I've noticed a lot of people ask this question HOW MANNY PEOPLE CAN YOU HAVE IN A PARTY CHAT

Meeting people. "Clans" are more for competitive gaming and "communities" are for people who just want to socialize and meet people with similar interests (thats how it comes across to me).

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You asked earlier "why dont you just play with friends on your friends list?" A lot of these gamers are LOOKING for people to add, and in this state of xbox gaming, it can be hard to find friends. When I started playing in '06 or so, party chat wasnt popular
so people talked a lot in game, now all you see are people in parties so its tough to meet new people.

I have also notice that the Invite to Party feature has gone and only the Private Chat one is still there were you can Invite to Voice Chat.

Party chat is better since people can come and go but with the Voice Chat it locked

I have noticed an echo from some people from time to time, in both parties, and game chat.

Do you know if anyone in the party is sitting close to their tv, or have their tv volume turned up a lot? as that could be what is happening.

I noticed this a lot too. Even though there was party chat in reach people still talked in the lobby. In halo4 no one talks at all... very anti social people these days I guess.

OP- Most people can't handle muting bad players so they just hide in party chat. Not all people are like that though but you'll be hard pressed to find them. I notice in Gears 3 there's usually 1 person out of 5 or so who has a mic. They aren't just talking
to themselves though, you have to ask if anyone can hear you. The only game I know of where lots of people use the mic, besides horrible examples like any COD game, is Shadowrun.