TV News Report Warns of "Cyber-Bullying" on Xbox Live

[KiKiweaky]

snip

I can see what your saying to be fair, the kids shouldnt be there in the first place, playing call of duty etc... but you and I both know that there are thousands of them online regardless of a games rating. I generally play on the pc so I hear alot less of them but my brief stint on xbox live I'd say I heard more kids talking than I did adults.

This bullying thing that you seem to agree with as a form of 'self policing' is a bit much though, the guys firing the insults arent doing it just because its a kid they're talking too I doubt many douchebags online give a toss what age the person they are insulting is. If the person being bullied deserves it or brought it on themselves all well and good fire away but if its just someone playing the game who's a bit younger than most, whats the problem?

 

[Angry_squirrel]

And for once I agree with some criticism the media levels at games.
I'm 18, and very thick skinned, and even I can sometimes find myself being made to feel like shit by some wanker on xbox live.
Seriously, the online gaming community can be horrible

 

[German Agent_v1legacy]

I been bullied by some people and they even sent messages saying "I suck" and some brat say that don't know how to some types of game when I was playing Capture the Flag.

 

[Fralf]

Man I can't believe people would say such things online, the only games where people act like that is in shooters, and what kind of responsible parent would let them play one of those.

 

[lordlillen]

ok i have to get something off my chest
THE GAME ISNT MADE FOR CHILDREN YOU STUPID TWATS!
christ parents are getting stupid it an M rated game children arent supposed to play it in the first place.
Captcha: oops a daisy
i think captcha is gaining sentiance.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

It's an M-rated game, They shouldn't even be playing this. It's kinda common sense.

 

[Ratboy1337]

If you don't want your kid being exposed to all the trash talking weirdies of Call of Duty, then don't buy them the game. I mean, COD is rated M for mature, that should tip the parent off that this game may not be suitable for their youngster

 

[Ratboy1337]

No kidding. I was surprised when the article wasn't just there to slander gaming.

 

[Pebblig]

HOW has it taken this long to realise that this happens? The Xbox has been out nearly 7 years!

You don't want to have your children sworn at? Don't by your fucking 10 year old kid 18 rated shooters.

If anything, it is the OTHER kids of the same age that hurl abuse around. If only people over 18 actually bought the game, I'd guarantee it'd be mildly friendlier =p

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

If my kid looked like that I would swear at him too.

 

[TwilightShadow1]

If the parent thinks the child in question can take and handle the violence in question, then yes. A M-Rating doesn't mean that its only people who are 18 and older are the only people playing, its just advising you to only let people that age play.Just for the record, I agree with you, but I wasn't being exclusive to violence... I was just thinking about Gears of War at the time, but that's why I put the 'etc.' there. Yeah, totally. If the kid can handle violence and whatnot, then it probably doesn't matter, but as for letting them jump off the deep end, well, that's another story entirely.

 

[Realitycrash]

Seeing as how the WORST players I've met online sound like 8 year old...

Maybe parents should parent their kids before bitching about others'.

This is pretty much the truth.

Also...isn't CoD (and other multiplayer games where people would have mics) rated M? I mean...why would you have your 8 year old kids playing that in the first place?

Not saying that because a game is rated M, that gives people free reign to spew verbal abuse on whoever draws their ire, but it's kind of...yeah.

This.
Why the hell is your 8-year old playing Call of Duty?.
You think he is mature enough for violent games and realistically protrayed violence, but not to hear crude remarks?

All the above, seconded. Interesting that no mention of this is made in the news piece.

That said, online voice chat really IS a cesspool. The vileness of people online is why my Xbox Live account was dead after one month. I don't want to spend my free time with people like that.

Same.
One of the top reasons I stopped playing Halo 2 online.

The original news report doesn't mention COD specifically - for some reason the escapist writer did

Can you mention a few games an 8-year old can play on Xbox-Live and NOT be subjected to this kind of trashtalk?

I don't know, and that's besides the point.

Am I the only one here annoyed that the writer grossly (intentionally or otherwise) mis-represented a news story?

No, it's pretty bad. My point was simply that if ALL games on Live has this trashtalk, CoD could just have been an example.

 

[Shinigami214]

Look at all these knee-jerk reactions.

First of all, the original article never mentions COD by name. It's entirely possible that someone's gonna talk trash on a game that is totally appropriate for your kid's age.

Second of all, no one is blaming Microsoft or the entire games industry in general. They're just saying "be aware of what your kid does online". I thought it was pretty sound and reasonable advice.

Third of all, you're gamers. Of course this news is old to you. But what about someone who does not play games, and doesn't have the slightest clue as to what an ex bawks is? Does the fact that it's obvious to you make the advice any less sound? Does it mean they shouldn't even mention it? No. The government spends a shit ton of money on anti-smoking PSAs and yet people die of lung cancer all the time.

Thank you.

I was beginning to lose hope that anyone else had noticed that the original article this supposed news article cited as a source did not mentioned Call of Duty in any way.

Seems like everyone was too busy rage-facing about a parent letting his 8-year-old play COD in order to invalidate his concerns.

It's okay, I feel much the same way. I saw your original post and was like "oh look, a light in the darkness".

I mean, given the amount of trash talking I do with my friends in games like Mario Party/Kart, I don't think it's only the rated M games that have this problem.

The knee jerk reactions come from the past when this sort of thing was blown out of proportions, the actual advice in the article is sound, but gamer are a tad tired of their media being called a child's toy...and then having people getting pissed off when their children play it.

The reactions are a tad over the top; since the age when games were the root of all evil has pretty much died down. We're sorta getting out of the constantly aware phase from back when the games industry as a whole had a massive bulls-eye painted onto it.

re: The over-the-top-reactions: Doesn't help when the 'article' makes the unfounded claim that the father is such a bad parent that he lets his 8-year-old children play COD, a Mature rated game.

 

[tehweave]

TV News Report Warns of "Cyber-Bullying" on Xbox Live

Wow! Really? This is new news to me!

This is 2005, right?

 

[Shinigami214]

No, it's pretty bad. My point was simply that if ALL games on Live has this trashtalk, CoD could
just have been an example.

Fair point.

I wouldn't know personally. While I have an Xbox, I don't have Xbox Live. I use my PC for online gaming, and the last FPS I played online was COD1. Don't recall being exposed to much abuse.