Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm getting mean messages from randoms on Live whilst minding my own beeswax playing MW2. I also get those fucking 'join our cheaty lobby' things every 10 minutes.

Is there an option to block private messages from randoms without blocking off in-game mic chat with randoms which is occasionally helpful? I know you can block the lot, I did that before, but missed the in-game LOLZ.

I feel I already know the answer is a firm no, so in advance, fuck you Microsoft you short-sighted cunts.

Nope. Can't block one without blocking the other. I puzzled that out after a particularly rough week where a Bioshock 2 clan called "iTz" started sending me harassing messages because I told one of their members to fuck off when he told me to do something to a particular part of his body that I wouldn't touch if we were the last two people on Earth.

I tried just blocking all voice and text communications (why are they lumped together?) with strangers, but then I felt like I was flying blind in matches where I needed to know my teammates locations and other things. Boo-urns.

Wouldn't help for the Bioshock stuff , but as i play Jam-Maker 2 I also get those on a fairly regular basis , and they do seem to have switched to using voicemessages rather than typing for some reason (you can hear that they are whiney kids then)

Anyway - report them and then block them - when Microsoft catch up with them they get their score reset and generally a ban of some description.

Yeah, report them and avoid them. That's what I do as soon as someone even looks at me funny. I'm not a prick to people on real life so I don't see why people should get away with it online.

We shouldn't foist our values on less developed countries. America will catch up.

I was considering unblocking communications last night on XBL. Mainly because I was feeling particularly stupid after finishing work, and wanted reassurance.

Our mystery correspondent called it right:

http://uptojump.co.uk/?p=1392

While playing with Beex'ers is fun, playing with randomers is seriously shit.

usually i get lots of nonsense in the first 5 mins of entering live; i thought it was via msn, but now i'm not sure..

Sometimes Mr Dave calls my 360 a whore.

This. I have randomers switched off for comms purposes. And generally try to avoid them anyway, as they try and find particulary shit ways to play.

I always do, it's just incredibly tedious.

Like I say, I've tried this and I don't think it's the answer. Although randomers can be tossers, it's only the minority I find. In a game of Domination, for example, you're severely limiting yourself if you can't chat to the people on your team. I find the people who send you messages join a game to "harvest" everyone's tags, then quit and message everyone, so it's not actually the people I'm playing with who deserve to be blocked, for the most part. Of course, you sometimes get the idiots who sing or make belming noises down the mic, but they can be blocked individually.

Sometimes Perkies says I have a shiny head.

I alternate between blocking & hearing them, most of the randoms are alright, but there's still a significant amount of cunts.

Anyway, to avoid getting banzorzed myself, I've had them all blocked since the last time me & Nickachu got drunk and abused anyone who said anything vaguely offensive (it started with gentle ribbing & if they kept going then we wouldn't stop till they started crying & left).

Just take Myps off your friends list.

http://forums.xbox.com/33571007/ShowPost.aspx

Done post on the official forums. If anyone else wants to chime in to make it more noticeable, be my guest. Not that it's ever going to be noticed by anyone who gives a shit.

When on earth did this happen?

Yeah, but I don't really know people to play with online and I still want to play, sometimes.

Horrible messages from strangers were actually what landed me here BETEO. A few months ago when I started playing Bioshock 2 online (it was my first prolonged experience with playing online with strangers), I complained that people were awful, and Gaywood and Danielle/Fanny Stupid suggested I come over here. I made an account and lurked for awhile.

Maybe a month and a half ago or so, it got pretty bad. I'd found one friend to play with out of the unwashed masses of Xbox Live. He's gay, and he has a (self-admitted) stereotypically "gay voice." I'm a girl and I definitely sound like a girl. We had to start making our own parties if we wanted to talk because the moment either of us would start to talk in a lobby, the microphones would start to click on and the slurs would start to fly. Then, in-game, other players would gun for us and send us messages like, "Told you cunts can't keep up with me." Or "How do you like that, fag?"

We started making our own parties to chat in and things got a lot better, but mostly only for my friend. Guys still sent me messages (I guess because a chick is easier to spot than a gay guy, based on profiles?) telling me I sucked and should go back to the kitchen, calling me a cunt/pussy/whore/slut/etc., or (if I was doing better than them) that I was hiding behind my team's skirts like a bitch. Sometimes, people (men) would send me friend request after friend request and then angry messages if I declined. I blocked everybody who sent me a harassing message, but I felt like I was trying to empty the ocean with a spoon. I played every day for a bit and at the peak, was getting between five and ten unpleasant messages per night in addition to the nice messages -- and some people do send nice messages, in all fairness.

My gamertag used to be shoesonwrong, but I had to change it because three separate people googled my gamertag and found me. They started sending me Facebook messages and emails that were either overtly cruel or sexual -- sometimes both. I had to change privacy settings all over the place and change my gamertag to make it harder for xbox weirdos to find me.

That's when I finally decided to come here because I figured that maybe I could find some people to play online with who wouldn't make me want stop playing games.

I completely locked down every Xbox setting for awhile, but it fucked up my game tracking with Raptr, and I kind of liked being able to see gameplay history over time. So I'm torn. After my most recent and unsettling bout of xboxers finding me in the real world, I haven't really been playing online too much, anyway, so it's kind of moot at the moment.

Men Boys are lovely, aren't they?

In all fairness, too, the absolute worst message I ever got was from a woman -- she sent me a message that about made my ears fall off. I think the others just happen to be from dudes because xbox live is an overwhelmingly male arena that lends itself well to homophobic, sexist, racist, ignorant, entitled, alpha-male, teenage bullshit.

Sometimes funny things come out of it, too. Like one guy who called me a "Pizza-faced, cunt, slutbag, whore." And then proceeded to finish his message with, "I bet you read for fun."

Well if you go around with chunks of pineapple and pepperoni on your face, what else would they call you?

Lasagne face is right.

"I bet you read for fun"

Without a doubt, the best non-insult ever

Christ. Miss Malabar never has trouble like that. I guess that's because she's angry and foul-mouthed. I certainly wouldn't risk sending her a horrible message.

MrsP has been fine too. She only ever plays Peggle though. She does have a very obviously female gamertag (mrsparry if anyone wants to add her)

I particularly like that he built up to this, like it was the final sign off to really seal the deal.

I like how they totally miss the point :-)

As to horrible messages , I know that Jen changed her username because people used to single her out - very strange hearing people insulting her and then she wins the rounds (since she's a much better player than most)

Shoes , your problem with looking for people here might just be timecrossover , since most people will play early evening / night here which may not work out for you timewise (although adding people to your friends list does also give you the highscore chasing /comparing options for all the other games.)

I don't game much anymore but birds on xbox do give me a lob on I must admit. The thought of an unwashed woman sat in dirty underwear with the curtains closed playing shooting games is what does it for me.

Powerful.

Helpful. Are you for real?

Engineering! More RAM to the ignore list!

Am i fuck for real. Just thought it was mildly amusing and on topic. Please carry on.

I actually do most of my work at night. (I'm a lady of the night, you see.) (No, I am working on a book and find that I'm currently writing best between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., my time) It means I am up late, sleep in, and then have the afternoons/early evenings to tool around a bit after I get my shit done in the late mornings. I'm five hours behind you guys, right? I think it could actually work out fine. If I ever end up playing the same games as anyone here, that is.

I imagine the poor guy trying to puzzle out street signs and restaurant menus, damning those of us who waste our time reading for fun.

I'm also changing my member title to, "I bet you read for fun."

Awesome. I reckon you and I will be firm friends

Gill's partner Jen had grief from arses on xbox because she was recognisably an wimmin from her gamertag, if I recall correctly.

I hope so. I like the letter 'Z'

They probably read it as Mr Sparry and think "oooh, he must be a well 'ard boxer, I'll watch my step around him"

That place is just incredible! It's like the CBeebies official forum or something. Imagine being a moderator there!

Mr Parry, how very derivative of you!

Wow, the official forums get worse. I've just been having a look around and it turns out there are a number of threads - in the wish list section - suggesting, once a month, adding the ability to swap gamerscore for Microsoft Points. What the fuck? These people are idiots. I'd be very surprised if anyone paid any attention to that forum at all.

I read something about paying to get people banned...

I only skimmed it but the idea was, pay 20 points towards getting someone banned and if so many people did it (I think they said 3) then the person would be banned from Xbox live.

Haha! Bloody heck. It speaks volumes that all of the suggestions on the forum are ludicrous and my sensible one has been essentially met with "huh?", and "you know you can block people, right?".