The unpronounceable gamer blog Kotaku is running a post on how nudity and drugs are "invading" Xbox Live. The story goes on to say how someone let their young nephew play Uno on Live only to discover a fellow player streaming images of blunt smoking and other goodness.

"Aaron goes on to say he also ran into a woman who was apparently streaking Uno games."

Microsoft support was its usual helpful self ( more about that later ).

It has been my universal experience that Xbox Live is one of the most profanity laced experiences around. I downloaded Texas Hold 'em during the free period and I must say the depth and breadth of profanity is shocking even to me. Usually I plug in the headset just so I can turn the voice channel all the way down. During a game over the weekend I ended up playing at a table with a girl who was obviously and wildly drunk. The cross table banter was more entertaining than usual.

Is it really possible to rate online content? Should we care?

You can't really get away from that garbage online. It's rather sad that, even with the best games, you end up surrounded by morons. :D

Personally, if I want to play poker online with people, I'd choose something like holdempoker.com... it has the people who are a pain, but usually you end up with good games. And if I was using real money, I'd be rich now based on what I have made in fake money. :D

The downside to MMO content turns out to be the same thing as the upside: Other people. Remember that the most important rule to any kind of online gaming is that the company you keep defines the experience. If you have a gang of people you like, you'll have a whole lot of fun. If instead you pair up with people you'd never socialize with in life, you might wonder why everybody likes this game. This holds as true for Texas Hold 'Em and any game on uproar.com as it does for World of Warcraft and games of Counter-Strike.

Profanity is just part of it. The Nudity and Drugs... well what kind of a bright idea is it to let players stream content? Heck, if I had had that ability when I was younger I would have annoyed everyone with Star Wars and Bill & Ted and other sound clips. It would have seemed great fun at the time. Sure it's not nudity, but it's probably more annoying :)