I just can't compete with people who obviously have way more time to devote to a game than I do.  I spend so much time swearing (thank God I don't have a headset) that it's just not fun.  Give me a compelling single player experience any day.

i feel the same way, it's why i don't play online much and probably never will. the only online game i liked was world of warcraft and i specifically only liked raiding....us against the computer.

I feel the same way. I love local multiplayer. I like that you're playing against someone you know. I also take comfort in that you don't have to worry about random underaged kids spewing swear words at you and you don't have to wear an awkward and sometimes distorted headpiece.

It's also made worse by competitive rankings and the l word. You know what I'm talking about..

I'm an old guy, so I'm lucky if I play 2 hours or so, at night when everyone else is asleep...but I can compete in Gear on-line if my connection is decent.

Find a group of people you enjoy talking to on-line and play what they play; the learning curve is easier overcome when your joking with friends.

Still frustrating when some dude who has 4 times as many matches as you uses a modded controller and hammerbursts you down but...I digress, don't I...

I've been playing Gears of War 2 less and less because it's becoming more frustrating. Maybe I'm just not as good as I used to be.

Sometimes, yes.

Epic has noted an increase in the number of cheaters since their last title update (#4); they say they are going to fix it with TU #5...so I'd bet it's not you getting worse, just running into the cheating players.   All right, I'll stop talking gears now!

Yeah, I agree. I prefer single player campaign and only play multiplayer casually. I used to enjoy Counterstrike quite a bit back in the day but now I just play maybe 2-3 times a week online.

Much prefer local multiplayer, but that seems to be going the way of the dodo on the HD consoles.

When I lose... yes haha. But yea that and of course just finding people who don't play with "respect" or just plain out cheat. Of course they aren't obligated to the first it's disappointing how many people don't follow the latter.

I used to get pissed off in Mario Kart Wii, then i got good and pissed everyone else off:P Then hackers came and ruined my fun.