Xbox Live: Why am I being forced to pay, to play games online?

[QUOTE="Ultra_Combo"]

They charge because people continue to pay. If they stopped paying, MS would rescind the charge. My Live ran out in Dec and I don't plan on renewing it any time soon.dommeus

What what do you mean your not renewing , your forced to :roll: /thread

Well if I want to play Xbox 360 games online then I have no choice but to pay, so I am being forced aren't I?

I really do not understand why I am being charged to play video games online. I understand Xbox Live has other features that we have to pay for but, I have no use for ESPN or facebook on Xbox 360. The only thing I want to do is play online, I couldn't care less about these extra feautures or Xbox live parties. Why can't online be free except foreverything else like Parties, ESPN and all the other useless garbage. I see no justification for raising the price either.

I've already invested a lot in the Xbox so I'm not gonna sell it, but I definately won't be getting their next console if they continue with this practice.

What is Microsoft's justification for charging me to play video games online?

Also this is on system wars because i'm pretty sure a post like this on Xbox forums would get me reported, and/or banned.

RECON64bit

[QUOTE="Mrmccormo"]

You are being charged because you insist on owning a 360.

Senor_Kami

This. 360 isn't the only device on the planet capable of playing video games. Use one that doesn't charge if you hate it so much.

No one is forcing you....if you don't want to pay the money, go and play on PS3 or PC. Simple as that.

They aren't forcing you to do anything. Don't want to pay for it then don't. Simple answer. I've enjoyed it for over 7 years, since the original Xbox, and now that the PS3 is offering free online, everyone thinks Xbox Live should be free?? Pay for it and enjoy it, or find some other avenue such as PC gaming, or the PSN.

Because millions of others do so unquestioningly.

All that ad money for the Kinect comes from some where.

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

The 360 has become bad for gaming. Yep I said it. I also own one but I refuse to pay for Live Gold and I refuse to buy their casual Kinect system.

Just stop supporting the company and stop buying games for the 360 and switch to the PC or PS3 for playing the same games.

Deathtransit

I'm sure Microsoft is gonna keep up this expensive online gaming for their next system and beyond while everyone else's online is free, so I certainly wont be buying their next console. Gimme back Sega anyday over Microsoft.

I think in general Americans get screwed with everything like 4G...you guys don't even have 4G yet, yet they advertise it and charge you an extra $10 a month

Because millions of others do so unquestioningly.

Twin-Blade

We're forced to pay taxes every year...your not being forced to pay for Live. Play your games on the PS3 or the PC if you don't want to pay for Gold. Hit MS in their wallets...that will show those bastards..

I think in general Americans get screwed with everything like 4G...you guys don't even have 4G yet, yet they advertise it and charge you an extra $10 a month

gamer-adam1

Oh God... Who cares? Cry over paying things like increased insurance rates etc, you know something that matters. Not something that costs $60 a year... It's just not a lot of money (to a large amount of ppl apparently).

Now they have a reason not to stop charging. You've just told them you aren't going to sell your Xbox. I always thought MS was in it for the fast cash, but they fooled me with taking the risk of Kinect. Until they keep on developing more games for it, right now it is still fast cash.

Xband, Xkai, or Xconnect. Your choice. You don't have to use XBL to play online. Hell you don't even need to own an Xbox to play online.

[QUOTE="Ultra_Combo"]

They charge because people continue to pay. If they stopped paying, MS would rescind the charge. My Live ran out in Dec and I don't plan on renewing it any time soon.dommeus

What what do you mean your not renewing , your forced to :roll: /thread

Well if I want to play Xbox 360 games online then I have no choice but to pay, so I am being forced aren't I?

Because Microsoft is a corporation that wants Money.

I'm stuck in the loop now and am paying $10 a month but I'm trying to think that the $10 is going towards someone getting a paycheck so they could take care of themselves or their families.

Of course it could just all go to some big cooperate tycoon who is laughing right now saying how we are all tools in his little game.

your not forced, you knew the stakes when you bought the system it wasn't dropped on you half way through you chose to pay into xbox 360, its games, and xbox live if you didn't like it you should have chose another system you have choices.

get a ps3 then the next time a your system or game updates you will have plenty of time to contemplate why you were paying a fee.

maybe it's a rip off but for real it always seemed to me that ms charged me money while sony charged me time.

i can make more money but i can't make more time so in this case i can deal with getting ripped off.

Riverwolf007

[QUOTE="Riverwolf007"]

get a ps3 then the next time a your system or game updates you will have plenty of time to contemplate why you were paying a fee.

maybe it's a rip off but for real it always seemed to me that ms charged me money while sony charged me time.

i can make more money but i can't make more time so in this case i can deal with getting ripped off.

RavenLoud

I asked someone this but the thread was locked before he could respond so Ill ask it here.

Do you think it would be more fair and the right thing to do, if Microsoft included P2P for XBL Silver and kept all the bells and whistles in XBL Gold so people arent forced to pay for the bells and whistles when all they really want is the P2P?

the $5/month the XBL costs me is really nothing, learn to be a little frugal the money is there, skip a trip to Starbucks, don't buy popcorn or soda at the movies (or don't go to the movies for that matter). Anyhow, back in the day I used to go to the arcade after school like everyday, I could easily spend maybe $5 a trip and not complain, $5 gets you online gaming for a month. Now with the bills I gotta pay each and every month I barely notice these things like XBL gold fees, I've got rent, car insurance, health and dental insurance, utilities, cable, high speed internet, groceries, gas, my cigarettes, etc, that $5 to help me ignore all that is really nothinglamprey263

Exactly. I spend two ways. Time and money. I pay for the ticket and the time to watch the movie. I pay for the popcorn and the time it takes for me to eat it. I pay for the games and the time I spend with them. I'm not going to spend more money for the same amount of gaming time. If I could freeze time itself. Then I would pay for XBL. Because I can't see the service being actually something like a movie ticket, popcorn, or a game. The service being actually called a service is stupid. Services are supposed to do something for you. The service of taking more of my money. Yes it is. If I paid.

the $5/month the XBL costs me is really nothing, learn to be a little frugal the money is there, skip a trip to Starbucks, don't buy popcorn or soda at the movies (or don't go to the movies for that matter). Anyhow, back in the day I used to go to the arcade after school like everyday, I could easily spend maybe $5 a trip and not complain, $5 gets you online gaming for a month. Now with the bills I gotta pay each and every month I barely notice these things like XBL gold fees, I've got rent, car insurance, health and dental insurance, utilities, cable, high speed internet, groceries, gas, my cigarettes, etc, that $5 to help me ignore all that is really nothinglamprey263

Because lots of people are willing to. If you don't want to pay, don't. If you must play games online and you don't want to pay then play on a different platform.

XBL fee isnt added to the retail price of a 360, so ur not being forced

u choose to do so at a later time if u wanna hop online

the $5/month the XBL costs me is really nothing, learn to be a little frugal the money is there, skip a trip to Starbucks, don't buy popcorn or soda at the movies (or don't go to the movies for that matter). Anyhow, back in the day I used to go to the arcade after school like everyday, I could easily spend maybe $5 a trip and not complain, $5 gets you online gaming for a month. Now with the bills I gotta pay each and every month I barely notice these things like XBL gold fees, I've got rent, car insurance, health and dental insurance, utilities, cable, high speed internet, groceries, gas, my cigarettes, etc, that $5 to help me ignore all that is really nothinglamprey263

Its not about how much it costs, its about paying for something everyone else gets for free. The price tag shouldnt be there and anyone using the oh it doesnt cost much argument is trying to justify an unnecassary purchase.

PC gamers can buy a game and play multiplayer

PS3 gamers can buy a game and play multiplayer

Wii gamers can buy a game and play multiplayer

360 gamers can buy a game, make sure Live is paid for, before they can play multiplayer

you see what we're getting at. It'd be like buying a toothbrush and then having to pay a monthly fee for brushing your teeth because the manufacturer says it has more features than any other toothbrush so the price tag is justified. All while everyone else is doing the exact same thing for free.

Having used Live and PSN, as far as playing a multiplayer game, lets just say CoD4, there is absolutely nothing different between them. MS could offer online play for free but then how would they convince people to buy the useless features in Gold?

No one here who is against XboxLive can prove with facts that XBoxLive should be free

There is no other service like it

No one here who is against XboxLive can prove with facts that XBoxLive should be free

There is no other service like it

gamer-adam1

I asked someone this but the thread was locked before he could respond so Ill ask it here.

Do you think it would be more fair and the right thing to do, if Microsoft included P2P for XBL Silver and kept all the bells and whistles in XBL Gold so people arent forced to pay for the bells and whistles when all they really want is the P2P?

vkun

I knew no one had the balls to respond to my question.

You aren't being "forced to pay". It's your own fault for being stupid and not checking the features that the 360 offers you, and seeing if you wanted them. If you want to play games online, get a Wii, a PS3 or a PC.

I don't know why I bother, though: you probably don't even have a 360.

xbox live is an elite service... some people cant afford it.. simple as that.

if you want cheese and crackers go on psn.

[QUOTE="gamer-adam1"]

No one here who is against XboxLive can prove with facts that XBoxLive should be free

There is no other service like it

Brownesque

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO

Steam and GFWL ARE NOT THE SAME AS XBOXLIVE

question, can I play BF2, Badcompany 2, Mass Effect2, Eve Online, Arma 2, Age of empires 3 without Steam or GFWL?

If I cant go online, does that mean Steam or GFWL is down, would I call them to ask them why I cant play BF2 online?

they are not the same service, thats why they are free because why would they charge you money to go to there store?

Does Steam or GFWL effect anything when you are playing online?

People should just stop complaining about it, and switch over to PS3 or a PC. That is what I did when they announced the increase. From what I have seen so far, playing on PSN is just as good as Live. Same amount of Lag on both (very little on both), and I have had no issues playing Black Ops on PSN. People should show their discontent with their wallets. The problem is that M$ has most of us brainwashed, making you think that you are paying for content like Netflix, Facebook, twitter, etc... I can access all of that with no fee's on PSN, so it is pretty much a no brainer. With the PS3's lineup this year, and the software that I picked up from past years, I have a ton of games to play and look forward to. It amazes me that people still choose a 360 over the PS3. The value and quality is in Sony's console.

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="gamer-adam1"]

No one here who is against XboxLive can prove with facts that XBoxLive should be free

There is no other service like it

gamer-adam1

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO

Steam and GFWL ARE NOT THE SAME AS XBOXLIVE

question, can I play BF2, Badcompany 2, Mass Effect2, Eve Online, Arma 2, Age of empires 3 without Steam or GFWL?

If I cant go online, does that mean Steam or GFWL is down, would I call them to ask them why I cant play BF2 online?

they are not the same service, thats why they are free because why would they charge you money to go to there store?

Does Steam or GFWL effect anything when you are playing online?

GFWL sucks, however Steam defeats everything. And yes, Steam does effect games as there is steam cloud and there is a friend´s list, invites, and voice chat, and anything else that xbox live has for gaming plus more.

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="gamer-adam1"]

No one here who is against XboxLive can prove with facts that XBoxLive should be free

There is no other service like it

gamer-adam1

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO

Steam and GFWL ARE NOT THE SAME AS XBOXLIVE

question, can I play BF2, Badcompany 2, Mass Effect2, Eve Online, Arma 2, Age of empires 3 without Steam or GFWL?

If I cant go online, does that mean Steam or GFWL is down, would I call them to ask them why I cant play BF2 online?

they are not the same service, thats why they are free because why would they charge you money to go to there store?

Does Steam or GFWL effect anything when you are playing online?

If you don't know anything about the service why do you have to comment

Yes you can play all those games w/o Steam or GFWL

If you can't go online you play them in Steam in offline mode

Steam has friends lists, groups, an in-game instant messenger, party chat, VOIP, group events, cross-game invites, auto update, Valve anti-cheat, achievements, usage-related stat tracking, and even an in-game web browser. Steam also manages and organizes all your mods. Using Steam you can create and organize clan scrims, find a player through social networking to replace a lost player in said scrim, and invite said player onto a private server, IMing him the password. I've done that a number of times through Steam.

Steam is a superior service in part of what it does not do, namely dictate what content you can play, what servers you can play on, or how you host your games. That means that unlike on Xbox Live you can download and play mods, custom maps, and sound files. You can also play on player hosted dedicated servers or even host your own private or public server on a listen or dedicated server.

Games for Windows Live Gold used to not be free. Actually, it used to accept Xbox Live Gold subscription cards. After PC gamers basically mass-boycotted it, Microsoft realized that they needed to make it free for people to even use the service, largely because other widely available free services like Steam and XFire were superior, and partly because most of the "features" of Games for Windows Live involved taking their ability to play freely and host their own game servers away from them. In short, there was no good reason for anyone to pay for GFWL on the PC platform.

Arguing a particular luxury item should be free like it's some sort of human right is generally something people grow out of. We're not talking about clean water or freedom of speech here people. Xbox Live is what it is, you deem it money well spent, you pay for it, you don't then well.. you don't. There really is nothing to discuss.

Arguing a particular luxury item should be free like it's some sort of human right is generally something people grow out of. We're not talking about clean water or freedom of speech here people. Xbox Live is what it is, you deem it money well spent, you pay for it, you don't then well.. you don't. There really is nothing to discuss.

thecapsaicinkid

Arguing a particular luxury item should be free like it's some sort of human right is generally something people grow out of. We're not talking about clean water or freedom of speech here people. Xbox Live is what it is, you deem it money well spent, you pay for it, you don't then well.. you don't. There really is nothing to discuss.

thecapsaicinkid

Apparently playing multiplayer online in a game you bought is luxury for xbox owners lol

Arguing a particular luxury item should be free like it's some sort of human right is generally something people grow out of. We're not talking about clean water or freedom of speech here people. Xbox Live is what it is, you deem it money well spent, you pay for it, you don't then well.. you don't. There really is nothing to discuss.

thecapsaicinkid

You're right, of course. But every other console and the PC offers the same (or at least very similar) service for free. On an objective level, it would make people want to look elsewhere if you can get the same thing free...few people can resist free stuff ;) .

MS are tying one arm behind their back when it comes to offering online gaming and services compared to their competitors.

But every other console and the PC offers the same (or at least very similar) service for free.

LordRork

Indeed they do. And?

People are effectively saying, "This whatever should be free/cheaper because I want it." Like I say, something most people give up on around the age of 12.

you see what we're getting at. It'd be like buying a toothbrush and then having to pay a monthly fee for brushing your teeth because the manufacturer says it has more features than any other toothbrush so the price tag is justified. All while everyone else is doing the exact same thing for free.

dachase

So, you would buy the product you didn't think was good value and then you would go on the internet and tell others you were forced in to it. And this is somehow someone else's fault??

Interesting.

The mostly p2p online gaming on the 360 with required gold account is discusting.....

I't not like you pay live and have a connection you still need you provider for that so what do you pay for ???

the voice chat is horible campared to pc alternatives the game points is fun but doesn't justify the gold and the rest you get is advertisement.

I like my xbox for the few games that arent on the pc but if I have to choose between the 2 I know wich I would keep. :)

you can argue what you want but the mostly mindless microsoft zombies think and will keep onthinking they get elite gold stuff.......brain.......must eat brain.......uhnnnnngh

and yes you are forced if you want to play online with a xbox because there is no alternative to it.

[QUOTE="ArchonOver"]

Just switch over to PC. STEEEEAM.

blackace

Plenty of hardcore gamers use Steam. It's a great service with great deals on games :?