The Xbox Silence

[MercenaryCanary]

Sound of Silence
It just merely started as a simple conversation during a rousing match of Call of Duty 4. Then I brought up a question to my friend whom I met over Xbox Live.
"Hey Brandon, have you ever thought about the downside of the Private Group Chat?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that we could be meeting a bunch of awesome people if we were actually talking to them, instead of being in a mysterious silence to others."
It brought up an entire hour long discussion about why it was just generally bad for this update to happen.

http://cdn1.gamepro.com/article_img/gamepro/207980-1.jpg?rand=B704A1BC-9050-95CF-E7A9FBB75741AC1B

I really did like the new experience up until that moment.
Then I started to think about what had happened since the update had been released.
It was what you could never expect from that loud, obnoxious, ego-sized community.
Pure silence.
No voices.
Just constant gunfire.

It made the games like Halo or Call of Duty just lose their overall feeling that you were playing against someone, instead feeling like a smart A.I. encounter.
I know that this is mainly what most people would prefer, considering the amount of idiots and other types of people that can be found on Xbox Live but you have to honestly think about what it would be like, not only for those seasoned players who've been on Live for a time before the update, but also those just now getting on Live after the update.

Imagine that you just boot up the system and play L4D. Everyone is in a party except you. You talk to them but hear no response. You tell them your sorry but you don't get a response. Its basically, again, just like playing with or against a smart A.I. that has morals(Team Killing,Healing,ETC.)

So I ask those who read, to give me their thoughts on the sound of silence that has covered Xbox Live's once loud community.

 

[D_987]

Isn't that what the "Join pary" button is for?; if Im on a team in L4D, the players will (99% of the time) invite me to their party.

I havn't noticed much of a difference to be honest.

 

[Gormers1]

When youre in a party, you still hear the who arent in your party talk from the speakers. And your only a few buttonpushes away from switching between party and in-game chat. Werent it for that the xbox blade constantly freezes, of course. Also, the partys Im in tend to get pretty big, and often I get friends from them.

I say it was a great and necessary addiction because Xbox live is slowly getting more and more dipshits in it. I remember the good xbox days, where I could have interesting conversations with random people, even one time when I was playing midtown madness we stopped playing and just talked (there was a chick there).

BTW this happens over pc too. I for once chat with my friends over skype when I play L4D. But I still communicate to people if they say something to me.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

I'm very ignorant of Xbox Live, so what happened? Does NXE (I think that's the name of the update) do away with voice-chatting, or have so many people muted their mics because of assholes on Xbox Live?

 

[ihategravity]

I do agree, particuarly on CoD:WaW's Nazi zombies there is nothing worse then being the only person who seems to beileve in the power of vocal comunication and teamwork. I constantly find myself being baraged by zombies that sombody could of have told me where there, but no they are to busy talking to save my life.

On the other hand the second worse thing is being stuck on Halo 3 with a bunch of 5 year olds all shouting I GOT A KILL in the highest voice possible.

Still i think communication is better.

 

[The Rusk]

When youre in a party, you still hear the who arent in your party talk from the speakers. And your only a few buttonpushes away from switching between party and in-game chat. Werent it for that the xbox blade constantly freezes, of course. Also, the partys Im in tend to get pretty big, and often I get friends from them.

I say it was a great and necessary addiction because Xbox live is slowly getting more and more dipshits in it. I remember the good xbox days, where I could have interesting conversations with random people, even one time when I was playing midtown madness we stopped playing and just talked (there was a chick there).

Yeah I miss those days... Kudos on the avatar aswell.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

I'm very ignorant of Xbox Live, so what happened? Does NXE (I think that's the name of the update) do away with voice-chatting, or have so many people muted their mics because of assholes on Xbox Live?

It has a new feature that lets you go into a private chat room. I like it but still, if you try and enter a random party with someone you don't know they usually say "kick him" or something like that.

 

[Gormers1]

Yeah I miss those days... Kudos on the avatar aswell.

Heheh, thanks

 

[Handofpwn]

Yeah, fortunately I played a game with some escapists last night and when my friend joined I didn't hear one word about kicking him.

 

[qbert4ever]

Eh, I only talk to my friends on Live. We don't go into party chat, but if I'm not with them then most of the time I plug my mic in, turn it all the way down, and set it on the floor. There are too many idiots online that meeting one or two cool guys every month just isn't worth getting the blister on my thumb from pressing the mute button so much.

Of course, for the most part I only play Team Deathmatch on CoD4 and Halo, so that may have something to do with it.

 

[Arionis]

I personally agree with you. Some of my favorite L4D matches have been where I've been able to converse with my team. We don't even really speak of strategy (well, sometimes. "Arionis, don't punch the tank in the head when you're on a ledge.") but we just have a good time, bullshitting and chatting along about nothing, or commenting on what's going on in the game. (Everyone, look at this zombie, it's stuck on it's back 6 feet up on the wall) *Both Infected and Humans were just sitting there laughing our asses off at it*

It's overall very pleasing and fun to talk with a group. But when you can't be heard, or hear others, it's....not. 8/

 

[bioVOLTAGE]

I think that it's nice to be able to talk to more than one friend at a time but you do have a point about it in co-op games. Most, Like Left 4 Dead need to have the ability to talk to your team mates at a moments notice. On the other hand, if your going into a game like that and not prepared to talk to the rest of the team, then your just part of the problem. I think that, like most things in life, you need to make the choice to either be with your friends, or be in the game. Not both.