The "Screaming Children on Mics" Argument

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

That's the thing. I shouldn't have to mute anyone. Let's just put a couple of games side-by-side here. When I play TF2 I never mute anyone, everyone is polite (as far as gamers go), funny and interesting to talk to. When I play COD on the other-hand, I routinely have mute-all on purely because I don't want to deal with the immature bullshit that comes out of those kid's mouths. I shouldn't have to deal with that shit, and yet there seems to be a huge concentration of those sorts of people in that player-base.

Why should they have less right to play COD than you?

Because they're kids and not old enough to legally buy it so they shouldn't even be playing it in the first place.

 

[TeeBs]

After reading some of the comments I must say, I am a little bit annoyed that people actually complain about having to must so many people. I can mute a entire COD Blops session in less then 15 seconds. Jesus Christ you people are lazy.

Yes the bar to PC gaming vs Console gaming is raised. so kids more often then not play consoles. Honestly though, I don't have to deal with kids that much on live, or just annoying kids. The only time I really have a problem is every 1 in 10 games. But I guess we live in a society were 1 in 10 means 9 in 10 and every little annoyance is magnified.

The argument that kids shouldn't be playing it though is fair enough though.

 

[chemistry35]

I find it incredibly pretentious when people claim that their leisure time is being ruined by kids using the mic. As shocking as it is to think, other people have leisure time too, and that includes those kids. If it really is bothering you that much, use the mute function, if it's a random server, leave, and if it's a server you regular on, talk to a moderator if it really is that bad.

Secondly, the problem with the rating system is that it is far too broad. There are many shooters that wouldn't be appropriate for a 13-year-old, but would for a 15-year-old, but that game gets an M rating because there is not a 15+ rating in the States. I'd prefer to see an age based, more specific rating on games, or perhaps a description of what is in a game so parents can make choices based on what they know about their children as opposed to thoughtlessly decide based on a rating system many times proven to be insufficient and in some cases inaccurate.

Also, by QQ'ing about kids who talk using a mic, ESPECIALLY if they are not screaming and are actually participating in teamwork, you are discouraging these kids from continuing to be gamers. You could much more easily just mute them.

That's my opinion, at least.

 

[Sigma Van Lockheart]

well ok here is my experience when I play on a console online you routinely hear a kid who is about 13 years old talking about how he has sex so much that or they swear till they are blue and if you say "hey kid shut up" they you get more of them yelling and screaming. Now when I play TF2 on the pc i can usually have a good conversation with someone I?m not going to lie there are also kids who play the pc version of tf2 but most servers have rules like "under 12's cannot use the mic" that or the rest of the server tells them to shut up although the best counter had to be on gmod in RPDM if you had not yet hit puberty you would be out right killed for using a mic awww I miss those old days.

 

[Spookimitsu]

That's the thing. I shouldn't have to mute anyone. Let's just put a couple of games side-by-side here. When I play TF2 I never mute anyone, everyone is polite (as far as gamers go), funny and interesting to talk to. When I play COD on the other-hand, I routinely have mute-all on purely because I don't want to deal with the immature bullshit that comes out of those kid's mouths. I shouldn't have to deal with that shit, and yet there seems to be a huge concentration of those sorts of people in that player-base.

Why should they have less right to play COD than you?

Havent read the rest of the thread, still working on it.

But I still just wanted to point out, The poster SL33TBL1ND never said that the children have less right to play CoD than older players. That is potential thread derailment right there. I'll continue reading to see how this thing turns out.

sidebar:
I dont mind little kids playing, I enjoy playing with my nephew, But I do hate it when they are on the mics. I have even gone so far to tell his parents, "letting him play is fine, but for the love of all that is holy, do NOT let him use the mic."

Edited: Let's be honest, most of the stuff I hear on the xbox's mic (when said in conflict or anger or disrespect) would automatically garnish an R rating if it were a movie. I have yet to play any multiplayer shooters on the PS3, so I am unable to advise you there (incidentally, other multiplayer games on the PS3, the communities were generally friendlier, although not as many people on mics).

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Black Ops is an 18 anyway here in the UK so theoretically there shouldn't be screaming 13 year olds playing anyway. But we shouldn't have to resort to muting every player we meet, its just courtesy. You wouldn't walk down the street screaming and swearing at strangers about how you "did their mum" last night (Well, most kids wouldn't I hope) So why is it accepted as part of online gaming. People who play for a good time shouldn't have to put up with immature behavior online

Anonymity. People do it over the internet because they can get away with it with no consequence. People don't do it in real life to strangers because they'd probably end up getting a punch in the face.

 

[William Dickbringer]

So. We've all heard this before, the console fan-bases are shit because most of the people who play them are children who swear and shout inanely into their mics.

Ok, what does this have to do with anything? Yeah, sure, they're annoying, but there are mute buttons.

I just read a reason why (apparently) Black Ops was bad as being "screaming children and campers galore". This makes no sense. Sure, campers can be annoying, but screaming children do not affect the game or how it plays.

Seriously, learn what a mute button is and how it works.

its not about how a game plays, its about you getting a good experience from playing the game. as in most things SCREAMING CHILDREN RUIN THAT EXPERIENCE!
[sub]did you read that as me yelling? u mad now?[/sub]

YES i THINK THEY DID BUT I DON'T THINK THEY HEARD YOU TRY BOLDING IT
O.T. it's the main reason why I go into party with my friends playing games they mute everyone so it's just your friends and you talking

 

[Brodie Jenkins]

Why should they have less right to play COD than you?

Rating(s)
ACB: MA15+ (PS3, X360, Wii & PC version),[8] M (DS version)
BBFC: 18[9]
CERO: Z
ESRB: M / T (DS version)
PEGI: 18+ / 16+ (DS version)
USK: 18 (Edited)
That's why

 

[William Ossiss]

When I play TF2 I never mute anyone, everyone is polite

except when they attack F2P players.

COD is a bad example, anyway. it's not just children that are complete and utter asshats. it's teenagers, adults. it's the rampant "your mom" jokes that apparently never get old. it's the pseudo anonymity of the internet that allows people to believe that there are no repercussions to what they say or do. and some people are just assholes.

it is exactly why i mute anyone who is slightly confrontational. im not playing a game to listen to you be a moron. im playing to have fun. if your going to try and ruin that for me, you can go fuck yourself. your muted. tons of people ***** and whine when i mute them. they wanted that attention i refused to give them.

ive been in plenty of games where everyone is a good sport. at the very end "good game" is said. those i enjoy. so console games can have their ups and downs. as can pc games. stupidity is rampant, and not exclusive to one or the other.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Typical console user/BlOps player attitude who doesn't value teamwork at all. The reason why I switched over to PC gaming.

The elitism in this place stinks.

The "typical console user" attitude is identical to the typical PC gamer attitude. Any differences you may think you have encountered is a product of your imagination. Having played on live for a very long time, and having played on PC for even longer, sometimes even the same games on both platforms, let me tell you, there is no fucking difference.

The one key difference is that if you are playing a PC game which allows dedicated servers (most of them) the fuckwits screaming at you are more likely to get banned. If you frequent that server you wont run into them again. The amount of fuckwits screaming is the same. And its very close to ZERO.

If you ***** about little kids with mics you are clearly doing so for one of the following reasons; you need something to ***** about or you need to claim superiority of platform X because platform Z has more kids with mics.

Well given the whole BF:BC2 thing with teamwork that got something released on PC first does tend to show that PC players do tend to participate more as a team. Banning people is the whole point of there being less screamers in PC games while you can never have that same community on a console game but maybe Gears 3 will change that. Remember same goes for you as goes for them if you point a finger at someone else there are probably 3 pointing back at you. While typical users may be the same on console it is harder to eliminate screamers forever due to client based gaming.

Yep, well, like I said, one of the massive drawbacks consoles have is no dedicated servers (run by the community), something that stinks so bad I do almost all my online gaming on the PC. Thats why the PC version of Bad Company unlocked that map first; instead of joining a random game with a bunch of random players, you can join a game where its likely you have 3 people in your team you already know and play with on a regular basis (without joining there game through the friends list).

But the thing is, there is hardly a difference between the actual players. I dont know if you have played the xbox and PS3 versions of BC2, but if you havent, something tells me you would be positively surprised with how people work together.

This is how it goes in my experience, and in the experience of others I have talked to on this, and im going to take the two big franchises as an example; in COD, its very rare to find teamwork because the game puts big emphasis on lone-wolfing in almost all game modes. The aim in a game of "team" deathmatch isnt to play as a team - its to get away from your team mates and get your killstreaks up. In BC2, you have to play as a team to win anything, so people do. And it makes no difference if youre on PC, or PS3, or XBOX; people play the same way.

I haven't played BC on consoles but I have played CoD and yes on a broad scale they are the same so hopefully dedicated servers will catch on on consoles as they do really make a big difference to setting up decent communities and improving the experience with less lag and better pings.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

I can understand the statement, "I don't like that game because I don't like the community," but for the most part, I agree with you here.
That doesn't stop CoD Black Ops from being a terrible, terrible game. But still.

 

[obex]

Sure i can mute them but it still means the fan base is shit just because you ignore a problem doesn't mean it doesn't exist/goes away in my ideal gaming world i don't have to mute people and when i used to play COD i insti muted the entire team / enemy team every game because of the undesirables that scream and swear all day long this essentially renders the voice system useless where as in other games i enjoy chatting with my teams mates.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

You should use a microphone responsibly. You don't just go screaming into some random persons ear would you?

Wow, have you ever BEEN to the internet?

I could talk about how I have run into just as many screaming kids on PC (especially in Valve games, for some reason) and etc etc, but I will just say

every game has a mute function

and be done with it.

Threads over, go home everyone.

Also, what this guy said. There's nothing wrong with having to mute people.

As for people talking about ratings:

Children aren't the only ones who have the ability to be annoying. I have muted annoying assholes of all ages in my COD playing. Kids are actually kind of rare.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I run into as much kids on PC as console - I just a) - turn my speakers off b) - call a vote to mute/kick is they continually sing/scream/whine into their MICs. So I don't see the point in claiming consoles-networks are full of 9-to-15-year-old dumbasses, as the PC does, too. And it's not just kids. NOT just kids. So you can't dump it all on them; I've had to about 50 people who weren't kids - they were assholes.

 

[SiegeJack]

I've dealt with more annoying kids online on a pc than any other console. That being said, whenever one appeared, the group I played with trolled them into oblivion.

Also, kids and online don't mix. They end up causing a lot of anger and frustration especially when it's TEAM capture the flag.

 

[Chris646]

Well, I don't play Call of Duty or Halo, but my brother does; and real life does not have a mute button.

 

[Iron Mal]

If the idea of actually having to interact with other human beings (good or bad) bothers you and detracts from the experience of the game then I have a small handful of suggestions of what you can do to improve the game for youself tenfold!

You can:

a) Unplug your headset/mic- This is a really simple one to be honest, if you don't wanna deal with people online because a small, vocal minority of them are irritating, shouty douchebags then why are you talking on a headset to begin with? Either suck it up and accept it as a nessercary evil of human interaction or elect to do without, sorry, we have a 'mute' button but no 'make everyone polite' button (yet).

b) Mute the bastards- There is a mute button for a reason. What's this I hear you say? 'I shouldn't have to use it'? In an ideal world I wouldn't have to put up with annoying arseholes on the train everyday but sadly we don't live in an ideal world. Count your blessings, at least most games come with a mute button.

c) Only talk to friends- A lot of games and consoles have an option to just talk to people you invite to talk to you (whether it be an XBL party, having MSN or Skype run in the background or whatever the PS3 version is), if random people irritate you, don't go on the chat they're in.

d) Have friends in the room- Something of a more desperate tactic here but if you want extra protection from hassle then ask a friend or two to join you (as in physically sit next to you) while you play online, this has the twofold advantage of making it harder for people to mock you successfully (safety in numbers you see) and it makes it easier for you to retaliate against others (again, multiple people laughing at the offender together has more impact than one).

e) Learn to cope with/outwit any potential problems- This one requires hard work and dedication but is well worth it. Perfect the art of the witty response, the sharp one-liner and the insulting comeback so that whenever some foolish peon dares to attack your dignity you can unleash wave after wave of verbal hellfire and let loose the vocal dogs of war! If done correctly it will be nigh impossible for anyone to successfully insult you seeing as you'll be the verbal equivilent of the Terminator, however, this could result in people muting you as well.

There, now you can scratch 'annoying players on mics' off of the list of problems you have with any game in the future seeing as I have listed and explained five effective methods of countering that problem that don't cost anything and are easy to do.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

This is why I play Halo more often than CoD but unfortuantly no place with mics is safe from screaming twelve year olds.
HIDE YOUR WIFE HIDE YO KIDS!
Honestly, I guess muting is an option but I'd rather play, say, Borderlands or SCC: CO-OP with my friends than anything else with little kids.
(My sister excluded)

And I'm not sure if you can base console fan bases off of people that aren't even in the age specifications of the game but whatever nobody likes screaming 12 year olds.

 

[Yostbeef]

I wish BFBC2 had that.I never hear anyone talking in BFBC2.Which is kind of puzzling to me,I think it's a game that communication can really be effective.Instead of just hoping a medic will chuck you a med pack if you run in front of him.None of my friends have the time to play it these days.If anybody wants have some civil conversation while playing BFBC2 just shoot me your Gamer Tag

 

[jordz0005]

I personally (and i'm 13) believe that those kids can either A: die in a fire seeing as they are not even the proper age to be playing black ops (it's like MA 15+) or B: they're parents need to stop drinking and actually parent them.