I assume no friendly fire in co-op play, but the possibility to kill an ally in competitive play

In an environment like XBL betraying should not be a possibility, but in an enclosed environment it should be. Global matchmaking systems like XBL produce a hostile environment because players rarely see each other on a continuous basis - as a player you get matched up with other players you don't know (gamers have coined the term "randoms" to describe such players) and proceed to play a game together. When the game's done you'll repeat the process all over again, and the chances of getting matched up with those you just played with are slim to none. It's this one time meeting that allows players to feel free of responsibilities - they feel like they can abuse you, because they'll likely never see you again. Also, because you're constantly playing with different teams you don't get the chance to analyze a particular team's strategy to find an effective counter, so the best way to get an advantage is to put your opponent down: get them angry so they'll play worse - psych them out. This is now considered "normal" behavior for players in these kinds of matchmaking environments. In an enclosed environment - an environment where you're constantly playing with the same players (like on a local dedicated server) this doesn't happen as much, or at all. It's easy to understand why too. A citizen wouldn't hurl abuse at his co-worker every day - he knows there'll be consequences. Likewise, a player won't be so inclined to abuse other players in an enclosed environment because there's a likelihood that there will be consequences for him too - players may begin to despise him, ban him from playing, etc.. This matters to a player in an enclosed environment because he'll have to play with the same people over and over, and the game becomes much less enjoyable if those you're playing with don't like you. In a global environment like XBL players feel like their actions have no ill consequences - and they're often right. The victim holds no power for fear of players abusing such power, they just have to take what comes their way. The system's designed to match players up, not to weed out those behaving badly. Indeed, a player feels like he has a right to do what he wants in-game. After all, he brought it, he payed for the console and he payed for the internet connection. So any course of action a developer may take when dealing with badly behaved players will be unpopular - like Halo: Reach's time-outs. The consumer feels cheated. Regardless, I think more should be done about this issue, and until the culture in XBL, PSN and the likes changes betraying should not be allowed in the majority of online games which deal with player versus player teams.

Traitor scum.

uh, better be, to be automatic-ly dead and wait for 2 minutes respawn.....

How do you betray someone that isn't an ally.

R a p e*

I -blam!-

You pay a fine with your in-game currency !