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Forums - Gaming - Xbox Live adds 6 Million members in a single Year, is the hate unjustified?

 

Does Xbox Live deserve the criticism it gets in the forums?

Yes Xbox Live is a rip off 221 45.19%
 
No Xbox Live is the best ... 208 42.54%
 
No opinion / don't care 60 12.27%
 
Total:489
BenVTrigger on 19 April 2013
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:

If that's what PS+ turns into and it will be the same price it is now, I know I will keep paying but only because I think it's way more than worth it with everything it already has. I would keep paying for Plus even if online was free, so it won't change anything for me. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that some people won't care. In fact, I'm pretty sure many will cry foul if that happens. 

If paying for Live was universally accepted, wouldn't 360 be owning the sales week after week? You have to wonder how and why some people buy a PS3 over a 360. Online play being free is one of the reasons. Can't deny that. And it isn't hate for the service, it's dislike for the price. 

You will be paying to play online

That is supposedly Sony fans problem with Live.  Your dodging the point.

I am already paying for Plus, so like I said this wouldn't affect me. I'm not against paying something if you get it ten times back (with endless free games). I would still understand the complainers, and would not call them haters at every opportunity just because they don't like paying for something that they feel isn't worth it. To me, Live as it is isn't worth it because I can get the same thing on other platforms for free. Plus is unlike anything else, and totally worth it to me. Live may be totally worth it to you, but not to some others. 

It's just a concept of opinions. Not everyone can and will like paying for Live. I know I wouldn't, which is one of the reasons I haven't bought a MS platform and won't in the near future unless they improve Live dramatically with features and free stuff.

So you admit that you dont have Live and dont use it and yet your fine with openly criticizing it without it

Well guess what.  I have Live and PS Plus and I assure you Live is worth it.  Matchmaking, speed, and stability alone are hugely better on Live. Plus is worth it as well especially with the free games.  But lets not kid ourselves here, Plus does not offer everything Live does or vice versa



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outlawauron on 19 April 2013
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
DigitalDevilSummoner said:
BenVTrigger said:

So even though this current generation of consoles is dieing Xbox Live certainly isn't.  In fact in their Earnings Report today it was confirmed that Live memberships were up by 18% and added 6 million new members in a year.

Now Ive seen many on this and other forums bashing Live and saying it has nothing on Playstation Plus but subscriptions and userbase certainly say otherwise.

So whats your opinion? Is the hate Live gets from some people unjustified?

Will people -in their desperate attempt to defend their favourite brand- stop calling solid arguments "hate" ?

There is no way to sugar coat or justify MS making people pay for essentially part of a game they have bought. Here's what all the xbox "soldiers" do: they want to turn the discussion into a matter of services, justifying the cost. But that's is the thing, it's not a about the better value for money. It's about the very basic access to the online part of a game you own. With this generation online gaming being fundamental, MS invented a whole new market by charging people for something they already bought. If a game has a built in online component and you bought the damn thing you are entitled to play it. What MS did is sell you half a console.

When people start comparing services between psn or psn+ to Live, they consciously mislead the consumer. It's not about services but the game itself. It's not about paying for a better network or demos or dlc or access to an eshop or voice chat. It's about cutting you out from a core part of a game you own and divert the attention with other stuff you may or may not even want.

You will be paying for PSN on PS4

Im curious what youll say then

If that's what PS+ turns into and it will be the same price it is now, I know I will keep paying but only because I think it's way more than worth it with everything it already has. I would keep paying for Plus even if online was free, so it won't change anything for me. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that some people won't care. In fact, I'm pretty sure many will cry foul if that happens. 

If paying for Live was universally accepted, wouldn't 360 be owning the sales week after week? You have to wonder how and why some people buy a PS3 over a 360. Online play being free is one of the reasons. Can't deny that. And it isn't hate for the service, it's dislike for the price. 

You will be paying to play online.

Is that some concrete info with a press release or just your own thoughts and opinion? I really hope that Sony and Nintendo can resist going down that road. May end going more to PC after all.



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BenVTrigger on 19 April 2013
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:

If that's what PS+ turns into and it will be the same price it is now, I know I will keep paying but only because I think it's way more than worth it with everything it already has. I would keep paying for Plus even if online was free, so it won't change anything for me. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that some people won't care. In fact, I'm pretty sure many will cry foul if that happens. 

If paying for Live was universally accepted, wouldn't 360 be owning the sales week after week? You have to wonder how and why some people buy a PS3 over a 360. Online play being free is one of the reasons. Can't deny that. And it isn't hate for the service, it's dislike for the price. 

You will be paying to play online

That is supposedly Sony fans problem with Live.  Your dodging the point.

I am already paying for Plus, so like I said this wouldn't affect me. I'm not against paying something if you get it ten times back (with endless free games). I would still understand the complainers, and would not call them haters at every opportunity just because they don't like paying for something that they feel isn't worth it. To me, Live as it is isn't worth it because I can get the same thing on other platforms for free. Plus is unlike anything else, and totally worth it to me. Live may be totally worth it to you, but not to some others. 

It's just a concept of opinions. Not everyone can and will like paying for Live. I know I wouldn't, which is one of the reasons I haven't bought a MS platform and won't in the near future unless they improve Live dramatically with features and free stuff.

So you admit that you dont have Live and dont use it and yet your fine with openly criticizing it without it

Well guess what.  I have Live and PS Plus and I assure you Live is worth it.  Matchmaking, speed, and stability alone are hugely better on Live. Plus is worth it as well especially with the free games.  But lets not kid ourselves here, Plus does not offer everything Live does or vice versa

How many times do I have to say it? I'm not criticizing the service...

I know quite a bit about Live as a service, as I believe the internet is often a great source of information, plus I've experienced it myself even though I don't pay for it. 

Again, Live is worth it to you and some others but not some others. You can't say they're not allowed to criticize this price. That is everyone's right as a potential consumer.


Well to those that openly criticize a service without even using it is called having a biased agenda.  Perhaps YOU dont.  Many in these forums do.  The mist ironic thing about the Live complaining is it almost universally comes from those who dont have the service.

So why is it you see very little complaining from those with Live including from ones that also own Sony / Nintendo hardware



BenVTrigger on 19 April 2013
pezus said:
And honestly, that is a loaded poll. Why not just have the options: Yes, No, and Maybe or something? Only having one Yes option, which includes the "rip-off" concept destroys any potential worth of the poll immediately. What I'm saying is, some people think the criticism is worth it but don't think it's a "rip-off".


I make hundreds of threads and my poll options always have multiple statements in them.  It makes a thread less boring?

How is it loaded? I litteraly couldnt give a damn about TEH CONZOLZ WARZ



J_Allard on 19 April 2013
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:

How many times do I have to say it? I'm not criticizing the service...

I know quite a bit about Live as a service, as I believe the internet is often a great source of information, plus I've experienced it myself even though I don't pay for it. 

Again, Live is worth it to you and some others but not some others. You can't say they're not allowed to criticize this price. That is everyone's right as a potential consumer.


Well to those that openly criticize a service without even using it is called having a biased agenda.  Perhaps YOU dont.  Many in these forums do.  The mist ironic thing about the Live complaining is it almost universally comes from those who dont have the service.

So why is it you see very little complaining from those with Live including from ones that also own Sony / Nintendo hardware

Because those who don't like what they see and hear about Live and the price will obviously not pay into it. 

Then those people shouldn't speak factually about the features and quality of Live yet they do in every thread about it.



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BenVTrigger on 19 April 2013
pezus said:
BenVTrigger said:
pezus said:
And honestly, that is a loaded poll. Why not just have the options: Yes, No, and Maybe or something? Only having one Yes option, which includes the "rip-off" concept destroys any potential worth of the poll immediately. What I'm saying is, some people think the criticism is worth it but don't think it's a "rip-off".


I make hundreds of threads and my poll options always have multiple statements in them.  It makes a thread less boring?

How is it loaded? I litteraly couldnt give a damn about TEH CONZOLZ WARZ

I explained why it's loaded. I'm not attacking you, just saying that the poll could be better if you're expecting some use to come from it.

Alright then, one of the statements could've been a simple Yes and another Yes, it's a rip-off (the extreme wing). This poll is based on a self-fulfilling prophecy

True I couldve had multiple Yes options.

I just didnt really put that much thought into how I worded the poll. Like I said I always put some personality into the poll so it isnt generic



J_Allard on 19 April 2013
pezus said:

Why not? If they know everything about Live, or at least as much as the general consumer, they should be free to discuss it. The internet is a great source of information, as are other people's accounts of their experiences. 

If you don't use the service then opinions on its quality, ease of use, or value are entirely irrelevant.

If someone told me Battlefield 3 sucks, they can tell from reading forum posts and watching videos, I'd say the same thing. I think you would too.



J_Allard on 19 April 2013
pezus said:

PS4 will have demos for all games. That's already been discussed. It will also have Gaikai, and I'm pretty sure that their servers are something else.

And aren't you happy for demos for every game or would you rather it be like PS3 where Sony charges developers for bandwidth so most PSN titles have no demo at all? And the much larger emphasis on community and social aspects.. aren't these great? You can thank XBLG for these.



Zkuq on 19 April 2013
Mr Puggsly said:
Zkuq said:
Mr Puggsly said:
Zkuq said:
Steam is free and a great service and it manages it in an open environment where it has direct competition on the selling stuff side. Also, I've never seen an ad on Steam. XBL, on the other hand... Well, let's just say that I don't undestand at all how some think having to pay for XBL is acceptable when all other similar services do it for free

Steam is free and great... but PC gaming is a pain in the ass for most people.

Lets remember not all similar services offer the same content either.

Don't exactly see how it's a pain in the ass, especially if you use Steam. But that's not the point. I'm comparing services, not platforms, so even if PC gaming in general happens to be a pain in the ass, it's totally irrelevant here.

Xbox is simple to use. That is the relevance.

I can't even use that TV feature in Steam without it crashing Steam. I'm not in the mood to troubleshoot.

And do you think Steam's Big Picture mode wouldn't work better if Steam was primarily meant for TVs? Besides, for what Steam is primarily meant for, it's very stable. If it was built for TVs from the beginning, you wouldn't experience those crashes. You saying Steam is bad because its TV mode crashes is like me saying XBL is bad because I can't use it on PC. Steam at least on the same level as a service on its primary platform compared to XBL yet it's free. Do you have anything to say about instead of circling around my point.



Hynad on 19 April 2013

Bla bla bla. This is better, this is a copy... Bla bla bla.


To me, it all comes down to principle. Microsoft is charging people so they can play online... While on every other platforms, it's free. For mostly the same games. I can't encourage that practice. I don't care if anyone thinks Live is better for whatever reason than steam or PSN. Those give me all the online gaming I need.

That being said, if playing online was included with silver, I wouldn't mind about Gold. Since it would most likely be pretty much like PSN+. Which is, in the end, a choice. Not an obligation. 

EDIT: And before some apologetics driven fan comes my way, by "obligation" I mean that in order to fully enjoy the games you buy, you have to pay for Gold. Otherwise, you're left with content locked on that disc you're supposed to already own. So no, "you're not obligated to pay for Gold and can stick to single player" doesn't cut it.