Online Age Requirements? Yes Please!

Online gaming is suffering an infestation. Every game, server, or channel players join is changing for the worst. Gamers try to avoid it, but the situation is becoming unavoidable. The entire community is dealing with the same problem. What is a gamer to do?!

[GreenRingOfLife]

An online requirement would be nice, because a lot of time when im playing on ps3, of the few ppl that do have headsets it seems like they are all 9 year olds. thats why i enjoy playing uncharted 2's amazing online with my headset off

[goflyakite]

GreenRingOfLife, if you really did have a PS3 and actually did play UC2 online, you would know that you can mute people.

Or if you play any games at all you would know that it's a common feature nowadays. For this reason the little kids don't bother me.

[Prototype]

The problem I run into is not so much the age but how they act.

I've ran into responsible, respectable teens and I've also met some 40+ year olds who act more immature than a middle school cafeteria. If anything they need some sort of online ethic course to have people act how they are in real life and not how they WANT to act. Part of the reason why I left Live was the racist comments I've heard from people just because online they can get away with it; on PS Home yes it's there however no where near as bad and reporting them does work.

My biggest piss off however is people who act immature then throw some sort of legal action and play the victim; one guy pulled that and we lost some people in the process because they got so scared and paranoid something was gonna happen over a bunch of hearsay. I say if someone wants to do something they lose all right to complain when karma hits them back at full force.

[rdgneoz3]

There are PS3 games that let you mute people. I mute people in UC2 all half the time, either if they're friends having a conversation I don't care about or some little kid being annoying.

[Kratos Spartan]

you are so fake it's crazy.

[-Alpha]

Finally, somebody agrees with me.

Age has nothing to do with how people act, and it's how they act that is the biggest problem.

Also, I've seen many more adults start fights, especially when they hear a little kid because they start picking on them just because they have a feminine voice.

the internet does not have restrictions because it's impossible to control.

With that said, I find it very funny that people love complaining about little 12 yr olds invading their games but don't have the sense to mute them.

[Saaking]

Yes, that would be so great. I mean seriously, 3/4 of the people playing Mature rate online games are not old enough to even be playing it. It's annoying hearing those squeaky little voices accusing you of cheating. I hate it.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

GreenRingofLife = PoG

Anyway, I guess that it really isn't just me. 90% of the time when I play 360 online there's some 9-year old kid screaming into his mic. It's irritating! And it doesn't seem to matter which game, either; Left 4 Dead, CoD, TF2, PGR... They're everywhere. I'm getting really sick of it.

This is one of the advantages to not having a headset packaged with the console. @_@

[ScoobyDrew]

how about a voice pitch recognizer? at least it'll be effective towards getting those damn chipmunks off the mics... it won't help with much else though...

[Viper7]

Well imo the parents are the ones who choose whether they allow their kids to play these games. If they are fine with their child playing R18 game's its their choice.

As for kicking the children from online games, its near to impossible. They can just create a profile with age set to 50 or something.

Answer to the why Ps3 has less chipmunks and more mature players question the answer to this is fairly simple. Most of these players speak native English? correct? X360 is popular in both US and UK no?

Europeans and Asians who do not speak English as their native tongue rarely even plug in the headset, and when they do they do so to speak with the ones that share the same language.
The ones who are confident enough on their English skills are usually 15-18 years old or older.

I am not saying that US and UK players are less mature, just saying that the non-native use headset outside of co-op groups or private games far less often -> thus less chipmunks. PSN will gets its chipmunks sooner or later when/if ps3 gets more popular in these 2 countries.

[RememberThe357]

We're not talking about doing it for the kids sake, we're talking about doing it for our sake.

lol I'm actually having a really hard time understanding your comment. So all the players playing on the US region are actually non-US players? Doesn't seem likely. Most people don't have mics that is why there is not as much talking on the PSN as Live.

[vhero]

How could you enforce it though? Simple answer... You couldn't! Just like you can't keep mature games away from kids.

[kneon]

They could require credit card verification to set up an account, that will help. To encourage this they could do something like charge you $5 and give $10 worth of live points when you first create an account. On the PS3 I set up the master account and then accounts for the kids with their date of birth set correctly. This doesn't prevent them playing any games except home as far as I can tell, though I haven't set any parental controls. But it's not a problem for me, my 15 year old does play cod and is in a clan and never screams or yells at anyone.

Even if they won't block kids it would still be very useful to be able to verify age. You could do something like allow you to choose to play online only with people over 18 for example.

[bjornbear]

use it

[ShadowJetX]

I agree with you on that aspect, but it also comes down to the retailer too.

When I went to EB games last week to pre-order SO4, I noticed an elderly women buying an excessive amount of M rated games. First thing I noticed was that sales representative giving the women warnings about the game, first thing came to mind that she was buying for some 11 year old kid. I then noticed said 11 year old kid looking around, but my biggest gripe with it being how displeased he looked. The way he looked, it was almost as if he was trying to say "is that all I'm getting?" I mean, the little bastard was getting about 4 games (all m rated) and a new 360 to boot. I then looked at the sales clerk, thinking he could prevent the kid from getting such games (it's not that I cared he was getting them, it's that they were M rated). However the man did do his best to steer the elderly women into getting the kid more suitable games, but it was futile, seeing as the women clearly knew what a M rated game was but gave less then a 2 cents worth about, only caring about giving the kid a distraction and making her life easier. However, in the whole sense, the clerk isn't allowed to prevent the sale of games, seeing as the damn company only cares to make money, the only thing he could was try and steer the elderly women away from such games.

In other words, we live in a sad time.

[AEtherbane]

Yes Please!

[-Alpha]

1) You were a kid too one time. Just because you are too damn old to grow up in the age of internet gaming doesn't mean you have the authority to block out people of a specific age

2) You would damn well be against this if you were a kid

3) AGE REQUIREMENTS? How about a DECENCY requirement or MATURITY requirement? Are people THAT blind to see that age has NOTHING to do with maturity and that people who are younger can be just as polite and friendly as an "adult" gamer?

I find it funny people have problems with little kids despite the fact that older gamers are just as worse.

[Kratos Spartan]

you are proving this article right. And I like you. So calm down. bubs to you man. Just calm it down and collect your thoughts. look at my comment 5

[-Alpha]

I am calm, I just POSTED in CAPS to EMPHASIZE a POINT :P

But I didn't mean it in an angry tone, but I guess words don't translate well into actual emotions.

My bad, and thanks for the bubs!

[itsralf]

i just turn on my bluetooth headset and leave it in the corner on the other side of the room. saves me the time of having to mute each individual player. a "mute-all players" feature would be nice...

[GUCommander]

yea I do the same thing. On my 360 I just plug the headset in and leave it next to me with the volume muted. There is also an option on Xbox Live to mute everyone who isn't your friend, but I find this option is a bit too extreme most of the time.

[Kratos Spartan]

what is the point of that? Plug it in and set it beside me just doesn't make sense. Try harder.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

Some games have a Mute All option, like Warhawk.

[itsralf]

do you want to hear me and my friends drunken ramblings when i forget to set my mic on mute? no. didn't think so. try harder.

edit: unless you were talking to GUCommander. which makes more sense, now that i read everything over again.

[Koromaro]

"By selecting "ACCEPT" below, you are representing that you are 18 years old (and have reached the “age of majority” if that is not 18 years of age where you live) and you are attaching your electronic signature to and agreeing to all terms in this contract."

[goflyakite]

Does it work?

[Koromaro]

Nope

[Kratos Spartan]

Would be nice, but legal issues are all around this topic. Discrimination? Get a good attorney and you win!

[Finalfantasykid]

Not only that, but how could they possibly enforce this? How would the system actually check that you are actually over 18(or whatever age).

[elcompa425]

Live would lose about 90% of its paying customers, due to the age restriction.

[damnightmare]

Meh, If only =\

At least Xbox LIVE has Party Chat and I can just mute everyone on PSN. There are some really annoying kids out there.

[LordMarius]

But then the bots wouldn't be able to play :(
Their Mommy's $50 will go down the drain...

[basicsameh514]

no!!!!! where would we get our crying kid videos now?

[Model]

Bungie is that you in the picture ?

[Michael-Jackson]

I thought it was MealGearRising...probably a pic from l2 months ago, he went downhill from there.

[basicsameh514]

lol i see you haven't played on live for a wile most of the people ive met are over 18 or at least on gears of war 2 never tried halo anyways if you did play with a 15 year old he will probably own half of the psn users

[snaz27]

where a guy sandy ravage goes round on mw2 killing boosters, he was on xbox live, anyway who sends him hate mail? some little american kid screaming and swearing at him lmao.. come on the xbox is alot cheaper, so more obtainable for kids! there are stupid kids on psn, just not as many.

[Foliage]

That's complete BS. Gears has some of the worst people I've ever met on live. I've had back-to-back-to-back games filled with these stupid little annoying kids. Half the time you can't tell whether it is a guy or girl, since half of xbox live hasn't hit puberty.

And playing on PSN offers much more competitiveness than on live. Xbox live is just too easy, since kids have no tactics. They wouldn't survive a second in a game like MAG, or even Killzone 2 or Uncharted 2.... well any PSN game really...

PSN = Mature
Xbox Live = Twats

[hudsoniscool]

i was playing gears 1 and this kid was very good. he was literaly 9 years old and had a 1.8 kd with 6k kills. he was as good as me i was baffled.

[dalibor]

Interesting. I was pretty good at Super Mario 2 & 3/Duck Hunt/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3(snes) when I was young myself. Age does not always equate at how good you are, it depends really. I think I was a better gamer when I was younger lol, at least with some games for that matter.

[dalibor]

Chipmunks haha, either that or you get people who make their voice really deep & you have no idea what in the world they are saying. Why even bother using a headset if you are going to adjust how you sound lol? Shoot I'm still waiting for the Sean Connery/Clint Eastwood voice adapter. Imagine being able to sound like whomever you please lol, that would be a crazy online experience.

[macalatus]

My fellow Sony gamers, it should be in the interests of all gamers to have not only an age requirement, but an intelligence requirement as well. The Xbox Live gaming community wouldn't be totally happy about it, as 99% of them lack both intelligence and the age factor. They would do everything in their power to prevent such things happening, but then again the chances of them doing so is the equivalent of a chimp doing advanced nuclear physics.

Sony Gamers Lead the Way!

[militant07]

No, I dont bother annoying voices, and Im sure compaining about it make you think that your "the cool big guy..."

[Bazookajoe_83]

It´s one of the negative aspects of including a headset in every console. But you can always mute them.

[Revvin]

Age ratings won't change anything as other people have pointed out you can have 30+ gamers still acting like children online. Things will only improve when the service providers i.e Microsoft and Sony start taking complaints more seriously and when users take the time to report people.

[ChrisW]

I'm very certain that Xbox Live has a mute player function...

The question of the day is, why in the DAMN hell do people insist on complaining about retarded prepubescent Nazi children screaming in their ears instead of USING THAT FUNCTION?!?

Because they're retarded in their own-right???

[Wrathman]

here here.

they are both full of kids.the difference.you cant hear the kids on PSN.when i play MW2 on the psn..its total ownage.i rented it out for a week to play with other friends.suffice to say in 12 hours of ownage i got 2 nukes and 27 chopper gunners.it took me 6 days of play on the xbox to amass that.they litterally line up to be shot on the ps3.

PSN=headless turkeys
XBL=hardcore

you want to know why..XBL has kids that are good at games.because kids are good at games.

[kraze07]

I'd have to say no. Not all kids are immature little brats and not all adults are mature people who know how to act right. When I was younger I never said or did some of the things people do when playing online today. I just wish people would raise their kids right, then we wouldn't have to deal with stuff like this.

[peeps]

i swear the only ppl i ever heard when playing cod were kids who were obviously not old enough to play the game.

[Akagi]

Just play Killzone 2.

Why? Because the kids who love CoD and Halo hate it because you HAVE to work as a team, you can't just go solo and expect to take the whole opposite team down, and it's about communication and tactics.

[bjornbear]

i doubt kids even get into KZ2, its just too complex and it would probably freak kids out / confuse them

so true though haven't found any kids in KZ2

[HobbsCanuck]

lol, then I'm the only 13 year old playing KZ2 with a headset then. I actually hate CoD and Halo. I like Battlefield more since you work together. Luckily I pre-ordered Bad Company 2 before it got an M rating :)

[bjornbear]

oh ok...

[housegroove76]

Lil kids screaming and cursing are definately ruining a lot of online enjoyment, but another group I hate are the fat @sses who have never gotten of their couches.

How do I know they a huge waste of space? Because they are sitting on their couch or chair playing a game, but they are so out of breath and breathing so heavy it sounds like they just finished running the boston marathon.

[taliesin]

age is no guarantee of good behavior...unfortunately :-(