http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=186188

Shadowrun designer Bill Fulton has staged an attack against Xbox Live idiots, claiming that the abusive behaviour of online games is "dramatically reducing" sales of his game. Funny, we though it was the bad reviews.

At Microsoft Game Studios, Fulton was responsible for the online matchmaking system, UI and the social aspects of play on the multiplayer shooter, which seemingly got lost in the carnage of Forza 2 and the Halo 3 multiplayer beta.

Speaking his mind on website Gamasutra, Fulton says: "The online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales, and continues to stunt the growth of our industry."

Speaking more broadly about online gaming, Fulton says that of all the ways he spends his time, "playing games online is the only one I would describe as "frequently barbaric". Insults of all kinds, including racist and homophobic slurs, are commonplace," he says.

"Non-gamers simply don't love games enough to put up with the crap they get online. The reason they would consider playing online is to have fun with other people - and right now, playing games online with strangers rarely delivers that for anyone outside the hardcore demographic."

Isn't Xbox Live aimed at hardcore gamers anyway? Nintendo Wi-Fi, with no voice, text chat or name-swapping is far more appropriate for the casual gamers who want a safe time online.

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I really don't think is that bad at least in my experience.  It could be that I usually play with friends when playing online but there are always ramdon people.  Yes once in a blue moon someone decides to be racist but for the most part xbox live has been a fun experience for me.  I mean I played almost every night for almost a year playing gears and I can count in 1 hand how many times I was really offended on xbox live.  Of course there is always the mute feature and just joining another game.  This is similar to people blaming violence on video games is just an overrated scapegoat.  I guess people expect online gaming to be somehow exempt or immune to assholes?

I think he is just making excuses for the poor games sales. If people want to play online with out having to deal with that behaviour they can use the mute or mute all options and submit a player review. This is also not a new thing, it has been going on since internet gaming has started and I don't see sales for popular tiles like halo3 or cod4 being effected due to abusive behaviour on live.

Maybe if it wasn't a horrible game, it'd sell better.

he does have a point, the most i have ever been able to play in one sit down is three games before i ran into one of the idiots he is talking about

This is due to the fact that XBL is full of gamers that are 13 years old, the same thing happened to the PS3 after it became affordable, during the first 6months of playing RFoM i never heard anyone say anything offensive, not even a swear word.

Go play 1hour on Halo3 and you will be called every world in the book while the rest of the guys talk about killing niggers, fucking dead people and running gays down with their cars. I can't be the only one to have that happened in every Halo online game i played.

^your not, and the sad part is almost every one in the heat of battle might let it slip, but not as often as what you ....well here (wanted to say see but your not seeing)

I personally enjoy 'pwning' screaming american teenagers every now and then.

It's good for the soul.

while i think this is an excuse for poor sales, he is right, the language and behavior that is being used is incredibibely offensive.

MS needs a 0 tolerance rule. Have mods sit in or even play in games, whoever utters words like this gets a 10 day XBL ban and is put on a watch list. When he comes back his games are randomly monitored now and if he slips up again perma ban.

The other thing I have noticed that is really annoying, is people making noise, just to make noise. I was playing COD4 yesterday and multiple people in multiple games would whistle, grunt, yawn, and make other funny noises, repeatadily.

Live is much like any internet experience if you fixate on the moronic fringe it appears to be explosively out of proportion. The reality is that the moronic fringe is everywhere, and can be found on any platform, and in all areas of internet society. These very forums are a good example while we have top notch moderation. We still get hounded by morons. Some posters are trash talkers. Some posters are overly excitable. However the majority of posters are well behaved and well meaning.

Silence may be golden, but its also not entirely stimulating. Without communication you lose some intensity. You lose some emotional connection with those you play with. You also lose out on the intelligent conversation you get to have. Playing beside someone is by far less stimulating then playing with someone.

The man said it best if you don't like what is being said hit mute or turn of your headphones. While Live has an abundance of children at certain hours. They are just children being children. They are not miniature adults for the most part they lack an adults sense of tact. That is part of what growing up is supposed to teach them.

Everyone knows the real reason Shadowrun bombed is because it was a mutliplayer only shooter. The Shadowrun franchise has always been in the roleplaying genre. Shadowrun on 360 wasn't a bad game IMO but it was severely overpriced and the wrong genre. I mean for the amount of content that was included the game should have been $30.