I’ve played the Battlefield series since its inception in 2002 with Battlefield 1942. In that time, I’ve been team-killed for planes, run over by my own teammates, and killed in a barrage of friendly artillery fire many times.

I’ve been playing on XBOX Live since 2003. In that time, I’ve had my sexuality questioned, my skill disparaged by team mates, team-killed mercilessly, and generally been reminded of why I hated bullies in high school.

Lately, I’ve been playing the new XBOX 360 game Battlefield Bad Company, which has mixed the traditional Battlefield team-killing, with XBOX Live idiocy.

Case in point: two nights ago I spawned on a new server to find myself instantly attacked by my own squad mates. Not just team mates, but squad mates. Their leader tossed a grenade at me and immediately started telling me about how he was going to kill me.

Instantly, I was surrounded by him and his goons in a tight circle.

“What are you going to do about it, Jeff?” he said to me.

I had not spoken to him, yet. Didn’t intend to. Instead, I pivoted around the circle until I found the leader and knifed him. For a moment, the bullies were shocked.

“He knifed me!” the guy shouted, surprised.

His friends opened fire and killed me.

“He knifed me!” the kid squeaked again. There was a tinge of admiration in his voice.

Deciding that I couldn’t hurt my permanent stats by committing another inevitable team-kill, I left the server for happier pastures.

You have to have a thick skin to play on XBOX Live. Really, I have nothing more to say than that.