'A-Hole Button' Not Enough? Here's How You Do It Permanently On Xbox 360.
Yesterday, we reported that Halo 3 will sport a feature that is lovingly called "The A-Hole Button", by Bungie staffers, to silence those pesky and foul-mouthed teens. As it turns out, such a feature is already available on the Xbox 360 and Major Nelson is here to tell us how:
While you are playing in any Xbox 360 game, press the guide button, scroll down to the ‘Community’ section then click to the right and press A on the icon of the controller. That will bring up a list of people are you are currently playing with followed by others you have played with in recent games. (we call this the recent players list.) Then scroll down to the gamertag who is bothering you with their yammering and press A to get to their profile…scroll to the bottom and click MUTE. Bam…the player is now muted in your current game session. You can now continue your game in peace. (You can always go through the same steps to unmute a player.)
There you have it! Major Nelson also tells us it's much easier to do than it seems. While it may seem redundant, Halo 3 merely streamlines the process. After you've muted the little bastard(s), the Major recommends this fabulous step:
Oh, and while you’re at select SUBMIT PLAYER REVIEW (two clicks up from MUTE) and be sure to select AVOID THIS PLAYER (and select why.) This will tell Xbox Live that you would prefer not to play with this person in ANY GAME and our system will do its best to NOT match you up again with that person.
Armed with this knowledge, I think I'll get back to playing with/against random strangers on Live, again. Nothing pissed me off more than a confrontation with someone half my age who not only kicks my ass, but talks smack, too. How likely are you to go back to playing people on Live now that you know how to do this?
The Halo 3 Feature You Already Have [Major Nelson]
Super Timsy
Posted to Video Games on 14 February 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: Dashboard, Major Nelson, Multiplayer, Mute, The A-Hole Button, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
Not to be condescending, but I thought this "feature" was pretty well known to 360 users. It wasn't my first Uno game (okay, second) before I had to mute a mouthbreather. I can deal with the aggressive smack talk more than I can tolerate mouthbreathers, people who make incessant noise and "w00ts", people who have their audio loud and mic sensitivity high, so all your fellow players hear is feed back and your conversation with your roommate about the utility bills.
I didn't really know about it until today. ...and from what I've seen in the comments sections of other sites, not everyone knew about it, either. I'm just happy that people are passing this information along for those who aren't as tolerant.
Sounds like live has come along way in the 'dear lord in heaven, what can I do to escape these fools' department. Granted, I have been away for quite a while.
I've had very good experiences overall with Live. I am an extremely sensitive person, but I love playing Gears of War online with whatever random people. (Ranked matches tend to have a higher frequency of annoyingly competitive people, but it's tolerable.) I find that if I be myself and act maturely, others, who might otherwise remain silent, speak up and return the favor.
I find Ranked matches on Gears of War to have a nearly 99% a-hole frequency. While the Player matches have a much higher percentage of sportsmanlike, friendly players who actually enjoy the game. I think that might be due to the fact that you cant play with your friends on Ranked Matches. (an argument unto itself)
But I put the mute/feedback/complaint reporting to heavy use whenever I play in the Ranked Matches. I don't know if Xbox360 Terms of service include epithets of sexual orientation to be 'hate-speech' but I certainly do. Common lexicon not withstanding, I find the word "gay" "fag" et al to be completely intolerable.