Proud European Live player :)

I've started seeing a larger percentage of French quite recently, actually. It's all good :)

ZonalFear

So what does this say about American gamers? I dare not say it.

jive238

@xaosoax:

I played TF2(Steam) on a German server recently and there was one American player who kept saying "what language is that anyway?" and telling everyone to speak English.

Zelos

@duckmouth: But its gone so far now, that I just cannot do it, EVERY match has some american in there saying nasty things about someone or just taking the game waayyyyy to far, and everytime I've filed a complaint it just goes unanswered....

infestedDemon

@infestedDemon: They do. You can 'Submit A Player Review' to choose to avoid that player in the future, or 'File A Complaint' if they have contravened the Code of Conduct. I've done it a few times (like when people have posted stupid racist comments on their profile or talked about raping and such) and, checking back a day or two later, noticed that the offending account has received a temporary ban.

duckmouth

@duckmouth:

No, if I sign up, it does make them money. See all those ads they put up in Live? The larger a userbase Live has, the more money they can charge for those ads.

Nelo-Risi

And before a few people use this opportunity to seeth there rage at the financially doomed US of A, I think it's important to remember that human beings are, by nature, dicks. If you give them anonymity, they'll let that inner dick come out. Everytime.

Thorax

US $49.99 vs Europe € 59.99 (about $93)
that's why i'm still silver member. and as long as i can still chat and get downloads that's ok. i mean 60€ is like to pay as much for a whole game just to be able to do multiplayer.
and it's impossible to out as german without getting into that nazi thing.

Himiko

I think it's unfair to class "Americans" all under one flag like a few of us have done in this thread so far. The problem however is that a certain group of teenagers or just general attention seeking idiots seem content with ruining the experience for everyone else. Be it the mentioned shouting of expletives, horrible racist slurs or even the constant singing of annoying songs (I had a 10 minute Halo match with someone singing "you say tomato").

It's just a shame for you guys as Americans that such a large proportion of your countries XBOX Live users are kinda giving an unfair representation of you guys.

get2sammyb

@Nelo-Risi: I'm sure that they'll be delighted to hear that they have a customer who is willing to not pay. MS stock will be going through the roof ;)

duckmouth

You know, Red, White and Blue is also the colors of France. Which is in Europe. So you need to like be more precise. Like it bleeds stars or whatever.

There's red white and blue elsewhere you know. LIKE IN MY PANTS.

No really I got white undies and they have a red and blue logo. Report it reads.

MonsterKingRen

@Andronix: Because the issue of racism is so infused in American culture that it's practically part of our DNA.

All I get is Americans and Canadians.

Thorax

European here. MS, you wanna know why I'm not on Live? Because you charge for it unlike the PC. Make it free, and you got yourself a customer.

Nelo-Risi

@Andronix:

Agreed, the word n***** is so casually used amongst American Halo 3 players.

londonlad

Obviously communication is in English so it's mostly Americans followed by British, Canadians, and Aussies.
But I have heard plenty of continental Europeans on Xbox Live speaking English. Most of the Europeans who can afford a 360 and Live are probably also educated enough to speak English.

XbhaskarX

@xaosoax: Next time, if they do that, Tell them to get the hell out of America, tell them their immagrants, because they are, read up on it, it all happened around the slave trade times. So if they use immagrant as an insult just weave it right back!

infestedDemon

Personally i miss the europeons and the austrailians on xbox live. Most of time they act respectfully and are good to converse with. USA on the other hand will have people yell the word "penis" "buthole" "Fag" in my ear peice for an entire match. I am completely serious. I wish I were lying. So I wouldn't mind if we were set a better example.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

@Andronix:

That one also surprised me. On the rare occasion I play with americans, that's the preferred term of abuse, right after "fag" and just before "jew".

Red Peter

I'd rather have a banter with brits. They should have language toggles in match making AND differentiate between US English and English..

CaptCHAOS

Why do americans think they can go round taking the piss outta everyone, than get all angry why you do it back :P? It's just stupid, especially teh teens and the 12 year old nerds. Oh That Reminds of a time, I was playing Halo 2 and this proper GEEK 12 year old was talking to me (He had the dodgy voice and everything) And he was like urgh its a british kid and was taking the piss, so I just said oh get a cheeseburger, and he started screaming and everything, I was like WTF? Lol (Sorry If I offended any Americans Here...). I think they need a report button if you find that anyone is under-age or harrasing you :P

infestedDemon

yeah, the experience can be...dissapointing every now and then. My friends and I, being spanish speakers, well...usually speak spanish. Of course, if you stumble onto matchmaking in Halo with a team of 4 spanish speakers it's an immediate threat to english speakers (aka americans). So...we get told to 'shut the fuck up, 'dirty mexicans', 'beaners', 'get out of our country', etc etc. Thing is, we're not mexicans and we don't live in the USA.

I don't understand why we are perceived as such a threat. And if by any chance one of my team mates speaks only english, we all speak english to make it fair. You eventually get used to it but it's still kind of fucked up.

xaosoax

@Wolfenburg: Yep, I don't get frustrated at all anymore. Sometimes when I am playing S&D and win when its 1 vs. 4 I kinda feel like I'd like to hear what the people have to say... then I realise that they would probably call me a fag and tell me that I play CoD4 too much and am a noob for having a gold shotgun...

duckmouth

Well, of course. Why would anyone go through the trouble of virtually murdering somebody, crouch on their face, and scream the appropriate racial/homophobic slur if the other guy doesn't understand the sophistication of your mannerisms?

Barbarians, them non-English peeps.

Datheron

Some folks are born
made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
they point the cannon right at you.

Baka_Survivor

No doubt Live is a brilliant, brilliant service but when I used it I really, really couldn't do with the amount of idiots speaking absolutely rubbish through their headset.

God bless Sony for not making headsets "standard" on the PSN.

get2sammyb

Why do many American Live users think it's acceptable to say n*****?

Andronix

@duckmouth: Yep, I don't think I've spoken to anyone other than my friends (all of whom I know in real life) since I tried my first online Gears of War match. I don't miss it.

Headlam

@duckmouth: That's exactly what I do. You feel a lot less frustration while playing as well.

Wolfenburg

@DanteIX:
Why?

The fact is US Marketplace has much more than the european one. First good step was getting us inside xbox aswell.

krokounleashed

I could easily have guessed this from all of the racial and gay slurs one hears on Live.

canadiandoodle

This just in: 98% of the folks on Xbox LIVE are a-holes.

I took advantage of the feature which allows me to mute everyone except those on my Friend List, and it has markedly improved my experience.

I have twice turned the feature off again to see what I was missing and, in literally the first games of CoD4 I played after turning chat back on, I first heard a group of people (Brits & Americans) calling each other "fucking fags", and the second time I heard someone mocking two Spanish folks who had the audacity to speak in their native tongue. Naturally I turned the feature back on again posthaste.

The moral of this story? Mute evryone who is not on your Friend List. Trust me, it makes the experience so much more enjoyable. You (almost) forget that so many people are so annoying.

duckmouth

I think we could have guessed as much.

IronsUK

I have a friend who must engage in political discussion with every British person he finds on Live.

By that, I mean he screams at them for 10 minutes and then we back out.

We have a good time.

RageKage

I'd rather have to banter with americans than germans.

DanteIX

This is why I enjoy GTA free roam because I tend to be matched with fellow Brits which in my experience is a lot better. Some Americans can be alright but the majority spoil it for the minority.

Eon

@Zelos: He probably thought he was on a Germania, New Jersey server.

Antiterra

Battle.net has Europeans as well as the rest of the world.
SEGA.Net did while it was around.
All those funny MMOs that no one plays, such as World of Warcraft.
Playstation Network is rather solid despite it's current numbers and price outside North America.

The main problem I see, Xbox Live is expensive. For Europe, more so with the high cost of games and almost non-existent used game market.
Lack of content.
Lack of support when there are problems.
As well as others, that exist because PAL is considered the least important market by Microsoft still.

Personally though, the reason I'm not a part of Xbox Live is one simple reason. Hear slurs, insults, and bigoted comments ended any desire I had to play online.
I'll play with friends, but I can invite those over or play for free on Playstation 3. Yes I know there is mute and ignore, but it was too little too late for Live I'm afraid, PS3 got the benefit of learning from past mistakes and that free price.
Perhaps if Live was ever free, I would come back, but there is no reason to at the moment.

Of course, one huge draw I've found all together is the funny thought some Americans seem to have. If we aren't American (and hell even some non-U.S. citizens in the Americas) and get noticed as such, it's as though we are some kind of evil threat.
Too bad it's only really amusing for a few seconds, then come all those slurs and insults online. Which sometimes can get worse then some Neo-Nazi showings.

Now I don't mean to make it sound all horrible or bland. There are many games in which chat or voice can be turned off or set to ignore.
Many games where talking is never needed at all.
DS and PSP offer that thrill of playing online without any connection.
PC still offers all that it does.

There still exist international rooms where it is easy to meet up with people from diffrent lands and avoid the huge masses where bigotry may exist as the sole form of contact.

MMOs can provide safeguards.

All those social networks, forums, chats for likeminded people, etc provide ways to meet and set-up games without the random element.

There is good out there, and even if Live is mostly yanks, that is only one part of a much larger online world where new friendships and fun can be had, without all that can make it bad.

Kenofthedead

I wish i could filter live to only connect to Europeans. I play muted anyway, but I could do without the occasional lag

digiwalsh

@infestedDemon: Ha, phicaluk = pwnd!

Also, infestedDemon, see my earlier post about muting evryone except those on your FL. You can do it either on xbox.com or through the dashboard. I think that you will find it in your Privacy Settings.

duckmouth

Silly question...

Do they divide XBox Live servers via region?
So Europeans can play on a European Live server?
And if this is not the case, can MS make it this way?
Maybe the answer to getting more nationalities on the service is seggregation. I'm sure the few Japanese hardcores that play on Live would appreciate it...

Earthjade

So the continent with the vast majority of xbox consoles has the most live users. Not really a surprise. I have to admit though I tend to avoid US servers on my PC, too many people shout cheater, fag or gay when you shoot them in the face repeatedly. It happens on Euro servers as well but less frequently.

Gen.Grievous

Same thing here.

A lot of brazilians use Xbox Live... with american created accouts cause live isn´t officialy available here.

lucasreis

isnt that because none of the eastern europe countries are supported by LIVE, so everyone needs to create US(UK) account to play on xlive.

zerr

I don't use XBox Live Gold because I sometimes go months where I just don't have time to play online.

When I have spare time (and no single-player game backlog), I'll play online all weekend. Then I'll probably not play online for another few months. If I could pay a couple of dollars to play the 360 online for the weekend, then I'd consider it... but it's easier just to play some Counterstrike or Team Fortress 2 on the PC.

Plus, it seems that most online gamers seem to be loudmouths with God-like skills in their chosen game... which really makes gaming with them un-fun.

Marlor

@infestedDemon: HA!! LOL!

Mikit0707

@phicaluk: Jesus never spoke english...

infestedDemon

The number of Europeans is low because we have to pay twice as much as the USA for access to Live and get a greatly inferior service (ie no Netflix, freebies, tiny Marketplace etc).

Dandav

I've never had problems with gamers from other parts of the world. Maybe if more people treated everyone with some respect while playing online, Live would be a much better place.

thinkfreemind

@Zelos:

Well, if English is good enough for Jesus...

phicaluk

I don't buy the language thing at all. I've spoken with people from just about every country in the EU on the PSN. I just think they don't want to be called some ethnic/racial slur or play with 12 year olds all day. Now-a-days just about every country teaches english so it's becoming more of a non-factor. He's just covering his arse.

Lachoy

@two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake u...:

Is that deathmatch? I use voice comms in TF2 because it takes too long to type "Aaah...2 ubered heavies coming on the left" etc., but I'd never bother in a game that didn't need that kind of tactical coordination. What's the point?

Zelos

Give us a choice of servers, but dont force us on seperate servers. The only reason I play Xbox Live is so I can hang out with my american friends while I'm still living in the Netherlands.

And I only talk with people on my friends list because somehow it's still 'new' that girls play TF2 or CoD4 and guys tend to uhm... react weird.

Madjia

VVV true, XBL is mainly yanks & mainly full of tossers; it's not their fault as from my experience they are so blinkered to the rest of the world they have no idea it's slightly bigger than the good old USofA.
I have swapped from XBL to PSN thanks to MGO; and am glad there is no bundled cheapo headset; as most people who purchase one actually have something valuable to say; rather than abusing anyone who doesn't shop at a 7/11.
Gatorade anyone........

rickster999

I hope europe could have it's own servers. It's sometimes funny to play with american people, but I'd rather play with people from countries next to mine, who aren't always yelling, crouching at others, insulting... (I don't say all americans are like that, but that's all you remember when you play Xbox Live)

Fwiffo => totally agreed. Looks like only kids play Xbox Live. I only ever play with no mic or with my friends.

Leolio

@two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake u...: "Every game in Halo 2 HAD atleast one or two squeakies" I haven't played it recently, so I wouldn't know about now.

two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake up the surrounding neighbors with a loud annoying noise

@Fwiffo: I actually have noticed a slight decrease in squeaky voices to more normal voices since Halo 2. Every game in Halo 2 has atleast one or two "squeakies".

But nothing annoys more than people that don't use their mic. It came free with the 360 people, use it! I understand if you only want to talk to your friends or its charging but this is a ranked match and thats why there are custom matches! (in most games) I went into a ranked Big Team Battle game in Halo 3 and I was the only one with a mic! (That's 1/16!)

two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake up the surrounding neighbors with a loud annoying noise

What I find funny is we've had XBL gaming for years now but the number of abusive squeaky voices never go down. Are they permanently 12 years old or something?

Fwiffo

@XbhaskarX:
It's good to see that you have a firm grasp of European economy.... So according to you only the rich in Europe can afford to learn English whilst the rest are too poor (and stupid?) to learn it so spend their days riding round on bikes and making wine? I think you need to maybe visit Europe before making such sweeping statements. The simple matter is that continental European countries (even poor people!!) all start learning English (in the correct British form) at a very early age (i believe it is 4 or 6) where it is proven children can more easily learn a second language. Compare that to the UK where we don't start learning French until we're 11 and you can see why alot of Europeans have a decent grasp of English. It's also worth noting that if you meet a European who pretends they don't know English the simple fact of the matter is that they probably do but have probably taken an exception to the fact that some lazy tourist has come to their country and can't be bothered to even try and speak their language and take it for granted that they speak English. I would love to see how long a German who didn't know English could survive in America before some one calls them a Nazi and attempts shoot them, the same would be probably happen in England but we'd try to stab them instead.

It's also worth noting that because of the weak Dollar/Euro exchange rate even a so called "poor" Europeans have more money than your average American.

@MonsterKingRen:
Lot's of Countries have a flag that is red, white and Blue. from the top of my head i can think of the Netherlands (Holland), Britain. Malaysia, Australia, Russia, North Korea, Chile, Nepal and Thailand. There are a lot more as well, in fact it most be one of the most popular flag colour schemes which is one reason why i never understood why American's find it so patriotic but what ever.

FredThePanda

Red, white and blue are also the flag colours of: the UK, France, the Netherlands, Panama, Cuba, Australia, Chile, South Korea (ignoring the trigams), Nepal, the Czech Republic, Laos, Cambodia, Slovakia, and probably some more minor ones I can't think of.

Zsinj

Yes and atleast half of those retarded americans are winey annoying little kids who shouldnt even be playing games like rainbow six,gears,halo etc

adamr999

@Citizens of the USA and the rest of Earth: America is a continent, so big that it is divided in two, with a lot of countries and languages. USiAns should find a name for themselves that doesn't include the millions of Americans living in those other places.

EloraHRanma

No matter the nationality, Xbox Live is mostly pricks. Pricks who sing and cuss you out with racial slur, so they're like... megapricks.

ZillionDollarSadist

The interesting information would be: How many Asian Xbox Livers are there?
By the way, aren't there about three USA Xbox for each one sold in Europe? If it's like that, the average is the same.

In my case, as someone who has never used Live, the general criticism it receives (look at this thread) keeps me from ever buying a XBox. As well as paying for simple multiplayer or having no games I really like, but everything adds up.

EloraHRanma

I think it's more reflective of the type of characters a genre attracts. I played WoW on an Oceanic server with alot of Americans and my experience interacting with them in pvp, pve, in chat and on vent was almost entirely positive. In FPS' the reverse is true.

Synthemesc

Some Americans are disturbingly annoying on their mics. It's sad that I have to deal with them in most matches online. Lots of them sound like kids too; they have no respect at all for ANYONE. Then I get annoyed, chase the kid down and give him some bullet medicine, then he calls me chink, faggot, and tells me to go back to my country. Microsoft, YOUR PARENTAL CONTROLS ARE NOT WORKING DAMNIT! At least try to fix this American indecency of immature pre-teens and manchildren on LIVE.

JesusBuddhist

@Andronix: Simple, we have this thing called freedom of speech. Same goes for people who like to say "fag", etc. They can say what they want as far as I'm concerned, whether or not I agree. (Like others here, I usually play sans-mic and mute most people.)

However, we don't have freedom from repercussions of what you say, so most people don't use that language in "real life". On LIVE where there is anonymity, it comes out more. Then there are the demographic reasons, the general lack of wit when it comes to insults, resorting to cussing out people, etc.

In short, follow ohn Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory:

Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad

ビッグ ボス

i would love it if they did a european version of live, then i would use it...as it stands i had a trial and sorry to say but too many immature americans put me off, some even had the audacity to tell me to speak english lol

beezley

Me and my full LIVE list of Scandinavian friends feel insulted now :(

KEELr

@krokounleashed: Because americans usually have hilarious reactions when they get beat. "Aw maaan we beat you in WW2 dude" etc.

DanteIX

As many of you pointed, european Live service is more expensive, and with less features (no Netflix, almost empty video marketplace, lqack of support, release delays...); that should explain the american overwhelming population.

Margrave

America probably also has the lion's share of the world's foul-mouthed twelve year olds.

Eltigro

Well this is a no shit discovery. XBox = US product and that's why they fail to penetrate globally. I'm actually semi-surprised Sony does well internationally considering the unethical "business decision" some of Sony's divisions (i.e; root kit) have made. Regarding Nintendo, well, they're shit don't stink even when they're 3rd party software is so lackluster.

jdgiotta

Europeans and Asians are wise enough to stay away from MS' money trap.

ksins5

@beezley: yeah i had that a few time & then when you decide to laugh at them, they start screaming at you

invictus2006

@Himiko:

"US $49.99 vs Europe € 59.99 (about $93)"

You and others should never ever buy from Microsoft directly, I'm still boggled why people do. If you head over to play.com sir, and type "Xbox Live 12 Month Limited Edition" they're selling Xbox Live 12+1 month subscription for €39 or £29, that's a saving of £10.

If you do the currency conversion to American it's only $5 dollars over what the Americans pay $55, which in my hunmble opinion isn't bad at all, compared to the $79 I would be paying if I where to buy it directly from Microsoft. The moral here shop around for the best prices and the pennies will look after you!

INRIhab

the thing its not just the yanks, us brits can be assholes towards people alot of the time

invictus2006

@Himiko:
yeah, that's true.

krokounleashed

thats because only yanks buy that shitty system

lilkao

that's why every body on Live sounds the same

Gutter_Trash

There are smart people in USA too. It is wrong to blame all of them.

Al87

I thought you could exclude certain areas in the system settings so that if you wanted you could avoid people form the US.

I remember reading one American journalist say that he'd done that because he'd become so depressed by all of the obnoxious people/stuff mentioned above.

X201

I feel like buying a 360 just to experience a bit of this for myself, I'd be in stitches =P

namesRhard

Red, white, blue, those are the colours of the… Dutch flag? :)

Grauw

its not as bad as the psn, last time i checked everyone on the top10 on one of the fighting games was japanese :D

Consoles are like cars, its hard to find american muscle cars in europe and asia because its build for the typical american (like driving in straight lines). But japanese cars are selling like hotcakes around the world. And well the ferrari's and porsche's are for people with shizloads of money to burn.

LoganForge

@ビッグ ボス: Lots of places have freedom of speech, friend.

thefais

I've always tried to be polite on Live.

Too bad I mostly play RPGs on my 360 these days. <_<

But even my younger brother has made friends with a bunch of germans with their somewhat spotty english and his two years of high school german.

So ... I'm just saying. Not all of us suck.

litrock

Red White and Blue are also in the UK flag! The second highest percentage of users! Plus I often play alot of people from france. And they are far less anoying than the yanks, infact the French have never annoyed me on live. (thats so hard for a Brit to say...)

CrazyBlue

@DanteIX:
I guess thats true. Only thing i heared, when they noticed i`m german, was "heil h....". You know the guy from austria, where everbody thinks he's german :>

krokounleashed

@get2sammyb: while i agree with you that we shouldn't stereotype our own culture...I might point out that the deomograhic that plays halo is often the Angsty teenager that got an xbox for Christmas so he could talk trash on xbox live. They are impossible to avoid.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

I'll also point to the fairly obvious math here. Going by the percentage given, that would mean around 25% of the giant assholes you meet on XBL are Europeans and Aussies. Hmm...

Turambar

@Nosignalinput: We should all*

Nosignalinput

@ビッグ ボス: The UK has freedom of speech, but it doesn't mean we all go around shouting n****r on Live.

Nosignalinput

@canadiandoodle: Turkey would love to have a word with Europe about that.

All sarcasm aside, I thought we were past characterizing the population of an entire country based on the language of hormonal teenage boys and girls, particularly here on Kotaku.

Turambar

@duckmouth: Totally agree.

First, I find the lag unacceptable when playing my Aussie, Kiwi and €uro comrades. On CoD4 servers, it's just sad that the gameplay suffers so. Then gamers that are pissy, yell lag and other terms at them (not their fault the routers and game servers suck).

I find the increasingly harassing, prejudiced and offensive talk to be racist, anti-whatever, noob-discrimination, and just a poor example of what the gaming population is made of. Our group of friends play privately more than open. Which is a shame because there is much to offer and gain with international friends.

Example, we've sent a gift package to a LIVE friend we made in New Zealand. They never had hot wing sauce, Soft Pretzels, and other items from the states. Something LIVE is positive for when you make friends.

I don't blame them all, but there are more offensive players than I wish. (hey, a cuss here or there is one thing, but liable, slander, discrimination, harassment...that is just wrong).

I've come to like the single player games over the MP games for the reasons most post, the gamers on LIVE (US) are best examples of worst people. And it is a shame.

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Americans and British are bigots and jerks and the rest of the world are altruistic by virtue of the fact that they are unable to communicate with th general populous of XBL is the gist I get from some comments... I couldn't agree less.

okenny :( ... not sure what to believe in anymore

I believe this is a good thing. I stopped liking British people after an annoying set of them had the balls to message me during the game simply to call me a "Fanny Face"

mixmastermind

That's because everybody else's internet speeds suck. Well mine does anyway. It's supposed to be broadband but its more like 56K sometimes.

If you go online a the right hour you'll play against Japanese and Australians. Wrong hour and you'll get American kids before they go to school. They're not only rude but they'll kill the game as soon as their ride arrives.

floppylobster

Maybe I've just been exceptionally lucky but most of the folks I've met up with on live have been fairly cordial.

Guild_Navigator

We get less stuff, and mostly localized crap. That's why. 20% less value for 20% more costs.

I'm about to get a US Mailbox, reg a credit card on it, buy the US hardware, and connect the 360 over a proxy.

I'm also of the opinion, that the average 4th grader learns English here. It's getting harder and harder to get the original speech and text. It's very rare that you don't get the feeling, that this was translated by a intern, or someone completly out of the culture - Going line by line.

igl

Everyone on live is an asshole. Way to go microsoft :-/

stargateheaven

assuming it's about 25%, and some in Canada and Australia for maybe 5%, that's like 70% live users in America. Americans do love the 360!

mcool93

@infestedDemon:

Really? You'll be telling me next he wasn't white.

phicaluk

Go on any game and you will hear cussing you grandmas. Play counter-strike...thats where throwing "nigger" around got started. It's really turned into the same thing as people calling other people "gay". It's really just a new way of saying lame. I don't have the sudden urge to drop n bombs when I play COD or Battlefield. I usually say "sonuvabitch" or something like that. I only have my mic turned on when I have to say something useful though.

MadExponent

@mixmastermind: :) Did you know that 'fanny' has a different meaning in the UK? It doesn't mean 'posterior', as in the US...

duckmouth

Its funny because when I play I always come across a lot of Brits. Though other than that Ive never come across anyone from any other nation (except Japan).

Altima NEO

@MonsterKingRen: Red, White and Blue isn't just the US and France y'know.

Its also Britain, Russia, The Netherlands, The Czech Rep, Slovakia, Solvenia, Iceland, Norway, Croatia, Luxembourg...

You get the idea, its the most common colour combination going.

Florence-McSniffle

I find it funny just about every comment is talking about how bad American's are on Live, I've run into my fair share of people from just about anywhere who can be total pricks too. Only difference is, like the article says, the vast majority of people on Live are American's... So of course your going to run into a lot of them. Usually it's 1 or 2 assholes in a game of 8, lets discuss the people that were decent and respectful... Oh wait, that's no fun is it? We wouldn't be able to bash another culture if that was the case =(

JP05

@canadiandoodle: amen sir you are so very right

mpar

" And I'll tell you also that a large part of that is in the UK, partly because of the language aspect, the fact is you need, on a community service like Live, enough people of a similar language orientation to get a community so that it starts to really blow out"

Here's an idea, Microsoft - dedicated servers. It will solve the language problem and the lag problem in one stroke.

cdammers

@FredThePanda: Loving your comment:
"I would love to see how long a German who didn't know English could survive in America before some one calls them a Nazi and attempts shoot them, the same would be probably happen in England but we'd try to stab them instead."

I honestly love playing with Europeans, Australians, etc. on Xbox Live. They're always pretty nice folks, and decent players to boot. And I love accents.

Having played Shadowrun for over a year, you rarely find the immature jerk on there. Most people are pretty level-headed. I try to keep my playtime to the night, because 9-12year olds love Shadowrun during the day and will say anything to get attention.

Thassodar

Xbox Live in general is a great feature rich place, but it's unfortunate that so many people have to be idiots. It's like they're broken human beings.

That said, even though they are loud and annoying, they aren't what Xbox Live is all about. The reason you get all those annoying twats is because all the good people are busy playing in private parties and people on their friends list. If you want to get in good games then just clicking "join public match" most likely isn't going to do that for you.

Which isn't surprising as pubbies are retarded in any language, on any continent, in any game, on any system. It's not just an Xbox Live thing.

With the upcoming party system, hopefully a lot of these problems will be able to be side-stepped.

BonoMan

From the years of playing on Xbox Live I have come to the conclusion that majority of people to be found on the service are complete fuckwits. It doesn't matter where you are from in the world. Having said that there does seem to be a high proportion of live users from the US who seem to have the intellect of a labotamised chimp. But this is probably down to the fact that there are more american players on live, which means you will have more idiots that are american on live, which means that you will hear more american idiots spouting shit during a game.....unfortunately.
But I will never mute everybody, never. No matter how many times people slag off the Queen, say I have bucked teeth, drink too much tea or try and take credit the fucking good old revolutionary war.......I will never give in to the moronic mass.
Now then.....off to do me some teabaggin!

Kickstone

I'm like a lot of the other people here in that I usually only communicate with my friends only. I don't have it set to that, but that's because I usually just don't use my headset.

Its true, though....We Americans are some of the worst people in the entire english speaking world. That's not to say that all Aussies, Brits, or Canadians are great people, but you get my point.

TheGuilty1

@MonsterKingRen:

yeah but the french bleed blue cheese and bagguettes

=D

relax_guy

@EloraHRanma: divided in 3... don't forget central America, I live there

mpar

Correction: Most Xbox Live users are the trash of the global gaming community.

Seriously, some of us just want to play games and have fun, but there is always a few people in every game match that can't help themeslves but talk trash, tell players to kill themselves, sing homophobic songs... it's an embarrassment to all gamers who may be playing Live with their girlfriends or friends sitting next to them watching.

fenderfuel08

Its ironic how the people here use stereotypes to explain how bad we are.

Keep em coming. You look great.

NoBullet

What's the surprise? That about mirrors the console sales, doesn't it? So much more likely you'd get XBL if you have friends who are on it already too, so that only adds to the Ameri-centricity.

fuchikoma

@NoBullet: It's hip to hate America!

Blue Oyster Cultist

This, to me, is a little suprising. Everytime I play with someone they seem like theyre a UK teenager. Maybe theyre the only ones with mics? haha

RazorandBlade

When you figure the market saturation of the 360 across all major regions, it would only make sense that it's mostly Americans on Live, we're more than half of the xbox consumer base... aren't we?

@MadExponent: Fairly certain that word was in use long before Counter Strike existed!

stranger

I've heard Americans that were assholes.
I've heard Canadians that were assholes.
I've heard Europeans that were assholes.
I've heard small kids that were assholes.
I've heard teenagers that were assholes.
I've heard adults that were assholes.
I've heard men that were assholes.
I've heard women that were assholes.

I've heard Americans that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard Canadians that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard Europeans that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard small kids that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard teenagers that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard adults that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard men that were nice and pleasant.
I've heard women that were nice and pleasant.

Anyone who wants to generalize that all the assholes come from X country, or use X gaming service, or are X race, etc. etc etc...... is just an asshole.

robinandtami

I've played Halo 3 in the morning several times and there have been a number of non-English speakers on there. And, playing with some of them, I've had good times. We couldn't coordinate verbally, but if they're good then we did well.

I actually dug that a lot. It made me realize how global XBL really is. And if we do get invaded by aliens, we already know that neither national nor language barriers will get in the way of our united efforts to murder ever mother-lovin' one of them.

DARTH_TIGRIS

@MadExponent:
That doesn't change the fact that it's extremely offensive. There's really no excuse for saying crap like that no matter what.

Blah8

Oh, language barriers, huh?

How about Europeans not liking to shove money up Microsoft's throat just for being on the internets?

lumpi

@LoganForge:

Well said.

As for the other thing:

As an American, I have to say, cheeseburgers are delicious. It's easy for me to deal with this because, as an American, I am crazed and am unable to sit still for more than 10 seconds. This gives me a crazy metabolism that allows me to dump 10 pounds for every 5 I consume.

As an American adult, It embarasses me when I go on Live and hear tons of American teens always holding a fan club rally for the words "nigger" and "faggot". Live gives off the impression that most people are racist, they just lie about it.

So, yeah, As an American, sorry everybody that we have so many douchebags.

DangrMaus

@lumpi: Your mixing your metaphors.

You'd rather give your money to Sony or Nintindo cause they are the good guys right?

Blue Oyster Cultist

I don't have much of that problem in PSN online games, then from what I hear what goes on in the Xbox Live stuff and I'm American. I guess whats what you get when you pay for a service like that a bunch of A-holes coming into ruin the game. As an american I wouldn't even put up with that myself. I would just rather enjoy the game.

Cunder

You should have a feedback option about being under-age for this game, and get them banned of TF2 .etc until they're OLD ENOUGH to play

infestedDemon

@Cunder: I agree, PSN has a far superior online player base campared to Live's. I think it is that most PS3 owners are probably older than most 360 owners due to the high cost of buying a PS3, and younger kids and teenagers flock to Halo 3 like no other game out there it seems. It's like Halo 3 is the gate that opens and lets all the crap in through it--I have encountered more idiots in Halo 3 than any other game.

I also think the fact that its so complicated to get a Bluetooth headset working on the PS3 that it keeps the people who try to ruin games out. I couldn't even get the headset that came with Warhawk to work online, and gave up on it altogether.

fenderfuel08

I've played with nice and jerk people from lots of places. I've never noticed any real correlations, to be honest *Shrugs* But the vast, vast majority of people are English speakers, that much is true.

I ignore or, better yet, am better than the jerks (Nothing like hearing an angry man get angrier as you teabag him). I'm cool with the nice people. Mostly. Sometimes I lose my temper, but that's never manifested as anything more than teabagging. I'm not going to start yelling ineffectually into a mic like an r-tard.

Mister Adequate

Use the MUTE...it makes life much easier.

I don't mute everyone...just the worst most annoying players.

As for saying no voice is an advantage for PSN....you've got to be kidding.

Its not that they don't want to put it in...its just that it only works 50% of the time....when your bluetooth headset doesn't drop connection.

GoonieGooGoo2

Live isn't too bad depending on 1) most importantly which game you play, and 2) when you play.

After the nightowl west coast US have finally gone to bed, you get a good mix of European daytiem and Japanese evening players.

kftgr

I've played people speaking French, German, Spanish, and Italian on live. (Halo 3) They aren't the majority, but it has happened a bit. But I play more at night when American Children are sleeping. (I do live in the US)

zacwight

@duckmouth: Thanks man =]

infestedDemon

@phicaluk: Hey, I got the historical reference! Sorry nobody else did.

Most importantly, where can I get the aDORable Playmobil Uncle Sam?

Evil Tortie's Mom

@Florence-McSniffle: I knew somebody'd do that. I think that's why I talked about my underwear but I could be wrong. My underwear is not a common flag for countries after all.

If I had a girlfriend named Courtney I could do a pretty awesome pun right there. You know because it sounds like country hilarious huh

MonsterKingRen

@infestedDemon: I'm almost certain he's just joking, though you, having just attested to hearing similarly idiotic things on XBOX LIVE that were delivered in all seriousness, can be forgiven for not seeing through his feigned stupidity. The internet has never been, and will probably never be, the best platform for sarcasm.

@thefais: @Nosignalinput: Freedom of speech is most definitely not a right enjoyed solely by citizens of the United States, as you have both correctly stated. However, as @ビッグ ボス: hinted at, it is a bit different in the US, especially on the subject of hate speech.

Good, bad, or otherwise, it is what it is when the United States allows such controversial speech to reside in public forums.

@TheGuilty1: An American myself, I feel someone should say this: Be proud of where you come from. At the least, don't be ashamed.

Maybe your assessment of America's people is not due to a lack of national pride, is not an example of disarming humility or popular cynicism. Perhaps it is based on the objective examination of transgressions Americans have committed individually and collectively. Still, even with these assumptions true, I would not be so quick to make such a damning generalization, if any at all.

Interficiendus

For me, the only downside to muting everyone but my friends comes in trying to organize some teamwork in ranked match of Gears. Like it's been said the Mute, Submit Player Review, and File Complaint buttons are your friend.

I stay away from Halo 3 for every reason that's already been mentioned.

TheWaffle