how about this instead of free online play

[The Ghost of RubangB]

Onyxmeth said:

The Ghost of RubangB said:
How about free online play? It worked for StarCraft for 11 years and counting, and that game still gets free updates, and is still better than every online game that has ever cost money.

No one is talking about one specific game here. Comparing Starcraft to the entire Xbox Live infrastructure is a bit off the mark, don't you think?

StarCraft > XBox Live.

You also can make a friends list and have cross-game chat between StarCraft, WarCraft, and Diablo.  Only thing missing is a gamerscore, but I guess that's what costs $50.