Everyone who plays Call of Duty on the Internet please stand up and raise your hand. That should be the majority of people reading this article. After all, Call of Duty seems to be the most popular thing in the history of the world. Do we have any Halo players? If so, I am sure you have been a victim of the issue we are going to talk about today as well. It does not matter what game you play over the Internet, you will have to deal with some serious annoyances.

I love playing games online. I am a very competitive person, and playing multiplayer scratches some of that competitive itch for me. However, sometimes I just cannot deal with all the annoying stuff that happens online and I have to take my console, disconnect it from the Internet and sit down and enjoy a nice little single player action. There are a million annoying things when it comes to online gaming, and today I am going to talk about the ones that anger me the most.

Little Kids

I think this is the number one most rage-inducing thing for anyone who plays games online. You and a friend jump online to play some Call of Duty (which is rated “M” in the U.S.) and the first thing you hear is some annoying little kid yelling at the top of his lungs or singing the latest Justin Bieber song.

Sure, I can go in the options and mute the young offender, but we all know there will be another one just like him (or her, the voice is usually too high to distinguish) the moment you do.

Racists, Homophobes and Jerks

The little kid is yelling, or singing his terrible song and generally annoying everyone in the room. How do most online gamers respond? They call him every racial slur or derogatory term for homosexuals in the books. I am just as annoyed by the little kid as anyone, but is it necessary to throw racial slurs and generally offensive remarks at the kid?

The person throwing the insults is now just as offensive to everyone else as the kid who is annoying him, if not more so.

Of course, this does not just apply to people who are annoyed by someone’s behavior. There are more Internet tough guys on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network than I care to count. Did you just get a clean kill on that person? Well you better expect to be called every insulting name you can think of when you come back to the lobby.

It is unfortunate that playing games online cannot be a place with kind people who enjoy the company of their fellow gamers. Sadly, as long as people have the anonymity of the Internet, there will always be more jerks than good people.

Teamwork? What Is Teamwork?

Did you know that most first person shooters are team-based games? I know that is a crazy revelation, but it is true. Of course, if you watched people play online you would never know, because it seems like no one cares about actually helping their team win. This applies to wearing headsets as well. Your system came with a headset, use it, and communicate with your team!

I cannot tell you how many times in Battlefield 3 I’ve seen people using the assault kit run by a downed teammate in the hopes of killing a random enemy instead. This makes me wonder why developers even bother coming up with creative game modes with cool win conditions when it seems like most gamers only care about getting kills and playing for themselves.

Hackers

Hackers in games are not nearly as prevalent as they used to be during the old days, but if there is an exploit out there, you had better believe there are plenty of people ready to use it to make the game less fun for everyone else.

I never understood the point of hacking or exploiting a game. How is that fun? The whole point of a competitive multiplayer game is to have the challenge of competing with other players. If you win by cheating, how is that in any way satisfying? If I lose, I want to lose knowing the other team was just better than I. If I win, I want to know that I earned that win legitimately.

Conclusion

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the bad people you will meet online. All the annoyances that come with playing online makes me wonder why I do it all. Of course, as soon as I finish this article, I am going to play some Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. In the end, I suppose the good outweighs the bad.

What annoys you the most when playing online multiplayer games? Feel free to share some of your worst multiplayer stories in the comments; we love to hear from you guys!

Image Credit: Angry little boy holding a video game controller via Shutterstock