Gamers Find Way to Block Ads From New Xbox Dashboard

[Ruwrak]

Oh wait, now with the new interface I don't have to hit 'up' then 'a' to start my game, but merely press A to start my game.

Good innovation Microsoft.

Huh what? You mean there are more tabs then 'game'?
Why would I ever want to look there when I have a laptop that does things 25x faster then my xbox ever could? (As in I hate typing on that little keyboard from the microsoft controller. I prefer my keyboard where my hands are adjusted to and I can hit 150+ strikes a minute.

 

[Epona]

snipped

Truth is they will make the money because they can so by excluding the ad your just hurting yourself. Unless you have a unifying protest message against corporate greed that will gather the masses behind your cause.

How am I hurting myself by excluding the ads?

Now I don't know how much ad revenue microsoft bring in but lets assume it would take 6 bucks a person per year to make up the difference. You, or whoever wants to pay for it is now charged 66 bucks a year instead of 60 or you can see and ad at the bottom of your screen. Your choice, I know which side I'm on. The side with 6 bucks!

I won't pay that so how am I hurting myself by excluding the ads?

You know what the ads are? They are EXTRA income and without them Microsoft would do just fine.

Seems like the perfect scam though:

- offer XBOX Live service for a fee
- put up ads
- after everyone is used to the ads, offer to remove them for a fee

 

[Xerosch]

I'd be perfectly happy if I find a way to keep my 360 from automatically signing into Live yet choosing my personal profile.

Seriously, the new Dashboard is a conceptual disaster. I'm being bombarded with commercials for things I don't care about while trying to find the application I turned the console on for.

 

[dfphetteplace]

As previously mentioned... wtf?

Adblocking is okay, as long as it isn't talked about by (Escapist) members?

Beware the banhammer Mike.

EDIT: I love the 'Microsoft already has enough money' argument. Stay classy internet.

If I'm paying for something, then I shouldn't be advertised at. When I download a free game on my phone, it will have ads. Okay I get. But if I pay for something, then I don't need to see the ads. Give me the service for free, then I will see that it is okay. I can't wait to get home and block this through my router.

Considering there's only one ad on my 360 dashboard that isn't for offered content, I think people people are really overreacting. Funny thing too, the ad is for a movie that will be available on the 360 later (and there will probably have a video game for it too)... lolz.

EDIT: If the ads were for, I don't know, buying a certain car, or drinking certain soda, I could understand. But they aren't.

I can see your point with that. I haven't updated my 360 yet, so the way the OP put it, there were ads everywhere. While I may still block it, since I just don't like to see adverts everywhere, I do think there may have been an over reaction.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

The Escapist: Banning people for using adblock, and then telling people how to block ads.

Yes, this. So MUCH this, because I've run afoul of that particular rule here myself. I hope Microsoft bans all the Escapist staff from Xbox Live.

 

[Epona]

As previously mentioned... wtf?

Adblocking is okay, as long as it isn't talked about by (Escapist) members?

Beware the banhammer Mike.

EDIT: I love the 'Microsoft already has enough money' argument. Stay classy internet.

If I'm paying for something, then I shouldn't be advertised at. When I download a free game on my phone, it will have ads. Okay I get. But if I pay for something, then I don't need to see the ads. Give me the service for free, then I will see that it is okay. I can't wait to get home and block this through my router.

Considering there's only one ad on my 360 dashboard that isn't for offered content, I think people people are really overreacting. Funny thing too, the ad is for a movie that will be available on the 360 later (and there will probably have a video game for it too)... lolz.

EDIT: If the ads were for, I don't know, buying a certain car, or drinking certain soda, I could understand. But they aren't.

I can see your point with that. I haven't updated my 360 yet, so the way the OP put it, there were ads everywhere. While I may still block it, since I just don't like to see adverts everywhere, I do think there may have been an over reaction.

When you say over-reaction, what do you mean? That too many people are complaining about the ads? Some other definition?

 

[teknoarcanist]

Here's why it's okay to block ads from Xbox Live:

YOU

ALREADY

PAY

FOR

THE

SERVICE.

The Escapist bans for adblock because ADS ARE HOW THEY MAKE MONEY -- the website is free! Microsoft, however, already has you by the financial balls -- and discreetly limiting certain ALREADY-PURCHASED XBLA titles to only be accessible via an active (paying) Gold account is the icing on the proverbial shit-cake that sends this into ethically dubious territory. Bombarding you with ads in a service you already patronize would be like Chevy plastering ads on the dashboard of your paid-off car. It's absurd. How much is too much? Where do we draw the line?

Ads before the dashboard boots up?

Ads while your game goes through a loading screen?

Ads before you're allowed to play your game?

Ads in the Microsoft Word splash screen?

Ads on your desktop?

There's such a thing as consumer feedback, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's how the free market works. This is consumer feedback. What's REALLY unacceptable is that Microsoft won't learn from it.

EDIT: and the fact that it's a mandatory update most people download unwittingly, and have no choice to revert from, or even refuse, also adds some ethical dubiousness. I'm sure it's justified in some abstract EULA clause I have no legal wherewithal to understand -- but as a consumer, I agreed to pay for Xbox Live based on the terms given to me at the time, as best I understood them: pay for this service, play your games online. Adding ads in later is a not-particularly-surprising and maybe-not-all-that-egregious but nonetheless-irritating slap in the face.

 

[Amnestic]

YOU

ALREADY

PAY

FOR

THE

SERVICE.

You don't pay for MSN.com, yet as stated above, this 'fix' blocks ads from that site.

Is it still okay? If it is, why is it not for the Escapist? If it's not, why is the Escapist making a newspost about it, clearly spelling out how to do so?

 

[lacktheknack]

Random dude: "Hey, I use an adblocker on the escapist"
Escapist: "Lol, Suspended!"

. . .

Escapist: "Hey, here's how to block Xbox Ads"
Me: "Lol, Hypocrisy".

Nope.

When I paid for my Escapist, they stopped throwing ads at me. When you pay for your Xbox Live, they don't.

People will look for ANYTHING to attack websites they frequent. It's weird.

Although this thread was forever going to be a bomb. I'm pretty sure that OP knew that.

 

[teknoarcanist]

YOU

ALREADY

PAY

FOR

THE

SERVICE.

You don't pay for MSN.com, yet as stated above, this 'fix' blocks ads from that site.

Is it still okay? If it is, why is it not for the Escapist? If it's not, why is the Escapist making a newspost about it, clearly spelling out how to do so?

Because I don't use MSN.com for my news. If you use MSN.com for your news, then sure, blocking their ad streams is unacceptable.

 

[Aggieknight]

As a side note, I don't see the problem with the ads in the first place. They're tucked away in a corner on a very small tile, not in your face as a full content window like on the dashboard. I always forget that they're down there in the first place. They're like the ads on the PS3 XMB: so out of the way that you'll forget they exist. And yes, XMB has ads. Try checking out that little box in the top right corner next time you boot your PS3. All that thing does is advertise stuff.

I appreciate that you don't have a problem with the ads, but other people (myself included) do. If I'm paying for a service, I do not appreciate ads thrown in my face. I just wrote a nasty letter (the physical kind) to Delta Airlines over their newly added Lincoln commercials that play loudly throughout the aircraft before the safety message. I understand organizations need money, ad revenue is a way to offset price increases, and other blah, but marketing shoved down my throat pisses me off.

I'm not typically a fan of the slippery slope argument, but there is no better example of it in action than advertisements. Modern TV has 41 minutes of programming per hour. Modern magazines are now ~40% ads. Add to both of those mediums the annoying tricks that marketers play to get peoples' attention. For example, the awful annoying tactic of dramatically increasing the volume of commercials so that they "blast" the viewer to get their attention. Regardless of consumer complaints, it took an act of congress to put a stop to it, and the cable industry fought it the entire way.

If consumers sit down for this, soon we'll have required commercials when we boot up are Xbox or Clippy pushing Mountain Dew on us while we respond to friends' messages.

 

[TheMagicLemur]

The Escapist: Banning people for using adblock, and then telling people how to block ads.

If you pay 20 bucks a year, you don't see any ads at all. Otherwise, those ads are there so that they can bring good content to you, the person bitching about having to see the ads. Are they sometimes annoying? Yes. But part of the deal with GETTING VIDEOS AND ARTICLES FOR FREE is watching ads. If you don't like it, contribute TWENTY FRIGGING DOLLARS A YEAR and you won't have to see them. Or don't visit the site; no one's making you.

 

[Dascylus]

Hmmm, we pay for TV too, yet we still have to put up with commercials. Something about that smells wrong...

Yeah, that's a great con played by the licensing services.
Technically you are not paying for ITV or Channels 4 and 5 (Or whatever your regional comercial equivalants are) but since your reciever in your tv allows you to access to all stations equally you are required to pay for license if your set is CAPABLE of tuning in.
Through various life courses I have avoided ever having to pay for my TV license (From living at home to communal living) and in the last 5 years I have thrown away my TV set, shelled out for a larger monitor for my computer and indulged in the joys of online viewing.

And yet I hear that they will now be requiring (Or maybe they currently do) a license for your monitor as your computer could have a tv card.

Personally I am ok with ads from free services as they've gotta pay the bills.
I'm not ok with ads being tagged ahead of user-created content (Youtube videos).
I am not ok with conspicious ads on services I have paid for.
I have no problem with well placed unobtrusive ads, I like hearing about new products but many of them have no class with their placement.

 

[hazabaza1]

The Escapist: Banning people for using adblock, and then telling people how to block ads.

If you pay 20 bucks a year, you don't see any ads at all. Otherwise, those ads are there so that they can bring good content to you, the person bitching about having to see the ads. Are they sometimes annoying? Yes. But part of the deal with GETTING VIDEOS AND ARTICLES FOR FREE is watching ads. If you don't like it, contribute TWENTY FRIGGING DOLLARS A YEAR and you won't have to see them. Or don't visit the site; no one's making you.

Jesus, it was a joke.
Considering all the people that have quoted I think I need to go update the post.

 

[lacktheknack]

The Escapist: Banning people for using adblock, and then telling people how to block ads.

If you pay 20 bucks a year, you don't see any ads at all. Otherwise, those ads are there so that they can bring good content to you, the person bitching about having to see the ads. Are they sometimes annoying? Yes. But part of the deal with GETTING VIDEOS AND ARTICLES FOR FREE is watching ads. If you don't like it, contribute TWENTY FRIGGING DOLLARS A YEAR and you won't have to see them. Or don't visit the site; no one's making you.

Jesus, it was a joke.
Considering all the people that have quoted I think I need to go update the post.

The problem with your joke is that a lot of people use it as a valid platform.

 

[Amnestic]

If you use MSN.com for your news, then sure, blocking their ad streams is unacceptable.

And yet, the Escapist seems more than willing to endorse this course of action while simultaneously banning people for the exact same thing.

Mixed messages, I think you'll agree.

 

[Twilight_guy]

The escapist community: proving that subtleties like free vs. costing money is beyond there grasp.

Aside from the massive amount of people who don't understand that they aren't paying for the Escapist, I find it interesting that this story was even posted. Generally the Escapist doesn't directly just come out and say how to do stuff that is boarder-line against the rules. I'm sure Microsoft would not be a big fan of this story. Ah well, they can do what they like. I'll jsut be here enjoying the straw-men.

 

[Epona]

Who here thinks that Microsoft NEEDS the ad money?

 

[major_chaos]

The the difference IMO between blocking the dashboard and blocking ads on the Escapist is that the escapist ads are in a corner, plenty easy to ignore while on the new dash the ads consume 90% of the screen and you have to scroll through them, including the obnoxiously loud ones with audio.

 

[dfphetteplace]

As previously mentioned... wtf?

Adblocking is okay, as long as it isn't talked about by (Escapist) members?

Beware the banhammer Mike.

EDIT: I love the 'Microsoft already has enough money' argument. Stay classy internet.

If I'm paying for something, then I shouldn't be advertised at. When I download a free game on my phone, it will have ads. Okay I get. But if I pay for something, then I don't need to see the ads. Give me the service for free, then I will see that it is okay. I can't wait to get home and block this through my router.

Considering there's only one ad on my 360 dashboard that isn't for offered content, I think people people are really overreacting. Funny thing too, the ad is for a movie that will be available on the 360 later (and there will probably have a video game for it too)... lolz.

EDIT: If the ads were for, I don't know, buying a certain car, or drinking certain soda, I could understand. But they aren't.

I can see your point with that. I haven't updated my 360 yet, so the way the OP put it, there were ads everywhere. While I may still block it, since I just don't like to see adverts everywhere, I do think there may have been an over reaction.

When you say over-reaction, what do you mean? That too many people are complaining about the ads? Some other definition?

The way that they made it seems was that you were completely inundated with ads. While I don't like any ads, that may not really be the case.