Millenials were insulting each other on Xbox Live think it may just be a case of the game being less popular (or at least with that sort of audience) back in the day.

I dont think every generation is an exact copy of previous ones. So se some generations will be worse than others and in some cases it might be right (not the case regarding players of this game IMO).  

Many years ago it wasn't like that, Stan once subtly hinted to me: "those people weren't even born back then".   Now I understand what he meant.

The current youth of today is always the worst that ever has been, for thousands of years. There's plenty of "DJs" who play that record in every age, but of course Socrates is very prominent and reaches far back. I'm old and conservative, but you won't catch me selling you that evergreen as the freshest release.

tbh that was common in MP games for a while maybe its just the game getting more popular.