I fear the worst

This weekend I got to try the Steam version of Monaco, the new $15 co-op heist game. It's good, very good, just as all the reviews said.

A review from Kotaku.com made an interesting observation that the traditional obnoxious microphone chatter with online games was gone. Completely gone.

Right now.... if you go play Monaco on PC right now, online, with strangers...you can assume you'll have a very good time. I've been having that very good time all week. 

Monaco is a pretty simple game, but one that benefits greatly from teamwork. Perhaps those of us who are playing it now just instinctively get that and realize that being annoying or angry will only make things worse. For now, then, it's all helping hands, banding together and piling into the getaway car while cackling. The game's a thieving paradise. 

What is this game going to be like when it comes to Xbox Live Arcade? That'll be the test. There are some monsters on Xbox Live.

If you don't know what he's referring to, stick this video in your ear: It's highlights from when a player logged in to Halo 3 using the name xxxGayBoyxxx but did not provoke anyone. Playing Xbox while female is another way to get harassed.

While macho big-name games like Halo and Call of Duty are obvious cesspools, the trash-talking has no limits and I've even experienced it in calm multiplayer games like Civilization: Revolutions. There was even a problem with perverts using the in-game camera in Xbox Live UNO to flash strangers.

If UNO isn't safe, what is?

My theory on why Monaco players are so civil is that the game is so different and good people are stunned by it. One would think that its focus on cooperation would lead to civility, but my experience it leads to self-appointed warlords rudely ordering other people around and cursing them out when things go wrong.

And in Monaco, things go very wrong all the time. I expect the novelty will wear off and when the Xbox version comes out later this month it will be a better game with other players muted.