Monday, March 11, 2019

Shy Gamers?



The world of online gaming is a vast and growing industry. Technology allows us to be able to sit on our couches and communicate with people all over the world. While this type of technology is not new, the social aspects of the players is changing

I have very fond and nostalgic memories of playing games like Halo 2 and Call of Duty and having arguments, making friendships, and sharing jokes with random strangers over Xbox Live. But, what happens when your teammates stop talking back? Over the last couple of years it seems that console gamers have restricted themselves to party chats and the lines of communication among players has been severely cut.

Team chat has become so silent that I find my self-aroused (nothing below the waist) when I hear the vaguely familiar sound of someone else's voice while playing an online game. So, why has everyone stopped talking? It's simple, they haven't.



Most console gamers today are familiar with ways to communicate in a more restrictive manner. Options like party chat allow for gamers to only chat with friends, "clannies", without having to suffer through the annoyance of small children, trolls, or that demonic sound of someone blasting music through their microphone. While features like party chat can seem like a god send, they can diminish the cooperativeness of games.

Games like Assassin's Creed Unity, Call of Duty or Halo Master Chief Collection (sigh... ) require an adequate amount of teamwork and cooperation from players to achieve victory. So, if you are spending a Saturday night on the couch ready to spill some graphical blood, and your groups of friends are out in the real world (vastly overrated) you have no choice but to play with "randoms." This is where party chat bites you right in the ass. Those other players may be in their own party chats with their friends and you are left alone to make sarcastic remarks, orders, and even compliments (very rare) to players that are not likely to reply back.

How can this be fixed? Honestly, I'm not sure it can be. This new renounced silence seems to be a trend that has existed for the last four to five years. Despite the annoyance scr888 of having your team not talk, it may be something us gamers have to cope through until game developers find a way to bring back the need for cooperation in games.