People love to hop online for matches of Call of Duty multiplayer, especially when the servers are filled with players to squad up with. With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 coming out, the online servers are going to be bustling with people that are ready to drop in and start racking up killstreaks. But not every match of Call of Duty multiplayer can end up being a fun time, regardless of what platform you're on. There are moments that can be a real dampener on the excitement of playing online with others, especially when they're the result of something out of our control. As action-packed as Call of Duty multiplayer can be, it can also lead to endless amounts of frustration for even the most patient of gamers.

Having played so many matches of Call of Duty multiplayer across the series, I've often found myself coming across things that throw me off my game, and ultimately ruin my fun. Whether it's crazy tactics being used by other players to gain an advantage, lazy allies who become a burden, or the spontaneous effect of Murphy's Law in a match, sometimes things can just become a real mess. And no matter how many times I keep coming back to play Call of Duty multiplayer games, chances are I'll find a few matches that have something that throws a monkey wrench into everything. Here are 4 of the worst things I've encountered in Call of Duty online multiplayer, and why nobody like to deal with them.

Random grenade deaths

You don't ever see them coming

Whether you choose to accept it or not, everybody has been killed in a match by a random grenade throw. It's something that has plagued online multiplayer matches for years, and continues to be a nagging problem for any player that hops into matchmaking. Regardless of what type of map I'm playing on, big or small, somebody is going to catch the receiving blast of a random grenade. I can't begin to explain how many times I've spawned into a map and was met with the clanking noise of a grenade dropped near me before I took my first step forward. I would never see it coming, nor would I have time to react before the explosion sent me back to the kill cam.

Random grenade deaths become a massive issue on smaller maps like Nuketown, Shipment, and others designed like them. There's always the danger of a player throwing a random grenade across a large map like they're throwing a football, but it becomes a greater threat in smaller areas. Whenever I'm playing on small maps like Nuketown in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I'm always sprinting forward if I'm spawning mid-match. You never know when you're going to find yourself behind one of the houses and suddenly taken out by a grenade that was thrown from the middle of the map. It may sound silly to some players, but it's a real problem when you're in the middle of match and it prevents you from aiding teammates that are in the midst of a firefight.

The worst part of this is when you don't even hear the sound of a grenade being thrown in your direction. This can happen when you're moving around and find yourself entering just the right spot to be hit. You can be pursing an objective or searching for enemies nearby, only to see that grenade icon flash for a split second before you're obliterated. It's especially annoying when you're on a good streak of kills for a bigger killstreak, only to be stopped dead in your tracks. I've hated dealing with it since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and I continue to hate it even now. And with Black Ops 7 coming out, it doesn't look like the random grenades are going to be stopped anytime soon.

Spawn locking

When you just can't get a move on

Have you ever found yourself in a match where the team can't get out of one single area? This may be the result of spawn locking, where the enemy team is positioned in a way that prevents players from being dropped into other parts of the map after being killed. This is one of those valid strategies that can make or break a match for everyone, especially when you're on the receiving end of it. The problem comes from players on one team locking down positions, mostly on smaller maps, where the opposing team cannot advance past a specific point. It remains that way until someone moves forward into the spawning area, or when another player is able to somehow break through.

As someone who has been on both ends of spawn locking in Call of Duty matches, it can be the real difference between a game becoming competitive or a complete washout. Most players when faced with something like this will end up becoming fodder for the opposing team that locks a team in one spot. In places like Nuketown, where spawns can be pinpointed to a few places behind buildings, the pathway out of spawns can often be seen by enemies across the map. Good snipers can keep the pressure on and prevent people from getting away, while the rest of the team locks down other paths through buildings or around the opposite way. It effectively keeps everyone in one place, and there's nothing that players can do besides try to break through.

For some, it's a valid strategy in most game types, but for others, it's an absolute nightmare. Larger maps can suffer from something similar when a team smartly guards the map, but it's far more effective on smaller maps. The best way to keep this from happening is to keep moving during a match and stay active against players, so allies can spawn in different locations. But it's never an easy problem to overcome, especially when you're dropped into the middle of a match when it's already happening.

Fodder teammates

They're like fish in a barrel

For a series like Call of Duty, going rogue in online multiplayer is a common occurrence. While other first-person shooters like Battlefield 6 will encourage teamwork in matches, Call of Duty games like Black Ops 6 push players to take risks and venture off when they want. But here's the big problem: it doesn't always go the way people think it will. More often than not, a player running off away from the rest of the team will get killed off or jumped by multiple enemies, effectively giving them a free kill. But the worst part is when they continue to do so, over and over again with the same result, which leads to even bigger problems for everyone.

This is something that every player in Call of Duty games runs into and has to deal with as best they can. Not every player you are matched with will be as helpful as you like, and may actually be a moving target for the enemy team. They keep getting killed quickly by doing things that aren't effective, and eventually help the opposing side with getting multiple killstreaks in a match. All of those air strikes and helicopters that you see popping up so often can be the byproduct of players who just don't do what they can to change things up, and keep on giving the other side free kills for more killstreaks.

Some players, including myself, have run into this so many times, and may have even been the cause of it sometimes. It's never an easy thing to overcome, but can be incredibly frustrating when you're not the root cause of it. You can be playing your best game and doing everything necessary to win, only to be met with a wall of killstreaks being called in and still losing the match. Like in real war, things are chaotic, and sometimes it just won't go the way you expect it.

Lurking cheaters

They're always causing problems

If there's one thing that is the absolute worst kind of problem to encounter in any Call of Duty game, it's running into cheaters. This has been an ongoing issue for the series for years, even though it's not an exclusive problem to it. Cheaters are always lurking around and causing issues with others online, including other first-person shooters that are similar to Call of Duty. No matter how good the gameplay may be, a cheater could quickly ruin a game for everyone.

The worst kinds of instances I've encountered with cheaters usually come from games that were cross-play with PC players. This is usually where cheaters will come from because of the software they use to cheat. Whether it's aim assisting, seeing players through walls and structures, or any other kind of cheat that messes with matches, it's all bad. Being on the receiving end of a player using a cheat to see my positioning or get immediate headshots is very frustrating, and never a fun thing to deal with. Nobody goes looking to deal with cheaters in any online game, they just appear and become a nusance. It's something that, on more than one occasion, has caused me to step away from playing a game for a while.

Over time, the developers for Call of Duty games have created anti-cheat software like RICOCHET to combat the influx of players that cross a line. And while it's effective in many ways for games like Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone online, there are instances where cheaters still manage to get through and cause problems. As new games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, continue to come out, anti-cheat methods continue to evolve to keep others from having their experiences ruined. But like anything else, there's a constant back and forth with those looking to cheat online and find ways around the systems in place to prevent that.

Overcoming the wild things in Call of Duty

Despite how much everyone criticizes and complains about Call of Duty multiplayer, the series continues to be one of the most played franchises of all-time. Many people love dropping into matches of Call of Duty online multiplayer with their friends, or alone with thousands of active players online. But for as many good things that are there for Call of Duty multiplayer games, there's always going to be hurdles that get in the way of our enjoyment. With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 over the horizon, there's going to be more exciting and incredibly frustrating times inbound.