During matchmaking games on Xbox Live, other players cannot join the game. On Halo: CE, someone quits and five minutes later another person joins. In Reach, you are pretty fucked when it comes down to just you and another buddy getting spawn-trapped and subsequently raped by four different 12 year olds who require no skill to kill you. Also keep in mind that this is mostly just team based games. FFA matches also get slowed down as the amount of players decreases, but others will only see you as a "n00b". Really, the idea is to play and have fun. It isn't fun when a teammate can simply kill you for a rocket launcher and get away with it or you lose a game because half of your team is gone. The point being that you want to discourage players from being asshats that ruin the experience for others.
And to expand on the "play matchmaking with friends" BS: With newer and newer releases, many of the folks on your friends list are off playing different stuff. Even if you send an invite, they'll likely turn you down because they are having fun and don't want to sacrafice their own time with your trivial requests.
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