Xbox owners - I've had an idea...

[StBishop]

Strange... but it could work.

Although you have to keep in mind how the world works today. It's a far cry that anyone would actually risk that in this day and age.

No it couldn't.

That's like saying. What if I could use the numbers on my odometer to pay for my fuel. Where's the money coming from for the guy selling the fuel? It's ridiculous. Money must change hands for there to be a sale. Sure the publishers of DLC could get paid out in cash for the amount of Gamerscore they made, but then Microsoft is paying for you to get DLC for free.

 

[josemlopes]

I love the idea, but many stupid people would bring gamerwhoring to unprecedented levels. I don't think Microsoft would want to deal with the amount of abuse and stupidity that would result from assigning a value to gamerscore.

Also, eliminating MS points entirely would be really annoying. What if I had just bought my Xbox 360 and Fallout: New Vegas, then I wanted to spend 2400 points on DLC? I'd want to spend that money, not play a few games.

Remember that Avatar game, you could get 1000 points in 5 minutes, basicly 12$ (or something like that) for playing the game. Then you would give the game to someone else and he would get those free 12$ and so on. If you had 20 guys to buy a single Avatar game and then share the game between those guys they would make profit and use that profit to buy another game to make even more profit. INFINITE MONEYZ

 

[StBishop]

I love the idea, but many stupid people would bring gamerwhoring to unprecedented levels. I don't think Microsoft would want to deal with the amount of abuse and stupidity that would result from assigning a value to gamerscore.

Also, eliminating MS points entirely would be really annoying. What if I had just bought my Xbox 360 and Fallout: New Vegas, then I wanted to spend 2400 points on DLC? I'd want to spend that money, not play a few games.

That gives me an idea. You can pay for gamerscore, and a lot of it, and reduce the amount of gamerscore you get from acheivements

Maybe I'm a fair bit more tired than I think but that seems sucking insane silly.

Why the fuck on earth would you think this makes sense? How does removing the functionality of both systems = progress.

You're undermining the Gamerscore's value by making it purchasable rather than an earned measure of skill. Even if the skill is doing stupid shit like double-back-flip-dual-wield-saw-off-shotgun-headshots or 10,000,000,000,000 points in a stupid mini game than one one even plays unless they want 10 Gamerscore and a silly achievement. Just because you don't value the Gamerscore system doesn't mean that no one does. Some of us like watching it slowly rise and feel a small triumph when we reach a mile stone or over take a friend or co-worker.

And by reducing the Gamerscore value of achievements you're making the whole process even more frustrating for those who like them.

And by allowing us to buy Gamerscore you're simply moving the complaint of paying for MS points to a complaint of paying for Gamerscore.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

Funny story, when i originally bought a Xbox I thought use could use the gamer points to buy stuff.

Good to know I'm not the only one who thought this.

Anyways, I would actually really like if Microsoft implemented this. Even if it was just select DLC that you could download with gamerscore, and some still required MS points. Being a cheap bastard, I never buy MS points, and thus never get DLC. Thus, I've been avoiding a lot of games where people have said that the DLC improves the experience of the game. I know that being able to use gamerscore for DLC would entice me, at least, to pick up a few more games I haven't gotten yet.

 

[kinggamecat]

I'[ve often thought that would be a good idea, but they would lose so much money that way.

 

[Moriarty]

snip

True but many business do make you spend $5 min when using a credit or debit card, how MS is screwing you out of money when the are following a established money saving business practice? I'm pretty sure every time I got MS points I got all the goods I was promised so I fail to see the problem other than people just like conspiracy theories. I like the value adding systems, steam has it now with its steam wallet and I love it and they make it $5 min to put money on it.

Just because it's an established business model doesn't mean it's fair. The "but the others did it too" excuse may work for preschoolers, not corporations.

I'm not saying you should boycott ms or their online store, but it's worth keeping in mind that the entire "points" system is in place because they wan't as much money as possible and it's worth trying to trick you in the process.

You know what would be a fair alternative? Being honest to customers.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience, but because of transferring fees we are forced to round up smaller purchases to a 5$ minimum transaction. The difference between your actual purchase and the amount subtracted from your credit card will be available to you as store credit for your future purchases."

There. would that be so hard? It would solve the credit card fee problem while saving your customers the hassle to buy 30$ worth of points for a 27$ game.

 

[Harrowdown]

Terrible idea. DLC isn't something that gamers are entitled to recieve for free; it's product, like all full games. Using gamerscore as currency would either mean giving away product for free or finding another way of charging for it. Having players pay for their own gamerscores would be appaulingly unfair. If anything, a better alternative to gamerscore would be to simply sell each piece of DLC individually, for actual currency, although that brings up all sorts of issues as well.

EDIT: There's also the very likely problem that developers will lower the amount of points you can get for an achievement to increase the amount of time and money you spend on games, and also the likelihood of the live market stagnating because the currency used on it is harder to get and completely worthless.

 

[PHOENIXRIDER57]

Funny story, when i originally bought a Xbox I thought use could use the gamer points to buy stuff.

I immediately went to the marketplace with my first gamer points trying to buy things.

I'm sure using gamerscore as a secondary currency would work great. It would finally give gamerscore a use, and real value, but getting rid of microsoft points completely wouldn't be smart. Some gamers would rather just pay for something instead of investing many hours into a game for the achievements.

To everyone who says that Microsoft wouldn't do this because it would lose them money: you are ignorant. This idea would promote people to buy more games for the achievements. Of course people could rent games but a lot of achievements takes time. Its really hard to get through a campaign 3 times and find 100 hidden donuts throughout the world in a 5 day rental.

 

[Bleedingskye]

It'd be nice to see some sort of actual reward for investing so much in a game. At least throw in a couple extra levels you could play by beating games on Super-Crazy-Kill Your Self-Hard modes or something extra. I cared about my Gamerscore for a total of 1 game until, ya, it's useless.

I think it could work. Those who do invest so much time and effort into a game should get a reward for it, and not just an extra weapon or clothes...it's got to be something that'll actually inspire people to play better and longer

Also in Halo: Reach...eff the player points that you can only buy armor that does nothing for your character, I hate crap like that....a whole part of a game that designers spent a lot of effort on for something useless

 

[StBishop]

- Despite not making money through MS points anymore I think it would actually earn a bigger profit for Microsoft and the entire industry. The fairer system would persuade more gamers to buy Xbox's which helps Microsoft, and the idea of using Gamerscore earned from achievements to buy DLC will encourage gamers to buy more Xbox games to get their Gamerscore. This not only helps Microsoft, but the Dev's, Publishers, and Game Retailers too.

Uhm.....no. Game developers only make money when user buy a new game, and when they pay for DLC. Getting free points by simply playing the games they already bought would not give the developers a cent. And consider stores like Gamestop that sell used games. Players would buy the game used, with all of that money going to the store and not the developers, and then they get even more free stuff by simply just playing the game. (Watch "Extra Credits: Project Ten Dollar" to know a little more. In fact, just watch "Extra Credits" period.)

I can see what you're saying, by giving something to actually do with the gamer-score, and I'm not exactly fond of paying regular fees for XBLA, but let's be reasonable. XBOX Live needs money to keep it maintained and running. Maybe they could install some sort of, "The more gamer points you have, the bigger a discount you get on DLC?" I mean it's a good indicator of just how much you like and play XBOX games, why not make a "frequent flyer miles" of the XBOX?

That sounds like a good system. It wasn't like I'd been planning this theory for ages and I was completely set on it, it was just an idea that's been at the back of my mind for a while so I thought a good way to test the water would be to introduce it to a gaming community who tend to be very knowledgeable. I can see now that my theory has flaws in it that no amount of tweaking can really solve so I guess it's back to the drawing board. See, the problem I personally have with MS points is that I don't have my own credit card. I really should but my family is stingy like that, so while I can buy games myself if I want to get MS points online I essentially have to do it with my parent money and with their permission, which can get frustrating as they not the most clued up people when it comes to games. Also the set prices to get MS points online are stupid, and they don't let you just manually set a specific amount that you want. There must be SOME way of making this better without hurting anyones profits.

Two things. 1, buy your MS points in store on pre paid cards.

Not, "it's possible", or "you could" I'm telling you to do this. You don't need to put credit card details on your XBL account and possibly shouldn't (See what happened to PSN recently for a reason).

2. You don't need a credit card. Ever.
Based on the fact that you said your family is stingy and you borrowing your parent's cards I'm going to go right ahead and assume you're under the age of 18. If this is so you DO NOT need a credit card, you are a child in most countries. Also, are aware that there has recently been a Global Financial Crisis yes? This was partially caused by people fucking around with money they didn't have. This is also known as credit. Get a debit card and a pay pal account and spend money you already have rather than borrowing money and paying interest on it.

 

[Hgame]

Funny story, when i originally bought a Xbox I thought use could use the gamer points to buy stuff.

Same thing happened with me. I spent 2 hours shouting "but I have 800 points, let me buy the bloody game" before realising my mistake.

OP: Brilliant idea, however the achievements would need to be a bit harder to get.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Funny story, when i originally bought a Xbox I thought use could use the gamer points to buy stuff.

Same here. Even if they merely let you use it to unlock avatar stuff, that would at least be better than the current system of 'completely useless'.

 

[Seabear]

Gamerscore modding, the massive disparity in the difficulty of achievements... I can only assume that the achievements themselves would be massively scaled up in difficulty.

Some bonus avatar stuff for reaching milestones would be nice, like how you sometimes unlock avatar awards in games... But to replace currency? Not a chance. Not because MS is "greedy" or any of that crap, it's just too flimsy a system, no standardisation, and why should the casual gamers who can't clear CoD on Veteran have less access to this form of locked[1] currency?


[1] -By "locked" I mean that achievements are "one time only" things. You can unlock all the CoD points/Reach credits you like by replaying, but you only get one lot of GS from an achievement, some of which are nigh impossible to get for some people (due to difficulty, or glitch, I'm looking at you CoD4 intel ¬__¬ )

 

[StBishop]

I already work for my money

I don't want to have to start sifting through shitty games to make money to buy dlc.

The one idea of merit out of it was avatar awards. I wouldn't mind seeing a gs threshold for items. However they would be items specifically made for it. Like 10,000 gs get a hat, 15000 get a shirt etc.

This already happens to an extent. Avatar awards.
Meed certain requirements in game = free avatar items.

 

[starwarsgeek]

If they want to improve their system at the expense of profit, they could just dump the whole point system and simply charge us actual money for downloads.

 

[Amos the famous]

Yes it would be an awesome idea.
However there are a proportion of gamers who try and get as much gamer-score as possible. This decreases the individual value of each GS point.
If this change were to occur, some games would market really easy achievements. Pressing the "start" button on some Simpsons game from yesteryear go you 5gs. This would also decrease the individual value of each GS point.
This in turn would make a viscous cycle in which people try to get the GS from games that market the easy achievements and the value would drop and drop until it just became rupies.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

I've got a better idea for the XBOX owners, get your local city hacker team to get into the console mainframe so that you guys get free games too afterwards! unless Microsoft is too greedy...

XD

 

[jack583]

good idea
but then microsoft would loose money that way.

i suggest this: people with gold membership could use their score to get discounts, while free members--like myself--have to pay full price

 

[James Scott]

What if, for the next console generation, Microsoft got rid of MS points and let us use Gamerscore as currency?

The problems I have with the current system are twofold:

- I think that it is unfair that we should have to pay for downloads AND for a full Xbox Live membership, when on the PS3 you only have to pay for downloads.

- Although it is satisfying to get achievements, the Gamerscore that comes with them doesn't really serve any useful purpose.

Nope, never ever ever gonna happen.

The Problems I have with your system are threefold:

- What about modders? Free stuff for them?

-Microsoft is going to give you free money for playing a game. Never gonna happen.

-Oh why dont I just get a bunch of 3 year old games for kids? Easy money.(all full price games must have atleat 1k gamerscore.Arcade games must have 200.)

 

[legend forge]

You do realize that all the games on the XBLA are not made by Microsoft right? Your idea would mean one of two things: either Microsoft has to pay them for every download which would get insanely expensive as achievement hunters would go nuts with this, or the devs wouldn't get paid at all. Who is going to make software for a platform they can't make any money on? Hobbyists sure but then we just have Newgrounds where you have to work to play any given game.

Also: Microsoft doesn't make money off the Xbox itself. Most of the profits come from licensing games for it and Xbox Live subscriptions. I understand wanting things for free but it is just unrealistic. We live in a sucky world where we have to work and make money for the things we want. As much as we might want to live in a digital paradise where everyone does everything for us with no thought of payment, that just is not how the world works. It is a matter of determining whether a given game, object, or service is worth the money asked for it. If it isn't then you don't get to have it.