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.