2. The Bigot: Racism unfortunately comes in all shapes, sizes and voices. Without a doubt, there is no more wretched hive of scum and villainy as it pertains to this quite like online multiplayer. They believe than anyone who doesn’t sound exactly like them or plays in a way that they find distasteful or cheap immediately belongs to one of many groups they have a problem with – be it ethnic, religious or sexual in nature. The constant, vulgar stream of offensive and slanderous phrases is enough to turn anyone red with embarrassment from the sheer amount of ignorance being spewed from a microphone. It is almost enough sometimes to lose faith in humanity. And while these players can be muted, you’ll more often than not discover them to be playing a game where team gameplay is an absolute must. While teamed with these particular gamers, you will be treated to their thoughts of superiority and how it pertains to their race and their race alone. Additionally, should a girl be playing, hunker down and ready yourself to be treated to a tirade of disgustingly misogynistic flirting. Making jokes about how there are no female gamers or asking why said girl is currently playing a game instead of being in the kitchen, while funny to them, will usually end up with losing a teammate at the very least and a significant amount of embarrassment for everyone else.
1. The Real Gamer: The best kind of people you meet on any online service, be it Xbox Live, PSN or Steam are the people who are the one in ten – the people who actually just want to shut up and play the game. They’ll be friendly, social and understanding of people who are veterans or new to the game with equal measure. I find it extremely prudent to give a shout out to the Monster Hunter Tri community in this sense along with a few choice people on Xbox Live. Before I get accused of taking issue with the PSN community, sadly all I have are horror stories. These are the greatest gamers in the world, online or not, because they are willing to enjoy the game for exactly what it is: A game. They aren’t there to seize a captive audience and make them miserable nor are they intent of spreading a lot of verbal hate via their personal beliefs. They just want to kill zombies as badly as they do or have an excellent, competitive game in which they might come away learning something new – having enjoyed themselves and maybe made a new friend or two along the way. These are the people that you eventually add to your friend’s list and as time goes on develop a friendly relationship with based on the dynamics of what the next game coming out might be. If making friends in the real world can be difficult for some people, imagine how hard it must be when every potential matchmaking lobby can be filled to the digital brim with a fresh batch of douche bags. To the gamers who actually demonstrate some level of courtesy and respect for their fellow players, regardless of age, sex, color or creed – I personally salute you for not becoming a statistic in favor of the Greater Internet Dickwad theory and acting like a complete and utter asshat.
So, what types of players did we leave off the list? Or better yet, what are your worst experiences with a particular player in a specific online game? As a personal aside, if you are a PlayStation 3 owner and have a great experience to relay about playing online, please be sure to share it in our forums as I would be more than overjoyed to give playing multiplayer on the PSN another shot. In the meantime, be sure to keep your eyes posted to PlanetXbox360 for all the greatest news, features and reviews about everybody’s favorite Microsoft-created gaming console. Head to our official forums to discuss what your most-hated personality on Xbox LIVE is and some fun stories of how you "dealt" with those idiots (click here).
