Now I don’t know if I’m getting old and disillusioned, but I’ve really struggled with the on-line social side of gaming since Halo 2.

All I seem to hear in recent years is trash talking, music or fools screaming and the like down their mics. This seems to be regardless of the game I play, whether it be a Halo game, Call Of Duty, Need For Speed or FIFA. It’s also regardless of platform, Xbox or PS3.

The Internet can be a wonderfully faceless environment. Because of this it seems to largely bring out the worst in gamers. Racists, sexists and the morally / socially retarded. I’d be interested to know how many of these bigots actually carry on their on-line behaviour into their real lives. Very very few I suspect…… You also have the people who take great pleasure in appearing to want to talk and be social, who then turn that into an opportunity to abuse the poor soul sucked in by it.

I use the player reviews on Xbox Live a lot. Usually these are negative reviews for communication although I do use the ‘Prefer’ option at times. There are a few players who I regularly see on-line that I know aren’t going to mess about (which on Search & Destroy on COD is every other game) so I hope this is the rating system working although I can’t be sure.

Halo 2 was good times. I used to wake at 3am most mornings to catch the American and Canadian friends that I played with. I’ve only recently removed their tags from my friends list as they’d not been on in years but they had a very similar approach to gaming as me. The games were always played as they should have been, no-one doled out abuse to others and a general air of respect was held.

Is it really too much to ask for that to be way people play today? Now yes, I’m aware that there are other’s who don’t wish to act the fool, I just so rarely interact with them it’s hard to get past the idiots.You can have a whole lot of fun without it being at the expense of others.

Honestly.