regard as well. I do miss the old days though, when people where actually decent online, worked together, and just more pleasant to interact with. However, these days the normal, reasonable, pleasant, educated individuals seem to the minority, and that makes me sad. But, it is just a symptom of the degradation of today's society. That underground bunker is looking better and better everyday.
That's my bitch for tonight, have fun y'all!
