Anton P. Nym:

That being said, developers really do need to be more conscientious about including easy-to-use mute features in their voice chat... as it handles the squeeker, the sewermouth, the mic-spammer, and the moaner very well indeed. Oh, yeah, and it'd be ideal if the system tallied the number of players muting an account and implemented an automagic warn/ban on voice accounts passing a magic threshold, say 60% of unique opponents muting the fool, rather than relying on post-game manual feedback.
-- Steve

/applause
Amen. You've got the kids who yell, but you've also got the people who (it seems) are chewing on their mics, the guys who mumble between static from breath, and of course let's not forget the guy with music or a child in the background, screaming every few seconds. halo3 takes a step in the right direction here by letting you mute someone with the push of a button, but your ideas there are the kind we need to implement

Lioklian:
Well, I happen to be 12,

Don't you have to be 13 or above to sign up to website forums now because of child protection?

As for on topic. Yea it is annoying, but thats because I'm in my mid-twenties and I don't want to play kids just like I don't want to go out and see kids in the pub.

nightfish:

Lioklian:
Well, I happen to be 12,

Don't you have to be 13 or above to sign up to website forums now because of child protection?

Shhhh, don't use too many capital letters or the Mods might hear you.

In reference to games and that annoying voice in them... I think that little people honestly don't know how irritating their voices are. In addition to that, the general mental process at that age isn't really capable of true cognitive thought; taking advice, accepting being wrong, weighing actions against consequences, etc.

I know when I was 13, I was annoying as hell. I played CS all day (thank God I didn't have a mic), and thought I was so cool for "beating the system" that wanted you to be a certain age to play certain games. The problem is, age rules are in place for a reason, I don't think people should even be allowed to surf the internet until they're at least 16. I don't believe that playing Doom caused Columbine, but I do know that kids tend to be very impressionable and ignorant of good advice. Between the taking myspace too seriously, predisposition to being bandwagoned, and overall lack of life experience is enough to make it a bad idea.

However, the first thing that goes through little kids' minds is "I have to rebel because I'm a big kid, and I know what is good for me, unlike everyone else who already got over being a little kid!"

Of course, you shouldn't just think of the children, you should think of yourself; the gaming world would be better off if the gamers stuck in their respective age groups. The little-uns can play Runescape and WoW, while the big-uns shoot each other in the face and brag about it in "big-boy" voices.

Who am I kidding, all the little-uns will just hate me for this post, and I will have accomplished nothing. However, most people avoid big paragraphs, so I may just be ignored.

TheIceface:

nightfish:

Lioklian:
Well, I happen to be 12,

Don't you have to be 13 or above to sign up to website forums now because of child protection?

Shhhh, don't use too many capital letters or the Mods might hear you.

In reference to games and that annoying voice in them... I think that little people honestly don't know how irritating their voices are. In addition to that, the general mental process at that age isn't really capable of true cognitive thought; taking advice, accepting being wrong, weighing actions against consequences, etc.

I know when I was 13, I was annoying as hell. I played CS all day (thank God I didn't have a mic), and thought I was so cool for "beating the system" that wanted you to be a certain age to play certain games. The problem is, age rules are in place for a reason, I don't think people should even be allowed to surf the internet until they're at least 16. I don't believe that playing Doom caused Columbine, but I do know that kids tend to be very impressionable and ignorant of good advice. Between the taking myspace too seriously, predisposition to being bandwagoned, and overall lack of life experience is enough to make it a bad idea.

However, the first thing that goes through little kids' minds is "I have to rebel because I'm a big kid, and I know what is good for me, unlike everyone else who already got over being a little kid!"

Of course, you shouldn't just think of the children, you should think of yourself; the gaming world would be better off if the gamers stuck in their respective age groups. The little-uns can play Runescape and WoW, while the big-uns shoot each other in the face and brag about it in "big-boy" voices.

Who am I kidding, all the little-uns will just hate me for this post, and I will have accomplished nothing. However, most people avoid big paragraphs, so I may just be ignored.

*grins*

I hope the mods do see this, need to crackdown on underage people in forums :P Get into piles of crap for it.

Slingback78:
Team Fortress 2 does pretty well in filtering out the idiots. You still get a few, but not too many. Finding a few good servers and sticking to them helps a lot. Especially ones with overly-fascist admins who take zero crap. Makes the game go a lot better.

That said, inspired idiocy is sometimes alright. I'm willing to forgive a lot of bull if it's funny.

Speaking as one of those "fascist" admins on a TF2 server, SpikeTheRediculous got it right, I honestly don't mind the pitch of a voice. There are those who are young who act mature and those who are old who act immature - the gist of it is that if you are being a dick no matter what the pitch of your voice, it will be by order of magnitude: warning, kick, record Steam ID, permanent ban - though there have been times I have gone right to ban basicly because I was in a bad mood from having to tell people to stop breaking the server rules.

I actually had one person who wanted company for his misery tell me "What do you mean no swearing? The game is rated M!" There was more after that, but as you can see from my order of magnitude you know what comes next.

I have little to say other than:

'You fucking fag faggot fag fag faggot dick fag fag faggot fag off'

To British ears this is very repetitive, non-offensive and highly annoying, whoever says it.

What I find most annoying is people who just constantly talk and talk on Live. Interestingly they're usually about three years old.

Those bastards annoy the hell out of me, so much so that I generally avoid using the microphone.

However, when I do (like the other night) I have people round and we make up funny characters/supposed RL situations/be total bastards which is pretty fun, although totally ruins your feedback (was on 100% preferred/not reviewed, now 44%...we must have pissed off a lot of people)

I hate the fact that Americans STILL think that saying 'crumpets and tea?' to English people is both original and funny. It's like those poor poor people who still use the font Chiller.

Or that some people ask "Are you from England?" when it's clear that my accent is British, and when I reply 'Yes' they almost always ask "What part of London are you from?"

The topic creator is just being a hateful idiot. Just because you don't like listening to a persons voice or accent doesn't mean you should make them feel bad about it. Its a game, don't judge it by an external voice, and finally take your own advice TC and grow up.

I'm British too and I have the same accent problem (of course, only the american players apepar to ever have a problem with foreigners). I've taken to simply naming myself 'Salad Fingers' just so they know my origin without having to desperately ask. Then again, americans and common sense? Not an existing combination.

There's no real way to stop these underage kids from getting their hands on this game. I was playing GTA4 on LIVE and that game was full of 10 year olds. I didn't understand how they got the game... it's GTA for cry'n out loud!

I really wish parents actually cared enough to monitor their kids, instead of buying a Xbox as a babysitter.

to all you people saying youve never heard a noisy kid lucky you. FIRST game of bad company i play thinking oh well it should be a more grown up audience due to the game. totally wrong... had someone in my squad saying "hey. hey! hey!!! i FUCKED YOUR MUM"
at this point i thought 2 things 1. why is he talking to himself and 2. how annyoing navi must be since this kid never stopped saying hey the rest of the game
im normally quiet in games mostly either saying where enemies are asking for help etc ocassionally i get to shut up and your adopted if the kids piss me off
its also GREAT having american kids going "your from scotland LOL YOUR WAERS A SKIRT"
round em up shoot em and spare the decent 10-15s

I hate this stereotype as well. Me and my friends are all 14 and our voices have broken, so we're not really squeaky. However, we still don't sound that old and when we're trying to co-operate (e.g. everybody defend B!) we're told to shut up. Most of the time we get stuff like "You're too young to play this game!" and so on. What does annoy me is the 8 year old American kids. Why do they all own COD 4? You say something they don't like and they spam the game with noise. Although, it is pretty sweet when you knife that 37 year old man who told you to shut up because 'you're too young to game' for the 6th time. =)

[round em up shoot em and spare the decent 10-15s[/quote]

Just saw you're message. Thank you, kind sir, for not being as naive as 80% of all male xbox live-ers.

I love it when people can't believe where I'm from, every one thinks I'm an American.

It's not so much the kids' voice that annoys me, it's more what they're saying. And anyone can say stupid things, no matter what age they are. The "omg ur GAY! FAG!" stuff isn't coming only from 13 year olds, but older people as well.

Maturity does not always come with age, unfortunately.

If you REALLY want to mute it, go to parental controls on the dashboard and change it so you can only hear and speak to your friends. When I first got xbox live I was like what are people talking about, everyone's so polite! Then I realized I had that setting on.

Sometimes when I'm playing Team Fortress 2 (PC) I literaly flee from servers because my brain starts to hurt from all the squeaking! I don't blame children, I just blame those who think it's cool to say retarded things like "I FAKED U NUBZOR RUFLMAO blah blah blah!!!" and in a high pitched voice too. Luckily I usually end up on servers where people appreciate silence, an ironic choice of words, due to all the explosions and character screams :P

DaMunky89:
This is all easily solved by a simple voice-pitch check, and I think it should be made mandatory in all games supporting voice chat, particularly those on Xbox live.

When you make a Live account, you're required to read a block of text in a loud, clear voice, and if your voice is high pitched or squeaky, you're denied access to voice features in game. Obviously, you need to allow re-tests, but make it a monthly thing, or something, so they can't just keep trying until they get by.

Furthermore, if you speak above a certain pitch in game, you should be muted for a day. It's as simple as that. *shrugs*

or you could have a voice changer (like the one for the PSN, you don't have to buy anything you just go to the settings and change it

i myself am 15 but have always had a low voice

i also am never told to shut up or be quiet but that may be partly because i am better than most people and when i tell them what to do it usually works

(when they tell me what to do i am generally courtious and i do , and then when i get my body turned into swiss cheese i blame them and tell them that from now on i wont be doing anything they tell my to do)

Dr.Kay:

I'm British too and I have the same accent problem (of course, only the american players apepar to ever have a problem with foreigners). I've taken to simply naming myself 'Salad Fingers' just so they know my origin without having to desperately ask. Then again, americans and common sense? Not an existing combination.

I beg to differ on this one, Americans aren't the only ones with big foreigner issues. As a canadian, I get a front row seat to this because since americans see us as their neighbor and lil' bros, they tend to open up and yes I do see the rampant intolerance. But, the problem is also present with aussies and brits who also see us as their friends (commonwealth)and from these players I frequently hear the typical "good think you're not a yank cuz I hate these fuckers". Americans don't have the hate monopoly so please my fellow commonwealth brothers, let us cut the big dummies some slack, everybody has their faults.

(except canadians, we're above criticisms):)

PS: Guys, don't listen to what lioklian says, he is clearly on of these screaming tards, it is obvious when you look at the thread in which he was put on probation.

Indigo_Dingo:

shatnershaman:

Indigo_Dingo:

shatnershaman:

Indigo_Dingo:
A purely Live centred experience. I wonder why?

If you want I can recite those lovely racist jokes I heard in Vegas 2 on PSN.

I think you could, as you were no doubt the one saying them.

Zing! Nice one. Seriously no it was 4 nice gentlemen (1 was a "whiny 12 year old" the others above 15-20 possibly) It was a one up contest of racist jokes.

Okay, but I guess the Escapist itself can descend into that sometimes too. Overall, though, my experience it ussually positive, as opposed to the lag and obscenity filled 20 minutes Of me trying to play The Darkness multiplayer on the 360.

That is one game I wouldn't bother playing multiplayer on. Jackie moves at the speed of drying paint at the best of times add lag and you'd have an experience that's less than thrilling. The single player is awesome.

Programmed_For_Damage:

Indigo_Dingo:

shatnershaman:

Indigo_Dingo:

shatnershaman:

Indigo_Dingo:
A purely Live centred experience. I wonder why?

If you want I can recite those lovely racist jokes I heard in Vegas 2 on PSN.

I think you could, as you were no doubt the one saying them.

Zing! Nice one. Seriously no it was 4 nice gentlemen (1 was a "whiny 12 year old" the others above 15-20 possibly) It was a one up contest of racist jokes.

Okay, but I guess the Escapist itself can descend into that sometimes too. Overall, though, my experience it ussually positive, as opposed to the lag and obscenity filled 20 minutes Of me trying to play The Darkness multiplayer on the 360.

That is one game I wouldn't bother playing multiplayer on. Jackie moves at the speed of drying paint at the best of times add lag and you'd have an experience that's less than thrilling. The single player is awesome.

True, if a little repetitive, and non-atmospheric with Acheivements

Shadow Tyrant:

TheNecroswanson:
You know how I avoid it? I don't plug in my mic! Necroswanson FTW!

Yeah, sure, that works for outgoing sound. But as for incoming sound, unplugging your mic won't cut it. In fact, it's even worse because instead of just coming in through your headphones, they scream at you from your TV

Never had that problem. As a matter of fact my Xbox is set to wherein if I have no mic plugged in, no mic sounds come through at all.

why does no one take advantage of the mentaly incompetent (age doesnt matter maturing does)? Seriously just go along with it and burrow your self into the dark spot in there minds.

They call you gay? state with you having some passionate affer with there father

They say they screwed your mom? say some withing like "bout time that bitch got some action"

If they want to start ragging on you show them that those thing have consiquences, mianly that things tend to bite back.

And If that stuff to GAY of PUSSYISH more you than you probely right to same shit.

And for thsoe of you that jsut hate to tone of there voices then just turn of voice chat and kill every thing or suck it up if were soem what mature induivguals

lanostos:

Dr.Kay:

I'm British too and I have the same accent problem (of course, only the american players apepar to ever have a problem with foreigners). I've taken to simply naming myself 'Salad Fingers' just so they know my origin without having to desperately ask. Then again, americans and common sense? Not an existing combination.

I beg to differ on this one, Americans aren't the only ones with big foreigner issues. As a canadian, I get a front row seat to this because since americans see us as their neighbor and lil' bros, they tend to open up and yes I do see the rampant intolerance. But, the problem is also present with aussies and brits who also see us as their friends (commonwealth)and from these players I frequently hear the typical "good think you're not a yank cuz I hate these fuckers". Americans don't have the hate monopoly so please my fellow commonwealth brothers, let us cut the big dummies some slack, everybody has their faults.

(except canadians, we're above criticisms):)

PS: Guys, don't listen to what lioklian says, he is clearly on of these screaming tards, it is obvious when you look at the thread in which he was put on probation.

I agree with you completely

I jsut have one thign to say there is a good presentage of peopel that are only american on there document. Take me for example Im a cuabn that was born here, all i have is a citizenship. To ad to it most peopel in miami dont realy under stand the american dream as the anglo saxosn race does. For parents came here seeing it as a country free of prediduce nto soem palce wre you end up havign 2.4 children onw two car and live in so pirsten nieghbor hood and blindly follow some gun-ho fool the wish to countiue hsi fathers legacy.

As i ask every one to inquire exactly what american are they and i dont mean they genetic gene pole, what is there culture? Please listen i heavy disliek americans and yet america is wear i was born.

It really isn't only little kids but a lot of my audio strife comes from them. Mostly it's the young, high pitched voices that constantly talk, mumble and sing. It seems more common for the little ones to continually give commentary on what's going on over the mic.

Frankly, most people don't care. A lot of the younger folks have cited prejudice as motivating us older folks to complain about it but it's not true. It almost breaks down into predictable categories. Obviously it's not all little kids. Heck, it probably isn't the majority. But, they're the vocal ones so they're the ones we hear. It usually breaks down to something like:

8-12 - Talks about everything they're doing in the game, very likely to be talking to someone in real life with their mic turned on. Likely to break into bad renditions of currently popular rap songs.

11-14 - Prone to swearing and insulting. "Fag" and "Fuck" get used extensively as if they've just learned the words (which, I will usually comment on, which will get a lot of laughs from the more reasonable folks). Sometimes will sing, not as likely. Will complain about their team sucking, swear about the "cheap" or "noob" tactics the other team uses when they die, etc.

14-20 - Prone to bouts of racist verbal diarrhea. Also can talk a lot about their team sucking, etc. Usually less vocal though.

Most people over 20, in my experience, seem to just not talk or talk about the game. Not that our age group doesn't have it's idiots, we just seem less likely to use anonymity to spew retarded diction.

That's really the root of the problem is anonymity. And there's no real ready solution for that aspect of it.

Live sucks get used to it. Kids kids kids, Well i mean i'm 13 but i don't say shit and i don't instigate then again i don't catch anything anyways because i sound like a grown man.. PSN has been pretty nice so far other then those guys that are insanely good with the m4 custom and can head shot me from a mile away every time with no attachments. Other than that live sucks a lot of kids are assholes, psn is pretty nice you get a lot of people that act right or don't talk at all and pc gaming=awesome if your admin

I'm guilty of talking to my guests (gamertag(1)) while on the mic.

Dr.Kay:
Then again, americans and common sense? Not an existing combination.

Ouch. Easy there buddy. ;)

We can rant and rave all we want...but it's not going to change anything. As long as parents let their "kids" play the game and access whatever network, whether it be the PSN or XBL, it will always exist. Rather than get annoyed, I just ignore them. In the end, they're really not that detrimental to game play...I mean, I'm still playing and maintaining my accounts, just like others are out there. It's just an "everyday" pain in the ass thing we all have to deal with. Kind of like...paying taxes :D ... or something.

Yeah but when we pay taxs we pay for the goverments services. When we pay for xbl we pay for voice chat yes. But half the time theres some kid screaming and being a major A-O. I mean i teabag people like the rest i don't gloat about it though its my little way of milking a kill if i kill like snake on MGS4 or the juggernaut on H3.

We also pay for them to buy exclusive GTA 4 DLC, lots of content,easy friend chat not just just voice chat. Besides they can't control who says what (they have a report system).

Lazzi:
why does no one take advantage of the mentaly incompetent (age doesnt matter maturing does)? Seriously just go along with it and burrow your self into the dark spot in there minds.

They call you gay? state with you having some passionate affer with there father

They say they screwed your mom? say some withing like "bout time that bitch got some action"

If they want to start ragging on you show them that those thing have consiquences, mianly that things tend to bite back.

And If that stuff to GAY of PUSSYISH more you than you probely right to same shit.

And for thsoe of you that jsut hate to tone of there voices then just turn of voice chat and kill every thing or suck it up if were soem what mature induivguals

Spell check! SPELL CHECK!!!

Now, onto your points: Fighting fire with fire, only makes a bigger fire. Not to mention everything you just suggested only makes you into what we're comp