After years of saying I would never go online and play games I've finally broken down and been playing a few titles on XBOX Live. One major problem I've been running into is finding other "grownups" to game with. While sometimes it's not bad to game with kids most of the time the screaming, constant "gay" cracks, hooting, and assorted idiot behavior of teenagers is maddening. I know I can just turn off the headphones but that takes something away from the online experience.

Any of you folks know of an older gamer group?

Mature rational people on Live? That's just preposterous! I have yet to see any great number of people with decent grammar and temperment playing Live so I've long snce turned off the mic. It's just less painful than listening to the angry wails of children.

I used to regularly play GOW, and play a decent amount of COD4 at this point.

I did find with GOW a kind of social networking - I'd find one guy out of 8 that was in my age bracket, then another, etc. It was a little painful at the beginning, but after a while I ended up playing almost exclusively with a group of players my age.

So there's me, and some guys I know. I think that's it.

Maybe we should make an escapist old man clan - we can play on private chat and lose. Good times.

They are around, but seriously there are many people in this world who are just simply maladjusted individuals. I do find that people I play against on COD4/RSV/GRAW over PSN are generally alright so I know there are people on Live who are alright too.

tips for weeding out children
1. Ask if they know what pluto is, most kids in the UK stopped learning about the planets in primary school in the year 2000
2. Ask what ð/pi is (3.14159)
3. Ask if they know the true meaning behind all those nasty words they love so much.

Winding up Children
1. After 8PM tell them that it is there "beddie bye time"
2. Tell them that the game they are playing is to old for their intellect
3. Tell them a "your mum joke" then mute

I have only ever had randoms on xbox live but quite alot of the adults were friendly, the kids, however, I would take great satisfaction in drowning them like a bag of kittens/puppies.

Lol its not always kids and tenagers who are idotic. Ive met adults on live who get pissed off and yell at people who have fun during a match instead of going all out to win. As well saying that to a kid and telling them to try harder will just make them start killing there teammates.

xMacx:
Maybe we should make an escapist old man clan - we can play on private chat and lose. Good times.

I wish to know more and subscribe to your newsletter.

If you want to find adults on Live say you are male or female, 8-14 years old and looking for a mature friend to help you with your problems.

Count_de_Monet:
If you want to find adults on Live say you are male or female, 8-14 years old and looking for a mature friend to help you with your problems.

ewww

Yeah, you aren't going to have much luck finding a respectable gamer community...on the consoles that is.

I was kind of surprised that Live doesn't have an age filter.

I dont think age matters. If i can get 3 20-somethings to sing nonstop for half an hour, age means nothing.

I think what Hooligan is really after is a way to remove the jerk-off's who where created by weak sperm.

Rob Inglis: Yes because obviously there's a connection between the control input and the maturity of the audience. Not.

I'm not bothered by "fuck" or "you bitch" or stuff like that. What bothers me are the ones who are really, really loud who are either singing or just going "blah blah blah blah" because I'm not speaking english all of the time. That or them doing a horrible Borat impression after I say something. Seriously, stop that, it's not funny anymore.

I get tired not only of the "bitch" this "gay" that (it's like an evening with 14 year old Lisa Lampinneli imitators) but also the poor sportmanship. I never thought I'd be the sort to whine about "gentlemanly conduct" but Jeez these kids are a prime example of "Spare the rod, spoil the child."

I think the the immature tards on xbox live and WoW forums come from the same cesspool.

HEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEY

Well thats the only thing that I find anoying, when someone has the concentration to say HEY for 20 minutes straight with only the odd pause to breath.

xMacx:
Maybe we should make an escapist old man clan - we can play on private chat and lose. Good times.

Can teenagers who have don't think "intelligent, reasoned debate" means "stfu gay" join? As long as you have an extensive screening process, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also, I think there is a difference between PC gamers and console gamers; the idiots you find on PC games are more likely to be nerdy, elitist types, who think that shelling out £200 quid for their graphics cards makes them better than you somehow, whereas the idiots you find on console games are more likely to be the simple, expletive-flinging types who bought an XStation 520 because "all the cool kids are doing it", and "OMG Halo3 is awsom". Of course, there are going to be exceptions; WOW is popular enough for mindless teenagers to buy, and there might (just might) exist a rare few PC gamers who have realised that there are games that don't fit into the FPS, RTS, or MMORPG genres. I'd love to see a PC gamer try and play PGR4 with a mouse and keyboard. And then, of course, you get the pure and simple, straight-up, down-to-earth bastards who are just as bigoted and stupid in real life.

add me if you want, i try to avoid undue trash talking and its always nice to have a new friend on live.

Dragon Knight 1 is me tag

I don't think i'm an elitist PC gamer, i just prefer a keyboard and a mouse for some things, and a control pad for the other. I use pc for FPS and RTS, and then the 360 for Driving and Fighters. If i could get the same precision from a control pad for fps then i wouldn't bother usin a pc, but i plain can't, so i just go with what i know.

So, before this thread gets hijacked into the oh-so-novel territory of PC vs Console (zzz)...

How many +25 (or willing to act +25) 360 players are there? If we have a game and uh...more than 3 of us, we should make it happen.

xMacx:
So, before this thread gets hijacked into the oh-so-novel territory of PC vs Console (zzz)...

Sorry to sound elitist, but it is sort of true. A friend of mine switched from the 360 version of the Orange Box to the PC version; when playing TF2 online, he was ASTOUNDED by the general difference in attitude; people were playfully giving orders and warning about sentries, as opposed to yelling and whining.

I am 34 and don't play anything on Xbox live for multi player unless I am playing with someone I know (all 1 of those people that have a 360.) I have 2 reasons for this:

1) Idiot smacktards like the ones that I got fed up with in the WoW battle grounds. I have learned that idiocy is the only thing with no prejudice. It seems to strike everyone in equal portions when they put on a headset. See this link for the clinic analysis of this phenomena:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

2) If I don't know you, I have no investment in either beating or being beaten by you. A win on my part makes me feel like I have been lucky and a loss makes it feel like the other person just has no other life.

Katana314:

xMacx:
So, before this thread gets hijacked into the oh-so-novel territory of PC vs Console (zzz)...

Sorry to sound elitist, but it is sort of true. A friend of mine switched from the 360 version of the Orange Box to the PC version; when playing TF2 online, he was ASTOUNDED by the general difference in attitude; people were playfully giving orders and warning about sentries, as opposed to yelling and whining.

Maybe it is sort of like on the PSN where the people who play on those kinds of systems may tend to be older individuals.

Katana314:

xMacx:
So, before this thread gets hijacked into the oh-so-novel territory of PC vs Console (zzz)...

Sorry to sound elitist, but it is sort of true. A friend of mine switched from the 360 version of the Orange Box to the PC version; when playing TF2 online, he was ASTOUNDED by the general difference in attitude; people were playfully giving orders and warning about sentries, as opposed to yelling and whining.

the question there is: were the orders and warning heeded?

hooliganyouth:
After years of saying I would never go online and play games I've finally broken down and been playing a few titles on XBOX Live. One major problem I've been running into is finding other "grownups" to game with. While sometimes it's not bad to game with kids most of the time the screaming, constant "gay" cracks, hooting, and assorted idiot behavior of teenagers is maddening. I know I can just turn off the headphones but that takes something away from the online experience.

Any of you folks know of an older gamer group?

You might want to check out gamerswithjobs.com. Age varies but fools they will not suffer. By the sound of it they have a healthy enclosed player community who, like you, can't stand the idiots in the wider world. On multiple platforms too.

"PC is better!"

"No! Consoles forever!"

*girlish slapping begins*

This thread lacks focus.

You know, call me crazy but maybe you should get a PS3 instead (now hang on everybody that wants to call me a fanboy, hear me out)

Yes, I own a PS3 and for the past 2 weeks my life has revolved around Call Of Duty 4 online multiplayer - still haven't finished the offline campaign yet LOL.

And you know what - in all that time i have seen a grand total of... wait for it!... 0! yes 0! little pre-pubescent brats going around and shouting out whatever it is they shout out on Xbox live.

My theory - teenage brats (ie. their parents) cant afford a PS3 compared with the cost of a 360 for essentially the same thing. Therefore they all end up on Xbox live.

Anyways, I'm off to go enjoy the peaceful bliss of firing guns instead of someone firing their yap off once again.... :)

EDIT: On a semi-related note, to me the funniest thing is Live users actually have to pay for their service and the 'privilege' to hear these little brats, whereas PSN is free - how come no one ever considers THAT in the 'costings' of consoles when purchasing?

xMacx:
How many +25 (or willing to act +25) 360 players are there? If we have a game and uh...more than 3 of us, we should make it happen.

add me if you want, i try to avoid undue trash talking and its always nice to have a new friend on live.

Dragon Knight 1 is me tag

I think it'd be a nice idea to know a few people who play games for fun, and not just so they can swear at people without getting physically hurt. I'm Shining Shade.

And sma_warrior has a point. The PS3 is likely to have less tiresome idiots playing, since I'd be surprised to find a whining ten-year-old that could persuade their parents to shell out the full price of a PS3 when there are cheaper alternatives on the market.

sma_warrior:
My theory - teenage brats (ie. their parents) cant afford a PS3 compared with the cost of a 360 for essentially the same thing. Therefore they all end up on Xbox live.

Anyways, I'm off to go enjoy the peaceful bliss of firing guns instead of someone firing their yap off once again.... :)

This may be true. However, as the PS3's price point moves lower and more PS2 owners move over to the new console, you're likely to pick up a whole new pack of idiots. For now, though, I can imagine older, early adopters are a bit more civil.

There are several sites that cater to the older gamer, gamerswithjobs.com (of course), Istillplaygames.com and the best organized and most popular, 2old2play.com

2old2play has numerous clans, organized tournaments, real life lan events and is jacked into XBL so you can send messages and friends requests directly through the site as well as see who's online at any given time. There are 15-20 CoD4 (or 360 specific) clans running now, some are hardcore players who play every day practicing strategies for each map, others just get together on fridays and get drunk online. There's something for everyone.

In term of percentage I encounter more passive gamers and mature gamers than idiots on Xbox Live, the problem is the idiots are far more vocal and more difficult to ignore, I simply mute them or just dont put my mic on. I dont really feel the need to use my mic alot so its not really a problem.

I may check out that 2old2play clan though.

Unfortunately, the more people you gather in one room, the more idiots you are likely to find in that room. However in this case all the idiots are wearing bright fluorescent colors and retarded little beanie caps with flashing lights.

That's what drives me crazy about jokes about the xbox live community. Sure, you are going to find an asshole who talks too much in just about every game you play in. But for all you know, the ten to twenty people who aren't talking are perfectly normal people who know when to shut up.

To avoid them I tend to either play solely with friends, or mute the lot of em before the game even starts.