Or, how to enrage Xbox One gamers from miles away.
Source: Forbes
With the advent of online console gaming back in 2001 (yes, the first major console that could go online was the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, but let’s be real, it was pretty bad for what it was), the original incarnation of Microsoft’s Xbox changed the game forever. Two generations later, and we now have the Xbox One, with all its bells and whistles like the new and (allegedly) improved Kinect, apps, and voice commands. One of the main concerns with the voice command setup has been that another person could walk into a room where you were playing and start shouting commands that could potentially interfere with your gameplay. Now, some clever individuals have upped the ante on that inconvenience.
As a seasoned troll myself, I can always appreciate an artfully done prank. Taking the above scenario to the internet scene, trolls are now fouling up game sessions for others from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. How, you ask? Simple: by making their gamertags exactly the same as some of the voice commands, such as “Xbox Sign Out”, “Xbox Off”, or even “Xbox Bing”, to cue up the search engine feature. This alone isn’t enough to cause a disturbance of course, but given how juvenile and angry the Call of Duty community is, it’s easy enough to goad them into unwanted occurrences by bothering them in-game.
Of the possibilities, I think my favorite has to be “Xbox Bing.” What better way to both aggravate someone and give them a harsh reality check than to make them pull up their search engine and have all their profanities and other anger issues plastered on the screen right in front of them? This might be one of the first documented occurrences of internet trolls operating for the greater good. Having been in the online FPS community for about 12 years now, I’ve seen some of the worst of the human race. Not much makes people rage more than killing their character and then dancing on their corpse… until now.
As a small disclaimer, this post is not intended to make people stop playing Xbox One, Call of Duty, or anything of that nature. Do what you want to do. However, if you happen to see one of these jokers online, don’t fall into their trap, stay informed, and happy hunting!
