Heh, yeah, the communication worked well and... not so well. Especially since you'd usually all just have guest usernames that were the same gamertag with (1), (2) after it.
It was a heck of a lot of fun for Rocket Race though. Also, the social slayer playlists were so casual that it was just a blast in any case. You'd often see groups of people with the Gamertag(1), ...(2) etc. guest players.
Ummm, how is communication an issue with local MP? Presumably you know the names of the people you are sitting next to so don't have to refer to Steve as Gamer Tag 1.
Dean has it. It's because everyone on-screen looks exactly the same, so you might not know which one Steve is. Of course you know what everyone's called.
Oh right, I get it. Fair point. Well, if there's only four of you it won't take too long to remember who is top left etc.