The REAL Problem With Xbox Live (OPINION)

[Mr Puggsly]

Alby_da_Wolf said:

Mr Puggsly said:

Nobody cares what would make the service ideal for you. This is what it is, you need to pay Gold to access ALL streaming and online gaming features. Whether it be exclusive or not.

/We get it, you feel entitled to free online services and can get that somewhere else. But since the 360 has exclusive content many of us enjoy, that is valid reason for us to pay the Gold fee.

OK, it's totally true that for many millions XBL Gold users, improved multiplayer + streaming + extra features are value good enough to justify the fee, the simple fact they paid for it proves it.

But how can you know that a part of them wouldn't rather just basic multiplayer for free, if it just were possible? Or free streaming with MS charging a fee on content providers, but not on the consumers (that this way would end up paying indirectly MS anyway, but only on premium contents, not on free ones)?

BTW, it's not true that people want basic multiplayer for free: basic online multiplayer, be it based on P2P, or free 3rd party servers, is allowed by having an internect connection, and people normally pay ISPs for it, and the Gold fee doesn't replace the ISP fee, it's on top of it.

I didn't claim people wouldn't want access to online features free. Nor do I care, its a pay service to get access to all the streaming and online gaming services. Plain and simple.

If the apps and games people enjoy can be enjoyed elsewhere for free, then they probably shouldn't bother paying for LIve. However, I'm sure some people pay for Gold just because they prefer the 360 platform. It should also be noted most people actually don't play online games. Which is probably why the 360 is still leading in sales over PS3.