This topic tends to leave my mind perplexed more than it flares my nostrils. The age of the individual competitive multiplayer has risen, and I can understand that to a degree. But when it taints good ol' fashion Co-Op, that's where I have an issue.
The unplugging of mics, whether simply to jam out to your favorite tunes, party chatting with friends, or good ol' just dont want to be bothered to me sends a glaring message across all consoles. That many gamers choose the "I walk alone" rather than teamplay. What is not being sought after or appreciated is the notion that if one used those mics for communication rather than maniacal laughter or complete jibberish, the he/she could actually ascertain even more individual success and accolades when you play co-operatively.
I applaud the co-op games like Mass Effect 3 and CoD: Black Ops by which it is highly recommended to not only form a team, but behave like one to reach maximum success. For instance, I grabbed the Unwavering medal for randomly linking with several other like minds such as myself. And I understand that is what a friends list is for, but the likely hood of randomly finding good squadmates for any games is getting smaller and smaller. (Perhaps, that's in part to mature shooters catering to smaller and smaller people age wise) but that's another story. Then as I cruise thru other gaming social sites I see people wanting and asking for help with such games and then when you offer your services its clear of one of the main reasons they are having a hard time.
CoD: Black Ops Zombie mode is of course of my favorites, not only because the made me look for stuff that was not obvious (something that I think has gone from gaming... the mighty Easter Egg) but, it took a unified front to combat the onslaught of undead that were in every which way and corner. The thing that makes me laugh about it though is even in zombie movies and other zunbi games, the hordes of the undead are not your worst enemy. Most of the times its your fellow man that inevitably cause your undoing, and this is shown fantastically in this mode.
In closing I know that there are a slew of other co-op titles that I have not mentioned that also wear these honors, I was just providing two examples of games in which a lot of the players lack the mentality and/or spinal strength to not want to simply carry everything on their backs, and to once in a while be comforable in sharing the load.