Im a PS3 guy, just got 360 not too long ago. I haven't played a lot of games. (XCOM is amazing) I never paid it any attention until I went to xbox.com to sign up for the rewards thing. I have a 3 out of 5 star rating, does Microsoft think I'm mediocre by default? I'm sorry I opted for the 4GB version Microsoft, but it looks like you've suckered me into having to buy your severely over-priced officially licensed "320GB Media Harddrive" (a.k.a. "regular 2.5 inch laptop harddrive in a plastic shell") [of which only ~296gb is usable, pre-formatted. And that's before you install the 6.7 gigabytes of the complimentary Lego Star Wars 3, which sucks a fat ugly baby's asshole] because the loading times without one take longer than a 6 month prison bit.

Now I know it's probably because I just haven't received any rating votes yet, as I have played even less multiplayer. I wonder though, why do I start out as the regular Joe Schmuck asshole? Does everyone start in the middle? This got me curious enough to try to find the official rules from Microsoft. Didn't get far. A quick search on xbox.com for "rep rating" turns up forum posts of people bitching about those who will give you a bad rating just for killing them too much in Halo Duty. Normally this wouldn't matter because who really gives a shit, but what if it's taken into account for something like matchmaking purposes?

Of course people will use the rep system to send negative votes much more often than positive, that is just how people are. In particular all the young pricks on xbox live I've always heard folks complain about. If the system is so obviously skewed, why not scrap it outright?

Every system is misused by people, though. Nothing new there.

Edit: Yeah, my rep rating is in the middle for my second account, so I think it is default.

It is not used for matchmaking, and you do start at three stars. I think the original idea was for it to let people now if you were annoying or not but it doesn't really work. I have five stars yet my player feedback is about 90% negative because I'm a dork.

It also takes into account how long you have gone without getting a downvote.

It is completely pointless I wouldn't worry about it.

Because if they gave you five stars out the gate and it turned out you are Joe Shmuck Asshole Esquire...boy would their face be red.

I think giving someone negative rep can affect matchmaking if the player pool is thousands or more, but if there are only a few players to choose from, you'll still be matched together.

Also, everyone starts with 3 stars and I think 2-3 positive votes will get someone to 5 and keep them there forever. I have no idea why 1-2 stars exists.