Description of and how to use the Xbox LIVE Party feature

Xbox LIVE Parties are a fun and easy way to communicate with your friends, and to share experiences by using your Xbox 360 console and Xbox LIVE subscription.

The Xbox LIVE Party feature lets you do the following:

• Communicate with a group of up to eight friends in a single chat channel when the participants are doing different things on their Xbox 360 consoles.
• Use Xbox LIVE applications, such as Photo Party, to share experiences with a group of your Xbox LIVE Friends.
• Send Game Invites to all members of your Party at one time.

You can use Xbox LIVE Parties either as a Party Leader or as a Party Participant. To use Xbox LIVE Parties, you must be an Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber. Xbox LIVE Parties are available in all regions where Xbox LIVE is available. However, not all Xbox LIVE Party applications are available in all regions.

Start a Party

Start a Party that's open to all your friends. To start a Party, follow these steps:

1. Press the Xbox Guide button.
2. Select Party, and then select Start a Party.
   
   Note If one of your friends has already started a Party, you can join their Party instead of starting your own.

Invite players to a Party

Send invitations to let your friends know that you are online, and that you want to chat. To invite players to a Party, follow these steps:

1. Press the Xbox Guide button.
2. Select Party, and then select Start a Party.
3. Select Invite Players to Party.
4. Select or enter a gamertag.
5. Select Send Invite.

Notes

• You can be in only one Party at a time.
• A Party can contain up to eight people at one time.

Start an invitation-only Party

By default, Parties are open to everyone on your Friends list. But as the Party leader, you can create an invitation-only Party, and then invite people individually. To start an invitation-only Party, follow these steps:

1. Press the Xbox Guide button.
2. Select Party, and then select Start a Party.
3. Select Party Options.
4. Select Party Status.
5. Select Invite Only.
6. Follow the steps in the "Invite players to a Party" section to invite players to your Party.

Join a Party in progress

You can join a Party in any one of the following ways:

• When you receive a Party invitation, select the invitation in your Messages list.
• Move to the Friends channel, select the avatar of someone in a Party, then select Join Party.
• Press the Xbox Guide button, select Friends, select a friend in a Party, and then select Join Party.

Notes

• You can be in only one Party at a time.
• A Party can contain up to eight people at one time.

Manage Parties as a group

If you have some friends visiting, and if everyone is using your console, you can all join the same Party. To start a Party that has multiple players on one console, follow these steps:

1. Have everyone plug in their controllers, and then sign in to Xbox LIVE by using their Gold memberships. Anyone who wants to talk must have a headset. Other players can listen to the conversation through your TV speakers.
2. Press the Xbox Guide button, select Party, and then select Start a Party.

Everyone who is using your console is automatically added to the Party. If someone wants to join the Party after another person leaves, the new person must plug in their controller, sign in to Xbox LIVE by using their own Gold membership, and then join the Party.

Invite multiple players to a Party

Invite a group of your friends to a Party at one time. A Party can include up to eight people. To invite multiple players to a Party, follow these steps:

1. Press the Xbox Guide button.
2. Select Party, and then select Start a Party.
3. Select Invite Players to Party.
4. Press the A button, or enter a gamertag.
5. Select Edit Recipients. You will see a list of your friends.
6. Press the A button to select the friends that you want to invite. When you finish, press the B button.
7. Select Send Invite.

Invite a Party to a game

You can use Parties to invite a whole group of people to play a game, instead of inviting them one by one. To invite a Party to play a multiplayer game, follow these steps:

1. Start a Party.
2. Start a multiplayer game. To do this, press the Xbox Guide button, and then select Quick Launch.
3. In the game lobby, press the Xbox Guide button again.
   
   Note The game lobby is the area in which players wait for a game to start.
4. Select Party, select Invite Party to Game, and then follow the directions on the screen.

Change the chat channel

If you're in a multiplayer game, but other people in your Party are not, you can still talk to them all. To do this, follow these steps:

• To talk to only the players in your game, follow these steps:
  1. Press the Xbox Guide button, and then select Party.
  2. Select Party Options, select Chat Channel, and then select Game Chat.
• To talk to people who are playing a different game or who are not in a game, follow these steps:
  1. Press the Xbox Guide button, and then select Party.
  2. Select Party Options, select Chat Channel, and then select Party Chat.
• To mute the voice of a specific player, follow these steps:
  1. Press the Xbox Guide button, and then select Party.
  2. Select the player's gamertag, and then select Mute.

Kick someone out of a Party

Just because they're your friends doesn't mean that they can't be annoying. As the Party leader, you can kick someone out of a Party for acting rudely or offensively. To kick someone out of a Party, follow these steps:

1. Press the Xbox Guide button.
2. Select Party.
3. Select the gamertag of the player who you want to expel from the Party.
4. Select Kick from Party.

Leave a Party

To leave a Party, press the Xbox Guide button, select Party, then press the X button.