Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3)

[King Ellis]

You're right, guys. I can just see it now. The Xbox One launches and, alongside it, the Microsoft Blackmail Department.

'Oh, I see you're thinking about not renewing your Gold subscription. That's cool.

Say, that's a nice games collection you have there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it...'

[Gabriel]

You're right, guys. I can just see it now. The Xbox One launches and, alongside it, the Microsoft Blackmail Department.

'Oh, I see you're thinking about not renewing your Gold subscription. That's cool.

Say, that's a nice games collection you have there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it...'

Sure, it sounds ridiculous right now, but I can see them making Gold a must to be able to play. You buy the system, you buy the games, but if you don't have your additional subscription, they're useless.

Ten years ago, if you told most of us that we would someday HAVE to have an internet connection to play video games, we would have reacted the same way you are right now.

[apsham]

The pay for Gold to use the system thing? Would never happen. That's beyond ridiculous and no where near on the same level as the once a day DRM they've implemented.

And Steam has been working on the same system for ages. I'd like to actually SEE some greviences where people lost accounts before for 'stupid' reasons that couldn't be negotiated or resolved.

[King Ellis]

I think the thing Srar alluded to is having a Gold subscription but it elapses whilst on auto renewal and the credit card linked to the account is expired or whatever. Then they ask you to pay the fee or you can't use the account.

I'd question why anyone would have their card linked to their account in the first place, but yeah, that's shitty. There is the option to turn off auto renewal now but I know back then I don't think it was on the website and you had to phone them to sort out it so it wasn't as easy.

I'm not sure if that's still the policy. You'd think it'd be easier for them to notice, cancel the subscription and just suspend you for a week or however long the sub was active.

Still, that's probably only an issue that effects a small minority of people. And if you never have Gold then the problem can't crop up in the first place. The people mostly getting bans are the people who mod their console, profile, avatar, gamerscore etc etc etc. Of course, that might not be an issue on the Xbox One, for a while at least, but that's another story.

Outside of the renewal thing, I can't think of any reason you'd get outright banned for just general use of the console. Maybe 'marketplace theft' if you exploit a loophole or something? I think even with the people who get hacked and their account used to buy tons of MS points, they only really get suspended whilst the security team investigates their issue.

This has been a policy for as long as I know but I guess because we've got the added licenses now with retail games and the general 'lol, Microsoft' atmosphere going around, this was bound to pop up. But as people have said, Steam do it but hey, cheap sales so that's ok!

[Your Mom]

Yes that's why we were banned. We could never get the renewal turned off. I still don't understand why it wasn't just cancelled on the day the membership expired

[EWB's Best Poster.]

If its locked the way it is, can you take it from the USA to Canada or is that a no go?

[Kaney]

The best example I can think of of bullshit reasons to be banned was the guy on here who used to get games off a site that would ship before street date and got banned because of it. I think you can laugh and say it's dumb to be bothered by it but I think it's a completely unnecessary step to take.

Someone's being an asshole online, fine, ban them by all means. But why should that prevent them from playing offline, single player games that they paid full price for? It's not something that I ever see being a problem for me, but it's the massively overbearing attitude Microsoft have about it that troubles me.

[TKz]

Another question, what happens when someone steals your account? My little brother has somehow had his 360 account stolen twice. He's 15 and a bit slow, I hate to think what could happen with the Xbox One and younger kids who don't know better than even him.

[RPS]

Um... If I buy an XBOX ONE, I should be able to act like a dick because I bought. It's mine. I should be able to do whatever the fuck I want with it as long as I am not doing anything illegal. That's how all property works. This isn't the same as PS3 banning from playing a game online, it's banning my entire catalogue of XBOX ONE games.

Coke can't tell me to stop mixing Diet Coke with rum because they don't wanted to be associated with underage drinking. Black and Decker can't stop me from using their chainsaws to cut my pubic hair (though, I should probably stop). That's how the world works. If I am doing something illegal, than that is a problem and react accordingly. But if you sell something, it isn't yours any longer and you don't have any power over it. If these companies want to retain control over it, the price of whatever they offer would need to decrease significantly. XBOX ONE hasn't. They've essentially restricted your use in several substantial ways (completely subject to however they dictate the license) and made their system more expensive. That is literally bad business 101.

[Gabriel]

If the games are still $60, it's going to be a pretty big issue... but if they price the games accordingly, then it should kind of even out.

My choice as a consumer is to just not buy the product unless they fix the issues that I have with it.

My issue with everything that's going on, is that I see an increasing amount of government, companies, employers, etc. telling people how they have to live and act. I'm just terrified to see what happens if the trend continues.

[Sousa]

Black and Decker can't stop me from using their chainsaws to cut my pubic hair

Somebody hasn't been reading the EULA on his chainsaw.

[RPS]

"That chainsaw shuts off an inch away from my pubes! Damn technology!!!!!!!!!"

[TKz]

Sousa is a noted advocate of Chainsaw Safety.

[RPS]

Sousa is a noted advocate of pube shaving.

[Summers]

Oh no. You can't break the rules without punishment. What is this bullshit!

[RPS]

When you put it like that, it actually makes it sound like Microsoft is my mom.

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

[TKz]

Oh no. You can't break the rules without punishment. What is this bullshit!

I think it's more that the punishment doesn't fit the crime. If you go into a shop and steal a game, you get banned from that shop. You don't get all of your games you've brought from there taken back. The problem is that people have been banned for nothing reasons before and you could have 100's of pounds worth of content then taken from you. I'm not sure taking every game someone has brought from you is a suitable punishment for a 8 year old idiot that gets banned for screaming down a headset a bit too much.

[Gabriel]

Oh no. You can't break the rules without punishment. What is this bullshit!

Punishment is fine. What makes this a unique situation, is that someone who puts down $1200+ for a library of 20 games could conceivably have that all go to waste because of one transgression. I'm not arguing for anyone breaking the rules. I'm just saying, that's a lot of money to ask someone to invest in something, that Microsoft can take away at its discretion.

Someone else brought this up, but for games that get yearly updates, sports especially, Microsoft could potentially sell you a $60 license, and then when the new one comes out, revoke it and make you pay $60 again for the new game. That's something that they can do, at their discretion, because of the way the new system works.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

I wish the world worked like that. Buy something and do whatever you like to it.

Then crazy old bitches dump coffee in their laps and sue because coffee is hot and now everything is restrictions.

I asked about the region locks because the first (and let's face it rather innocent hack) to be done would be to bypass that lame shit. Being banned because you want to play what you've bought would drive me up the wall.

[Summers]

I've had games before street date and been a dick to people via game chat, a lot. I've never been banned. It takes a lot to be banned.

Don't break rules and you won't get banned.