Co-Op Gaming Doesn't Always Work So Well

I agree. I sometimes get frustrated playing Resistance 2 online. When you are the soldier, you depend on the Spec. Ops guy to give you ammo. A lot of the time you will find Spec. Op guys spending more time fighting and trying to get themselves kills and experience rather than making sure everyone is full of ammo. The same goes for medics who are too busy getting kills to be worried about the health of the rest of the squad.

The few times I played with peeps from here, it was a blast. Communication is good, and everyone plays their part. I think online co-op works best when you know the people, and its a dedicated group, rather than just some random strangers.

My experience is limited, but matched coop with random strangers hasn't been very good with communication or strategy. It's been a lot better when you have at least one guy you know in the game. I think you end up caring more about the outcome (IMO). I'm grateful for places like this that help expand your friends list with people who are into co-op.

Awesome video though - cracked me up.

See that video is a prime example of why I only do co-op with certain people. Some people on my friends list are cool to play with, but their buddies, that's a different story. From "MOM! CALEB IS A ****ING LIAR!"" to advice as to why its not a good idea to masturbate with Irish Spring in the shower, I've heard it all. And this is from the 18+ year olds, don't get me started on the under 15 crowd. From how Naruto can beat Superman in a fight, how everything is gay, and various things to make you want to break your microphone. That's why I rarely do public matches or match making, because I don't feel like listening nor dealing with it. Sorry but if I win the match then I am rewarded to how you've had relations with a family member including the family dog is something I don't want to listen to. Hell, I still got clowns muted from Gears of War 1. I must have handed out about 100 complains / bad reviews on L4D for clowns glitching and blocking. Anyways that's my mini online rant for the week.

The ones that really irritate me is just the blatant racism between groups, especially if one team is all from one country, while another team is from another one with maybe one member in between not from either country. They start spewing out hate against each other and it just kills the want to game.

I really don't understand why more people don't use their mute switch on heir mics. I don't need to hear half of your conversation or when people cough into the mic. Although, I can be forgiving if you understand that it's irritating and apologize for it.

When a family member burst into the room, my finger hits the mute switch instantly. Which gets aggravating because I'll forget I hit mute when I jump back into the fray.

But the point being made in the beginning post could not be made better than a night with my Gears 2 Horde friends. One of them (usually our Host) picks random moments to go walk his dogs, go outside to smoke, take a leak, go yell at his daughter - and will literally be gone for almost an hour. The other - well, spends most of the night cussing the first guy out for wondering why he even bothers to play - unless he's ranting about stupidity he's seen on the news or going on about some wild money making scheme that takes advantage of whatever stereotypical group that's cheesed him off this week.

On normal circumstances, I'd find another group to play with. But these two tend to leave you in tears and your sides hurting before the night is over, so it makes the pitfalls of co-op play more enjoyable.

Yes, I use the mute button too. But we always burst out laughing when we play a game and we're on our Ventrilo and CJ (an everyday gamer and friend of ours) shouts and everyone can hear it "No mom I'm not hungry right now!"
It's hilarious, but when you are playing seriously it sometimes gets frustrating (IF you don't know the person)

Not all "mic on" incidents are horror stories. One of the most memorable came from Gears of War 1 and one of my good buddies. During the Gears 1 era, me and my buddies would stay up until like 4 am. I know I pissed my wife off more than a few times over and got no McLovin. I'll never forget this: It was myself, Caddenator, EZKill, BigJim89, and Breakin Par on one team. We were playing Canals and EZKill's girlfriend comes in there pissed like no other, and you could hear her screaming at him. "YOU HAVE NO ****ING RESPECT FOR ME! ITS 3 AM IN THE ****ING MORNING!" He kept his cool and kept on playing, but everyone else is dying laughing. So it started in Canals, went through Mansion, and ended in Rooftops. For granted I've never met her, but I'd not want to piss her off in anyway, shape, or form.

Why not just play lan-style, like, with your RL buddies actually in the same room? That's what laptops are for.

Ummmm, kind of hard when I'm in Texas, 2 are in Pennsylvania, and the other is in Washington state.

I don't have any horror stories, although I am sure I have played with a few guys from here who have heard me talking at my son or trying to prevent him from hurting himself or the dog lol and I do apologize for that.

I do have one time though when I was playing gears 2 with my friend, and one of his friends who is in a clan comes in and every other word out of the guys mouth was f!@$. I got old real quick, so I just left the party sent my friend a message telling him why and we moved on.

I have a few horror stories from MMOs but I'm sure everyone that has played WoW has at least 5. Like the warrior that didn't want to be healed, yeah that worked out great. Plus the followers of the infamous LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKINS! Especially being a healer I got many horror stories. Actually do we have a post for "Horror stories"?

I really hate it when people have this loud, annoying tone and they wouldn't turn off their mic. it was very common when i played COD4 and I just hated it, when they were apart of my team. And then you get a penalty for leaving while in-game....

Halo 3 in my opinion has the worst collection of kids and snobby people. The online is fun, but it's kinda ruined when I hear them yelling to get in the hog.