Why do people pay for Xbox Live?

[Saviordd1]

Better service, better servers, better system, better games, better controls, earlier downloads....

oh yeah

AND OUR PRIVACY REMAINS OUR OWN

You right. Xbox live has only been hacked twice. And the PSN has been hacked SOOOOOOOOOO many more times than that..... >.>

Maybe you should do more research, theres a difference between attempted hackings and hackers that steal millions of peoples credit cards

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Maybe because we don't mind paying for it, and like the little features that come with it. I'd bet that the main reason Microsoft charges for it is that most people will pay for it. Could you imagine if SONY realized some people would pay for PSN? I think they would start charging too, but the way it is now, they need to keep it free because its flaws have been exposed.

All the features are free everywhere else and Microsoft is not providing online gaming, Netflix, last.fm, etc. It's kinda like buying say Assassin's Creed (or any non-EA game) and giving EA a couple bucks just for the hell of it.

We still don't mind paying for it though. Netflix and Last FM are there just for convenience and for those who wanted it, and by your posts I'm going to assume that you don't own or frequently play on an Xbox.

 

[Hive Mind]

well why dont you?
also flamebait

Or they wish to discuss an issue like intelligent human beings, without throwing around played out phrases and childish shots like troll and flameabait.

 

[Dogstile]

I pay so I can use online multiplayer.

But why are you paying Microsoft for a service they aren't providing you? It's like paying EA a monthly fee to play COD, why would you do that?

Because if you had to pay each and every company money to play on their servers, you'd rack up a hell of a lot more than 60 quid a year.

Even if thats not the case, do you really want to handle putting in a subscription and cancelling it every couple weeks? Its unneeded hassle, live puts it all into one service, sorts out the payments to EA, Activision, etc and it does it all for the low low price of £40 a year.

Can't afford £40 a year? Get a job.

I realise companies provide a service over PSN for free, but from what I hear, they shut down the servers faster too.

 

[charlest92]

Simply said people are dumb enough to pay for gold and thats why microsoft still charges for it. If we stopped paying for it microsoft would stop tryin that shit. I have the money and I still don't pay for it, if I wanna play multiplayer I go to a friend's house.

 

[Elijah Ball]

i pay because i have to to play online. i only have a 360 because I liked halo 2 so much on the original xbox. when h3 came out i upgraded to a 360 and got live. (never play h2 on live, just with friends via system link)

i've never played a ps3 game online or used psn, but everybody (whos not a complete console fanboy) has said tht psn sucks... I'm not saying it does because i've never used it. this was before the psn hack, obviously, but whatevs.

 

[Brian Hendershot]

Well, we pay to not have our information stolen >.>

<..>

this. microsoft does pretty well at keeping our info safe


although it really does piss me off that they try to make us pay for player servers. i would happily pay for XBL gold if they had dedicated servers. as it is i like playing online, so I currently pay for XBL when i can afford it, but it is seriously stupid that they try to get us to pay for online gold

hacked.

twice.

how's that safer?

You can't say that since something happened to you that clearly the Xbox Live system is the more flawed of the two. Now, if more Xbox Live users were getting hacked on average then PSN users that would be okay to say.

Odd ya got haxed twice though. Mayhaps you made someone made on CoD?

I don't think the xbox is more flawed. but these people who throw the fact the PSN was recently hacked in the face of PS3 gamers as evidence that the 360 is better are ignorant and piss me off to no end.

And you still didn't answer the question. how's it safer?

Oh, and over the two consoles life spans, the 360 has proven to be far less safe, with more "sensitive information" being stolen over the 360's lifespan than in the entire hack on the PSN a couple weeks ago.

Woah, someone is super touchy. Sorry to riffle your tail feathers there big guy. And honestly, I don't really have an opinion either way. Both my of my consoles have remained fine and unhacked for as long as I have had them (except for the PS3 thing, but that doesn't count), as have my friends. Just saying.

Oh and, there are more Xbox Live users then PS3 users, just throwing that out there. It would make a lot of sense if more of them got hacked then PS3 owners. Then again, most of the random Xbox Live users I meet don't seem to be very bright...

And furthermore, I am not that other dude you were arguing with. Just to be clear.

 

[-Samurai-]

I pay so I can use online multiplayer.

But why are you paying Microsoft for a service they aren't providing you? It's like paying EA a monthly fee to play COD, why would you do that?

Because if you had to pay each and every company money to play on their servers, you'd rack up a hell of a lot more than 60 quid a year.

Even if thats not the case, do you really want to handle putting in a subscription and cancelling it every couple weeks? Its unneeded hassle, live puts it all into one service, sorts out the payments to EA, Activision, etc and it does it all for the low low price of £40 a year.

The idea that Microsoft takes your money and distributes it to developers and publishers is more than laughable.

Hell, most developers don't even host multiplayer servers anymore(although they do have stat tracking servers). They're all peer to peer. The server is the guy with the best connection. So saying that you pay Microsoft to use an Activision or EA server that doesn't exist is ridiculous.

 

[Doctor Glocktor]

The whole 'NOT hacked by a smelly nerd' thing.

 

[squid5580]

Look at PSN... Now look at XBL.


That is all.

/thread

I'm willing to bet that Live has actually had more downtime before this incident than PSN. It's not like Live can't be hacked and brought down.

The only times i can ever remember live being down is during maintenance during major updates.

ehh there was that one x-mas a few years ago. Went down because of too much traffic at once or some such thing. But a couple days later it was back and they gave everyone a free copy of undertow (or reasonable facimile if you already owned it).

Funny thing about paying for gold is if you buy alot of arcade games or DLC it pays for itself. I am always snagging games and DLC for 1/2 price because I am a gold member. i bet if i did the math by the end of the year MS is actually paying me for being a gold member.

 

[omega_peaches]

Guys, the PSN down jokes got old after the first 1000.

 

[jackpipsam]

Because I like servers that work, my info not stolen, $80AUD a year isn't that much and overall it's stacks better than PSN

 

[Orinon]

Guys, the PSN down jokes got old after the first 1000.

it did for PS3 owners
though seriously It's a simple thing
I own an Xbox 360 and I'm willing to bet that that Xbox plus two years of Live is cheaper than a PS3

 

[Warlord211]

I see your point but it's really just that gamers will stand by their favorite conole no matter what, within reason of course, besides the Xbox does other things better than PlayStation so its all about even in the end.

Oh also will everyone shut up about how "Microsoft actually protects its user data, Sony just made a mistake, Microsoft could've too, oh no i'm defending Sony, WHAT HAVE I BECOME?! *cries*

Sony didn't "just make a mistake", they purposefully didn't put up ANY firewalls to protect the user's data. Thats not just making a mistake thats stupidity at its finest. A twelve year old with some computer skills could of hacked that.

 

[hallow eyes]

Sure I could get all kinds of stuff for free but its a quality issue. Ive never experienced a time where Live was down and Ive always felt pretty secure with my account information also none of my freinds have a PS3 and gaming all alone is about as sad as it gets

 

[Dogstile]

I pay so I can use online multiplayer.

But why are you paying Microsoft for a service they aren't providing you? It's like paying EA a monthly fee to play COD, why would you do that?

Because if you had to pay each and every company money to play on their servers, you'd rack up a hell of a lot more than 60 quid a year.

Even if thats not the case, do you really want to handle putting in a subscription and cancelling it every couple weeks? Its unneeded hassle, live puts it all into one service, sorts out the payments to EA, Activision, etc and it does it all for the low low price of £40 a year.

The idea that Microsoft takes your money and distributes it to developers and publishers is more than laughable.

Hell, most developers don't even host multiplayer servers anymore(although they do have stat tracking servers). They're all peer to peer. The server is the guy with the best connection. So saying that you pay Microsoft to use an Activision or EA server that doesn't exist is ridiculous.

Oh really? So how come when say, the servers for black ops go down, nobody can play?

The servers store the players information, without that, nobody can play. I think that kind of counts.

Hell, if it was all peer to peer, Demon souls players wouldn't care that atlas was taking down the servers soon.

 

[Reaper195]

Well, we pay to not have our information stolen >.>

<..>

old joke is old

Seconded.

 

[-Samurai-]

I pay so I can use online multiplayer.

But why are you paying Microsoft for a service they aren't providing you? It's like paying EA a monthly fee to play COD, why would you do that?

Because if you had to pay each and every company money to play on their servers, you'd rack up a hell of a lot more than 60 quid a year.

Even if thats not the case, do you really want to handle putting in a subscription and cancelling it every couple weeks? Its unneeded hassle, live puts it all into one service, sorts out the payments to EA, Activision, etc and it does it all for the low low price of £40 a year.

The idea that Microsoft takes your money and distributes it to developers and publishers is more than laughable.

Hell, most developers don't even host multiplayer servers anymore(although they do have stat tracking servers). They're all peer to peer. The server is the guy with the best connection. So saying that you pay Microsoft to use an Activision or EA server that doesn't exist is ridiculous.

Oh really? So how come when say, the servers for black ops go down, nobody can play?

The servers store the players information, without that, nobody can play. I think that kind of counts.

Hell, if it was all peer to peer, Demon souls players wouldn't care that atlas was taking down the servers soon.

Hence the parentheses that say "(although they do have stat tracking servers). And I neglected to mention the master server, which is a given.

Do you really think that a dedicated machine has to pause the game to find a new host? Games like Black Ops use peer to peer hosting(except for their PC version which has dedicated servers available for a price. And even then it's through a third party.).

 

[KILGAZOR]

I pay for Xbox Live so I can play Halo Reach online.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

It just isn't that big of a cost, and if it is just for cross game chat(Highly doubt that), then it is money well spent, because every time I am on Live partied up with friends, there is always at least a couple hours where we aren't playing the same game.

Gotta say, this is a really weird time to be bringing this up. It's not exactly a high price, either.

Yup, 60 dollars year is only 5 bucks a month. If one has a paying job, it is just a small drop in the bucket.

Though really, one just has to have good fortune in a single moment to pay for a year. And if you catch them when they are having deal, it costs even less. Last December, I had just graduated from college and got a ton of money as gifts from family members. I went on Live to pay the $60 to change to a yearly subscription and I found they were having a deal that week and I got a year of Live for $39.99.

The only real perk, as far as I can tell, is cross game chat. I guess that's a big deal to some people though I personally couldn't care less. Seems to be it's just being charged for because people will pay it. And that's really a good enough reason.

Fixed.