Ok, so... I just have to get this off my chest. I have lost the will, drive, joy and desire to keep playing Black Ops 2 online. Well, any FPS for that matter. Why? Well let me tell you why...
I am a PS3 fanboy. I migrated over from PC to console in 2010 and I've not looked back.

I play Black Ops 2 and I'm currently Prestige Master, have diamond camo snipers and gold on a few/most of my pistols, SMG's and Assault rifles. My K/D is 1.01 (average) and my score per minute is 221,00 (not too good). I've logged 558 hours so I've spent a fair amount of time playing this game.
The above stats serve to show that my opinion of the game and the online CoD community is not based on bias (BF3 fanboy slating all other FPS') or perception created by playing just a few TDM or Domination matches and having my behind handed to me on a silver platter by master inja tweenies.
I loved playing this game. It has been an absolute joy getting home from a hard day's work, grabbing something to munch and then park off in front of my screen and playing with my clan buddies and other PSN friends. I loved the interaction, bantering, joking and all round comradery of the people I played with. I've had a great time completing the challenge of getting my snipers to diamond. The hours of frustration was worth it once you make that last kill and you see the achievement pop up that indicates you've unlocked gold on your final weapon and they are all diamond now. Then I moved on to getting to Prestige Master and that felt great.
But then something changed about 3-4 months ago. I started entering lobbies where young teens would be running their mouths and spewing forth profanities and racial slurs at anyone that dares to play better than or in some cases just picking a person and bullying them. I mean, it is one thing to cuss (in a moment of play during the match) at someone for killing you while you have been working hard on getting a 15 kill streak and you are one kill away from K9's or a Swarm. I just feel that it is totally unacceptable when you start ripping on a complete stranger in the lobby and be an all round jerk. These youngsters are disrespectful and in most cases racist towards others and especially towards female players. They just keep cussing and insulting others and it makes the gaming experience unpleasant for most in the lobby.
Then there is the issue I have with player emblems in the game. There are some real works of art and I really appreciate the time and effort some put into creating some really great pics, but then there are those that create some downright offensive ones e.g. incorporating naked bodies, private parts, profanities, racist slurs, etc. It irritates me because I don't need this in my game and it embarrasses a person when you have other people with you in the room, especially younger people, and here's a person in the lobby with an offensive emblem that pops up every time you kill them.
There's obviously the issues I have with the game e.g. lag compensation, the broken camera, balancing issues, etc. but these are basic game related issues that everyone has to deal with and that is fine. The game being buggy and having game play issues is something I can handle and you just learn to work with it but what gets to me is the community and the community is getting toxic.
A toxic community detract from the gaming experience and it just makes it unpleasant for others to play. Yes, there will be an element or minority in every game that will do these things but I have been encountering this 80% of the time in BO2 lobbies. I want to play a game that will stay true to the nature of the game and not bring in these elements that is offensive and degrading to other sexes and races. These behaviors do not belong in gaming and there must be a way of cleaning online gaming up. I'm not convinced that the reporting system in BO2 works and I don't think that this is a system that can work on such a massive community.
It has to start with the individual and we need to change. If we can get to a place where we all respect each other then I believe gaming will take off in a massive way in SA and among a wider audience.
I will not be getting CoD Ghost as I have lost the joy I've felt playing BO2. I've tried playing other FPS' and the feeling is across the board unfortunately. I might just need a nice long break from killing noobs so, for mow, I will be focusing my attention of single player games until I get my mojo back.
