Microsoft's "talking parties"

Win to the utmost agree.

As much as I like parties, they can become a major nuisance, I have to agree. They basically ruin matchmaking. Not so much custom games, provided you're playing with all friends, but how likely is that to happen?

 

You have some great points, and views that I totally agree with you on. I'm also aggravated on how difficult it is to express rules and regulations in a custom game while half the players are in parties. I try my best to notify everyone...and if they break a rule then they get the boot.

But what you don't understand, is that's mostly Halo 3 you're talking about. Microsoft/Xbox Live is no longer really focused on Halo to revive their money. In Halo 2 sure, Microsoft really only had Bungie to feed them money, seeing Halo 2 was the main reason to buy old Xbox Live. But now times have changed, and Halo 3 is the only actual casual game I see myself playing anymore.

Microsoft has multiple genres now. Most games are competitive, and don't inherit such a complex system that Halo 3 has, being from forge to custom games to matchmaking. Halo 3 is the only game I know of notifying players that some one is even in a party, or using their microphone with some other function. No other game has that technology.

Plus, parties were an overall boost for Microsoft in the long run. Newer players would love to have easy access to their friends via chatting, and not being limited to one game at a time. Hell, even I love the feature, and I'm sure you find some great uses for it also.

In the long run, it may be taking away a certain experience from Halo 3, but overall it's not an actual deficiency but rather a benefit for Microsoft.

 

First of all, if you are too stupid to find ways around these issues, you don't deserve to be ranting about them.

All these issues are issues with you or the player, not the party. Let me break this down:

MLG example: MLG is about playing with people you work well with, beyond communication. So they are in a party and work well, you are the odd man out. If they don't get out of their chat and you care so much about talking, then ask for an invite to their chat. You have plenty of time as it loads. If they say no, or whatever, then they are morons. Oh well.

Custom Games example: Well then the party leader is shitty host. In Halo 3, a shitty host can put up a shitty map, or boot players who are better than him/her, but we aren't allowed to veto the party host. This is why I am going to create a thread and rant about how I hate Halo 3's custom games, because they don't let people revolt agains their party leader. What happened to the good old days of mutiny?

Shitstorm of words that make no sense example: If I read correctly, you are party host and in a party chat, when someone else joins. You're party chat is full with 8 players, so the additional players can't be apart of the chat, so instead they invite you to chat with them. If I am right, then your a hypocritical moron. That is as simple as getting off your high throan, and leaving the damn chat. What's this? Oh my! You can speak to everyone! (Provided that you aren't on seperate teams, in which case I am going to make a thread and rant about how I hate Halo 3's custom games.)

Out of place argument example: It's out of place, and serves no relation to what this thread is supposed to be about.

Debate?: I will personally see to it that this doesn't become a debate topic. There is enough sorry excuses for debates in there already, I don't want to see another piece of scrap thrown ontop the litter pile.

 

Going Off-Topic in your own thread? Ouch, bad form. Regardless, this comment shows that I am clearly doing my job right. On a douchebag scale, what would you give me from a 1 to a 10?
But all snide remarks aside, you don't see my point because you don't want to. The fact of the matter is, I'm right and you're bitching. The end. You complain about something with a narrow mindset, keeping only Halo and yourself in mind. Of course it is easier to complain about problems than finding solutions, but solutions do exist and I presented them. It's your fault for not moving past your own "I'm right" ego. Clearly you didn't create this thread to hear the opinion of the opposition, you created it to unload your pent up frustration. Congrats, you succeeded. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my friends in a party.

 

I do believe you translated this passage incorrectly. Your reaction to what you thought it meant was correct, but it isn't that hard to understand. At least to me it isn't.

What it probably means is that Dow is party leader of a twelve-person party. Eight of the people are in a party together. They aren't going to leave, considering that they all know each other and really don't care about Dow or the other three people. Dow is either stuck playing a game in which two thirds of the players don't understand or boots them so that they may now play the game correctly, but there's only four people in the party and the game doesn't have enough players to really be fun.

As for what I feel about the "party problem," I've never really encountered problems in Halo as bad as Dow has, but that may just be because I only play Customs and only in a relatively small group of friends and their friends. I do agree with you that they do more good than harm, especially when I'm playing single-player games, matchmaking in other games, or even in Halo, am forging alone.

 

In which case it is as simple as sending them a very hostile message telling them to get their ass out of the party, before their mother's sexual decency is brought into question. Sometimes the choices are tough, but standards must be upheld. You are the party leader, in the United States of You. You are the alpha, the omega, and the person in charge. If they can't accept your terms, then you have every right to boot them, one by one starting with the party chat leader. He's gone, and if that doesn't get the message across, knock off another person. Even if they never get the picture, you successfully broke the group of assholes up, forcing them to invite one another into a new custom game. All the while you sit pretty atop of the player roster, perfectly capable of inviting new players.

But let's focus on what really matters here: Party Chats in Gears of War 2. If something exists that allows me to tell my teammates where the enemy is as I fly around in my death cam without having to pick up a phone, it's above all criticism.

 

I do agree with you about the top half of your essay. Its really annoying how everyone thinks that private chat doesn't exsist now. I'm currently silver til ODST comes out so its annoying when 1 person asks me to join a party with only them in it and I hav to send a message saying "I can't! I'm silver!". And don't just say get gold lol

 

Sweeny is right. The party application is not the problem, it's specific people; including your friends. I for one love it. I like to just sit at the dashboard and talk to people sometimes because I don't feel like wasting minutes on my phone. It's even better than a phone, because I can talk to ALL my friends at the same time. Plus, dude, you are saying it's stupid because you can't talk to the people in the parties. THAT'S THE POINT OF THE PARTY. I don't want random people talking to me sometimes. Sometimes I just want to talk to my friends about something private that I don't want a random person on live to hear.

Saying parties are stupid is like saying it's stupid that people want to just talk to their friends, not you.

 

As far as I can tell, your job is to regulate spam in Off-topic and the map forums, not be an asshole to a guy in Gaming Discussion.

Though you do provide some decent counter points, albeit relayed them horribly, quit being a d-bag. It seems to me that you have the "I'm right" ego. I didn't get that vibe from his post.

As for being on topic, I don't find any problems with parties. I enjoy talking to my buddies while playing games that we all don't necessarily enjoy. We can still talk while playing what we want. For those in customs or matchmaking, if they aren't willing to get out of party or join a different one or invite the odd man out, I probably don't want to be playing or talking with them.

That's a more casual point of view. Having been "hard core" when it was first released, I can see why you have issues. I was always mad when my team mates wouldn't invite me or leave their party so we could talk. As of late I've been playing less and less and have only been playing with friends that I know in real life so it's pretty much become a non-issue to me.

 

Than find some people that want to talk about the game. What you're complaining about is that nowadays people use the party to talk amongst themselves about things that don't have to do with the game. They just happen to be playing a game while they're talking. Not all people are competitive dude. Most people would much rather sacrifice their focus on what is basically a toy to pay attention to what someone else is saying totally off topic. It's life. There are so many examples of this with technology that it's not really something to complain about. It's just the way we live now. We're spoiled. So what. You can't tell people "get out of your party" if they don't want to. They payed for it. They don't HAVE to talk to you. Sorry if that sounds a little harsh. I'm going to bed. It's like 2 in the morning here.

 

They make me feel not alone when playing Fallout 3. Oh and either
A) Find some friends to play with, you know, the same game
B) Invite team to party chat.

 

If people don't want to talk to strangers that's fine. Why would you when you can comfortably talk with up to seven of your friends? This is exactly what Microsoft wanted when they made the parties, and they knew about these small consequences. However, parties are perfectly fine in my eyes and I see no way to "fix" them without ruining it in some way.

 

i wont lie, when other people in matchmaking are in parties it bugs the living **** out of me.
I love the party feature, i just dont love how its over used.
Like you said, i play MLG. And people being in parties in MLG = Losing.
So, i honestly dont like it all that much.

 

By what I heard, it is very easy to understand why you should talk to a stranger rather then friends in a "competitive" game mode of Halo 3...

As far as I'm concerned everyone plays games to get entertained, and that is by winning, if what Dow said is true then an ineffective squad will lose, thus bringing dissatisfaction to Dow.

Before, there was even Party Mode I suppose you all really got along just well without it.

But all I said is just a bunch of evidence I obtained by reading this forum. Lolz.

 

Although in Halo the parties seem to be a pest in most other games it isn't. I personally love parties because I usually play solo games and it's nice to have a group discussion on parties and not just have private chats or cell phones all the time. Parties are simply to have an open forum discussion and about the "Squeelers" that's why God invented the mute button.

 

Maybe it's because I don't play enough MLG, but I honestly don't understand why if you can't talk to 1 person on your team, it'll cost you the game.

I generally am always in a party with someone when I'm playing anything, so not being able to talk to someone on my team for BTS or MLG doesn't really bother me. And if people aren't 'hardcore' enough that they have to be in a party when they're playing MLG and it bothers you, then invite some people that you know to play.

That. Is correct. You can't get mad at people because they want to talk with their friends.

 

1. He did not say one person, which is usually never the case regardless, he said all three.

2. Dow, obviously is a hardcore gamer I guess, how would you like to lose, lose, and lose again because there is a lack of communication between the players playing the game.

3. Or maybe he has few freinds, or most of his freinds are not playing? Then what?