Xbox LIVE is full of Racism

Now listen. I've had Xbox LIVE for almost a year, so don't be thinking I haven't gone through the same motions as any other LIVE gamer. Yeah, I know the motions. First phase is "suh-weet I got LIVE, and I'm not as good as I thought! It's so cool, you can talk with the people and hear them with the headset, give strategies, learn what they call each part of the terrain on each of the multiplayer levels."

I've even read multiple news articles on this very subject.

Then on the first night of LIVE gaming in February of 2006, a year ago, I ran into some CORRUPT people who start saying, "look its a buncha [n-word]." "Looks like they run in packs."...

If that doesn't shock you, maybe it's because of your own negative experiences on LIVE. My conscience was violated! That was so wrong! In the postgame lobby, I said, "You shouldn't say things like that."

Their response? "Shut up [n-word]. (laughter)." second person from their team: "Get a job!"... third person from their team: "Get off welfare [n-word]!"(all laughter)...

I was shocked that someone would say such a thing anywhere, and on Xbox LIVE! Seriously! I left feedback and left the game.

For the next few days I pondered about what happened. I was surprised. Surely, these people would've been caught by the moderators of Xbox LIVE before they got to me! I looked at the refund policy and noticed that I had a couple weeks to decide if I wanted to return the 70-dollar LIVE starter kit, that I saved for months for, and get a refund. I thought about it some more and I decided to give Xbox LIVE a shot because I could get a refund later in the next week if I changed my mind. I thought that maybe this was just an anomaly.

I looked over the LIVE packaging again, I looked at the photos of happy people with their LIVE headsets on, large smiles, I thought, "This is the way it should be, why isn't it? Why would someone pay so much money to get onto a fun way to play video games with people all around the world and then yell and cuss and put me down?" They did this in ways I didn't think a human could really be capable of.

I leave feedback. I've left feedback nearly every time someone was a jerk. And guess what? Now it is a year later and last night I ran into more jerks. Not less. More. I don't understand what drives people to be mean. Well, I know because I've been mean, it's because they're hurting, but that's no excuse. I just wish that they would change or leave. Leave!

Yeah sure, this is probably a huge epidemic that Microsoft didn't envision happening and didn't prepare for. I know I didn't expect it. That's obvious as it turns out there is actually no moderators on LIVE. If it was only a few people being [jerk]s as I'm sure they only expect a few, feedback would work. But in this time, society has gone through the motions of decaying as have societies in the past (we're merely repeating history except we have technology), and the amount of jerks on LIVE is so large that feedback alone will not make the online gaming experience what it is meant to be.

I know the cool feelings. Where you walk down the road and see random strangers and think, "Hmm, I wonder if ever played against him on Xbox LIVE." I've even wrote multiple positive stories about Xbox LIVE and Halo 2 and strategies and how to have a good time on it on my Halo 2 blog (http://sdtektivh2.blogspot.com).

Xbox LIVE does not create fun that could not be experienced in some other way. The only time I've had good fun on it is when I'd call up a bunch of friends and agree to meet on LIVE at a certain time... But, if you're going do that, why not just have LAN parties? Halo 2 LAN parties are always fun. I once had a friend over who had Xbox LIVE but never went to a LAN party, and he made the comment that "Wow, in postgame lobbies at LAN parties no one is cussing each other out!"

That's how much it is ingrained.

Now, I could give some "call to action" right here, but all that people from the Xbox LIVE crowd or from Microsoft would say is either "leave feedback," or "there's nothing we can do about it. That's just how it is."

If you decide to get onto LIVE, I cannot let you without first giving you this warning: LIVE is not filled with friendly people who want to play a game with you. It is filled with people who want to cuss you out, put you down, say that they raped you, and all-in-all be a complete [jerk]. There are nice people occaisionally, and it is true that if you can have some solid friends to play it is possible to have a good time one out of ten LIVE sessions. But even then, whether they're your enemies, your friend's friend's friend, or a wanderer, there will always be jerks on LIVE. A lot of them.

That's just how it is.

The only way you can be sure to have a good time on LIVE is to schedule in advance, through a Halo 2 community that is right for you, an event. But by the time you've scheduled one of those events, you could've had three LAN parties. That being the case, it's no wonder why I am cancelling my LIVE account before it renews.

UPDATE:
I changed all the words that said [donkey] to [jerk] because I know that there are people out there who get hung up on specific words. I do feel that it was in context and I'm sure anyone else who has had Xbox LIVE felt the same way.