Mass Effect 3 Demo Shows the Absurdity of Xbox Live Gold - 1UP

[Scoobes]

youarebadatgames said:

Scoobes said:

youarebadatgames said:

pezus said:

Microsoft host servers for all online games? Is this true? 

They do the matchmaking, stat tracking, and under the hood stuff that makes it possible but a lot of the game servers are local and P2P.  Even so, you need a way of matching up players.  Even PC dedicated servers require a master server list that publishes who's running what game.

Steam does all that for free though doesn't it?

Yes, but PC players are less willing to pay for online because it's never been that way.  Online console gaming was new so people who never played on a PC were willing to pay for the ease and convenience of a dumbed down version where they didn't have to setup vent or browse through server lists.

Nothing wrong with free, and if console players want they can play on PSN or Steam, but Live has value to people who like the bigger and more active online console community.  It's like paying the cover charge to get into a club, or for CEVO, or for reserve slots on a server, it is for supporting the community.  The token charge is good in the sense that membership means something, which hopefully deters people from griefing and abusing the system.  It also creates the perception of Live being the premier service, while PSN just seems second rate (hacking incident didn't help at all).

I guess I'll never understand as it's always been a free service for me and Live is the only service that charges. It just surprises me how easily MS has managed to get that mindshare of paying for online gaming.