It’s Time To Kill Party Chat
Since the November 2008 NXE dashboard update on the Xbox 360, I saw a problem coming before the headlights were even turned on. Microsoft’s ‘Party Chat’ feature is the problem and its rearing its ugly head more and more with even developers requesting that the feature be killed in certain games. Thankfully it would appear certain future games on the horizon will prevent users from using party chat whilst playing multiplayer on their titles, and whilst some people will moan, it’s for the better good. So many great tactical based games have been seemingly ruined by the Party Chat feature, with people huddling together in their cliques all randomly playing different games and segregating themselves from the outside world. It begs the question, why?
I spoke with a few of my Live friends about this and allot of it seems to be down to sportsmanship on Xbox, they enjoy their close nit community because it gives them not only a sense of inclusion but it keeps them in cotton wool against ultra-competitive players, racists and just potty mouthed idiots. It’s also kept them away from the camaraderie found in team based games. Whilst I understand whole heartedly why Xbox Live Party’s do have a purpose, it’s damaging live as a whole and making Xbox Live feel like a ghost town. It’s become so bad lately that I’m even starting to turn to the PS3 to get my fix for team based objectives.
Party chat also creates a sense of cliquing. Have you even been invited into a party with one of your friends and people from their friends list? You often find yourself either struggling to get a word in or just finding one of their friends just fucking irritating. Microsoft need to act fast with the very chat feature that is taking the life out of the party of Xbox Live. I hope developers climb on board in their masses to kill the party chat feature on games that genuinely need the ability to talk to each other, I hope this all happens sooner rather than later, so I can start enjoying my online experience again. It maybe fine and dandy for those that have a core group of friends to play the same game together on, but for those still looking for an excellent group of people to play with, this is our worst nightmare right now.
November 11, 2009
#1
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
November 12, 2009
#2
someone should boycott this let xbox now the party chat i the shit and how the can u cheat if ur friends are playing different game its point less ms keep it coming with new stuff for live man… playstation company give psn a fee of 20 dollars for 3 moths or 40 a year so u serves could be better….
November 12, 2009
#3
FUCK U!!!
November 12, 2009
#4
Huh? I’ve been playing MW2 and it still uses a party system in-game, where by my friends are secluded from the rest of the server and we can chat private without the NXE party system the names come up blue. The only thing bad aboput the party system was seen on GoW 2 and it’s weird you’ve not brought it up at all, and that’s the fact you could chat to dead people and tell them where other people are, the same can be exploited in other mp games where you’re on different sides. But as I said MW2 still uses its own private party chat system.
November 12, 2009
#5
kinda disagree, i like the feature and hope it stays, what you said is true though, there are times where you run into jerks, but you just have to ignore them, i’m mexican and as soon as someone hears me speak spanish the sh#% hits the wall
November 12, 2009
#6
An additional problem with the system (mentioned by at least 1 developer) is that opposing teams occasionally use party chat to talk to each other, allowing for easy kills on one side, and anyone not in the party chat will probably be left with no support while the other team keeps spawn killing them until the match is over. Overall, I think that party chat is good for single-player campaign or dashboard chat, but it should be temporarily stopped when you are playing online multiplayer (including co-op mode), so that you can actually talk with the other people you are playing with, making you less stressed because they do what you want, and them less stressed because they can give you orders, like “snipe the opposing team from that building while we steal their flag”
Sorry for the long comment, I just get into big rants sometimes.
November 12, 2009
#7
I don’t feel as if Party Chat is “killing” anything about Live. Nobody wants to spend however much time they may spend, listening to people ranging from 11-30, screaming out of control, dropping N bombs, F bombs and other obscenities. Better to join a party group as do your thing. And for those who’s griping about giving away your position in whatever game you playing — it’s not like your teammates that’s not in a chat can’t do the same. 10 to 1, they’ll do the exact same thing
November 12, 2009
#8
So you would like to eliminate Party Chat because when you aren’t in a party you can’t talk to anyone?
The lack of party chat in Modern Warfare 2 is horrible. If your idea of “enjoying my online experience again” is being forced to listen to racists, jackasses, and high pitched kids than please play your games on the PS3.
The online experience of MW2 is being ruined by the lack of party chat. I enjoy playing against others online while not having to hear the garbage coming from their mouths.
November 12, 2009
#9
and** do your thing (caught my mistake)
November 12, 2009
#10
What the hell are you talking about!!! I hate talking to a bunch of inmatue racist, who always find a way to spoil all the fun!!! Even if they take away party chat, I still will not engage in any conversation!!! Not worth it!!!!!
November 12, 2009
#11
I go into party chat because most of what you hear online is racist foul mouthed garbage or the latest music hit from the latest pop star broadcast through the tiny whiny live headset. They need to fix the Avoid Player feature.
November 12, 2009
#12
Your just plain wrong. Party chat is the saving grace of xbox live because you don’t have to listen to all the screamers, whiners, racists etc. Having it disabled in modern warfare 2 is very frustrating and combine the lack of easy communication with the multitude of game dropping glitches getting a group of buddies together to play mw2 is extremely frustrating.
That’s to say nothing of the thousands of gamers who still don’t talk and or don’t even have a mic plugged in. I haven’t had a single mw2 match that I’ve randomly joined have an entire team with mics that talk and mw2 disables the party chat when entering matchmaking.
So your argument is flawed, party chat isn’t the problem, its the xbox live community of which most wont talk and those that do won’t shut up. I really don’t need to hear the other team scream at the end of the match or the crappy music/static people blast. And why should I have my buddies voice drowned out by the jerks on the other team?
Party chat is a mute button for 99% of the uncouth @ssholes on xbox live, in mw2 i now have to mute the opposing team as soon as I enter a lobby with them just so I can talk to my own buddies.
From the sound of this post I presume your one of those lame whiny never shuts up, I never want to hear your voice a.d.h.d. jerk offs with mommy issues. You deserve to be muted and even if they take party chat away you’ll still be playing ghost towns because your getting muted as soon as i enter a room. The bright side however is that your permanetly muted across all of xbox live.
Have a nice day.
November 12, 2009
#13
I agree with the “avoid annoying/racist/loudmusic” crowd. How about, as an alternative, they put a feature in the game to easily mute anyone not in your party, or in your friends list? I’m already sick of people yelling into their mics during the load screens – the one time you can’t tell who it is to mute.
November 12, 2009
#14
Are you retarded? The Party Chat feature is the best thing thats happened to the 360 and that makes it better than the ps3.
Now I realize everybody is entitled to their opinion and all BUT, just because YOU don’t like it does it make it some HUGE FLAW that needs fixing.
Have you really thought about this? Maybe the reason you see it has a HUGE problem is because A LOT OF PEOPLE USE IT? DUR.
MEANING ITS A POSITIVE….NOT A NEGATIVE!
Oh and I kind of understand why some game developers don’t want it in there mutliplayer games BUT it kind of ruins the experience.
For instance I was dissapointed because of this feature but I kept positve thinking that MW2’s multiplayer would be more tactical and cooperative…THE TOTAL OPPOSITE WAS TRUE..PEOPLE ARE ASSHOLES ESPECIALLY 10 year old who think they own the world.
So when I play MW2, me and my friends just mute everyone except each other…thus creating our own private chat (100X worse though cus we cant talk to our other friends playing other games.)
November 12, 2009
#15
You want Party Chat to be killed because YOU don’t like it? I personally have been using it to chat with a friend that’s moved to Florida and we actually get to talk to each other now. We’ve been enjoying running through the L4D2 demo and chatting when I’m off playing most of the single player games I own and while he’s off playing Halo.
Maybe some people don’t LIKE playing with random shit talkers on Live. Party Chat negates the single biggest problem the 360 has: The fanbase. It may suck for people that have not made many friends, but for other people that have real life friends to talk to it’s a great service and I would be very upset if I were to find it was disabled in the majority of games to come.
I can see that this is a problem for competitive games, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Party Chat restrictions should be much more specified instead of being banned completely.
November 13, 2009
#16
I like the Party Chat feature, game’s should do what Modern Warfare are going and stopping it from working in certain game modes. It’s really annoying on first person shooters. But then yet again it’s handy if your all playing different games.
March 3, 2010
#17
Fuck off daft twat. I do have an Xbox and team based games are fucked because of Party Chat, now jog on.
March 3, 2010
#18
Who the hell are you talking to. Well i think partyy chat is good cos why would i want to speak to weirdo’s on the other team etc.