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PS2 Online User Base Passes 1.4 million

Posted by timothy on from the but-most-of-them-are-dogs dept.

Jane_the_Great writes "The number of PS2 owners who have ventured online with their consoles has passed 1.4 million users. This article cites SCEA Executive VP Andrew House as saying, "What I think is particularly interesting is, not only are we seeing a lot of the numbers being driven off the Network Adapter bundle, but consistently there are sales of the standalone Network Adapter." Does this growth signal the arrival of online console gaming? And if there are so many people online, why can't I find someone that will play Madden 2005 like a reasonable and polite person?"

3 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Hell Is Other People by 2Flower · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That PA cartoon sums up while I STOPPED paying for X-Box Live. It wasn't the money, the DRM, the hatred of MS, or anything like that -- it was my fellow players.

    I never had a single session of XBL where I wasn't subjected to some of the worst filth the human race has to offer. Cheap players, cheaters, droppers, and countless trashtalkers. What fun is it to play a game when the other players are complete and total assholes? What's worse, because *gasp!* I'm not a particularly amazing gamer, I'd lose a lot -- and that meant being mocked and humiliated and treated like elementary school playground trash.

    Eventually I decided that I wasn't actually having any fun, and I cancelled my X-Box Live. Huzzah.

    This isn't limited to X-Box Live. My first online game, Tony Hawk 4 on the PS2 (with keyboard chat, not voice!) not a single session would go by where I wasn't called a faggot and had to put up with endless stupidity.

    I'm aware the standard defense for acting like a complete dick is "Dude, it's just trash talking, so what?" but not everybody ENJOYS declaring the skewed lineage their opponent's family line. All I want to do is play games, not constantly be reminded why we could use another forty days and forty nights of worldwide flooding, you know?

    Online gaming is in severe need of some player moderation -- some way of getting a rundown on what other people think of that player. If I saw that the folks who were challenging me were flagged as being immature bastards, I'd avoid them. True, that might mean only 5% of the total online population would be worthy, but at least I'd know I wouldn't have to worry about that 5% and could have a smooth gaming experience.

    1. Re:Hell Is Other People by GamingEngineer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think online players can be almost categorized into two groups: Group 1: Players that are generally polite, do not want to give anyone a hard time and do not want a hard time in return. They're just there to play. Group 2: Players that for some reason or another act like total jerks. (Hey, doesn't that sound like real life?) My theory is that most of group 1 are pretty quiet around people they don't know online, simply because they're too busy playing and don't have much to say to others that they don't know. That means we're left with group 2 in voice or text chat. This is why I mainly just play with people I know. I play Socom 2 a lot, and tried getting my brother into the game. He didn't enjoy it because (a), the game has a steep learning curve. And (b), as he tries to learn the game he is constantly ridiculed by people with more experience. Combine the two and his motivation to play is lessened. But I find online play to be great fun when one finds a nice group of people to play with. Online clans and teams help make this easier to do.

  2. Re:A certain game by damien_kane · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I bought the network adaptor for SOCOM II.
    Later I bought the harddrive for SOCOM II. There were supposed to be extra maps, models, weapons, etc available from SCEA.

    At the time of release, there were no maps, no models, no weapons, nothing...
    Since FFXI and a 'free' (as in, the first one is always free) month of access came with the harddrive, I decided to pop it in.
    This was over 5 months ago. I still play it.

    Thankfully I have decent friends whoc an pull me away from it on weekends, and a job which pulls me away from it during weekdays.
    Weeknights and during the days on weekends I'm always playing it, though.

    I want (and am going to buy) MGS3, GT4, GTA4, and SH4, but I dont know if I will have time to play them and cessate my need to play FFXI.
    4 words: The Game Is Crack.