I'm not sure. But what I [i]do[/i] know, is that[spoiler]Video killed the radio star.[/spoiler]

Trash talk may have been a factor but the introduction of party chat finished it off.

fuuuu I had like a 10 page paragraph reply written out and my browser accidentally hit the back button ... omg Fine here we go again ... For me it was a combination of events that led to me completely avoiding public chatting and mic usage. Nowadays when I play alone I set voice to 0 (that insta-mutes everyone, doesn't matter the game) or when with friends we are in party chat exclusively, no exceptions. So here si the chain reaction reasons: - Loud/immature kids. I got really tired I being in a pre-game lobby hearing nothing but the sound of my ears shattering due to overly loud screaming/talking. The conversations would be childish and not something I want to hear after a log day at work or a relaxing weekend. - Mics with static/obnoxious/music players. It's either they don't care they are playing loud music or are just plain rude. No one wants to hear their rap music through the mic. Even worse are the chums who SEE their mic is active which means it's outputting terrible chalkboard like static to everyone else. It's like "hello, stop being rude and FIX YOUR MIC OR MUTE IT". I've run into enough of those players to warrant me carpet muting the entire lobby. - Racist/sexist/judgmental players who are only around to mock other players or make their game experience un-fun because they have serious emotional/mental/personal problems with themselves. I find nothing funny telling another person of different gender, country, or language something very demeaning or crude/abusive. I don't need to hear that crap said to me or said to someone else. - The worst offender that I place at the top of my list for the major reason why I use party chat only now: The elitist/egotistical/self-proclaimed 'pro's' in whatever game it may be. The idiots who think their skill gives them the right to bully, judge, or insult other players because they may be better then them (many cases they actually aren't better). Its these demented selfish players that realize they are not competitive in the slightest and are counter-productive to their tam when they put them down. They think they are MLG pros but they don't follow the practices of a well mannered competitive player who boosts morale of the team and players at all. I am quite the competitive player in games but I have never made fun or or berated another player for doing portly. It's just a stupid game. Unless I'm at a pro tournament I could care less if I lost a match. Nothing warrants being a self-proclaimed 'pro' where you wave it around like a stick flooding pre and post game chatter with how bad everyone else is and how 'great' you are. I know trash talking is fun for some but I find it pointless. The real deal comes in match where you actually show skill. But Mystical, how do you find new friends or players to chat with if you mute everyone and stay in party chat? I don't find them, they come to me. Having a youtube channel, playing with existing friends, and meeting new people in real life I don't have an issue filling a party chat lobby up. I've found I can find friendly people through other and better means besides lobbies. I don't need to dive into that infested murky pool of nonsense to find people to play with. I get gems from other places. I got 99 problems and filling my friends list to the xbox 360's capped list of 100 ain't one of them. I get send daily random friend requests all the time. Just last week I tried to clean my list down to 80 and after declining many and accepting a few more requests I'm already going over 90. But Mystical what if a game mode like search and destroy disables party chat? I don't play modes like that ever. I would never play a mode in a game that takes away my ability to chat only with friends. Not now, not ever. But Mystical, communication is key to winning? Not for me. I do quite fine in games like Halo without 'callouts'. Heck I've gotten to 50 many of times before using no mic. Having good awareness of the situation is far more important than some dude screaming random crap at you. I've heard that excuse of how party chat ruined competitive play far too often. I say if you can't do well without callouts you lack serious awareness skills. It's not hard to know where enemies are on a map of you've played a certain game long enough. I'm not saying talking with a team is useless but it's not some end all be all thing in terms of xbox live. So yeah I hope that explains what killed online public chat (at least for me). When I play alone everyone is muted. They are merely 'bots' to me. I've enjoyed the silent lobbies for years now where I can play games in peace not leaving a match or night of gaming feeling like I'm a terrible person when all I did was play a game. Too many bad apples that ruin it for me to care to find that one golden lobby of cool people. going to sleep now, my essay is done lol

Its because most people have a friend group and stick with them now.

A knife.

Squeekers, ranting nerds who hate on games I like, and $&@?ing idiots who think rank defines skill(note all of the above can be put into one category: whining rage-quitters.).

-Little kids. -People trash talking. -People using the kinect for a mic. -People playing music which the mic picks up.

A couple things actually here's the list 1. People blairing annoying music through their mic 2. Squeakers who yell rood stuff into their mics 3. party chat now lets you talk to only friends no more squeakers 4. COD with its trolling squeakers and ragers telling all the time 5. Kinect with its crapy out put system the echoes like crap 6. People talking to people in the room but who don't take off their head set 7. Cocky people who are rude to younger players who are kind 8. Players who make threats because they get made at the game 9. YouTube with its home video rageing stuff (freak out kid) 10. Players who can't afford mics or don't use them in fear of getting in a fight 11. Players who name call for no reason but just to fight That's all I can think of let me know if I forgot any thing but ya this is pretty much why lobby's are silent or really loud.

Party chat is the cancer to it. However, if you want to play with people that aren't in party chat and actually talk about 90% of the time play the more competitive/e-sport oriented playlists in games.