The other night the wife was playing Uno, and happened to get matched into a game with a bunch of 9 year olds.  They asked a couple of times if she had a headset, and since she couldn’t reply they assumed no.  From that point, they began talking among each other on how to play, essentially ganging up on her.  Stuff such as “I’m out of red, switch it to green if you can” and similar strategy moves.  This was pretty funny considering she could hear them, and adjusted her strategy accordingly.  When one of them would say something like that, she would do whatever she could to get it switched back to red.

Later on they began to talk using vulgar terms and call her names.  “That stupid ***** will pay for that one!”  Not only is it bad coming from obviously 9 year old kids, but Microsoft has a specific gamertag category to sign up under if you don’t mind the language and other bad behavior, the Underground.  Since our kids are near by most of the time when we’re playing (or they are playing themselves) we have ours set to Recreation.  These kids had theirs set to Recreation as well.  After a while they began to realize she was able to hear them and they finally kicked her from the game.  Rest assured reports were filed against the profiles involved.

We’ve also had some very interesting conversations as well, by listening to the conversation and sending a text message to one of the players.  We’ve met some interesting people this way.  Now that our headset has arrived I can’t wait to actually take part in these conversations directly and make some new friends.  Its been a frustrating feeling to be the odd one out and not have a voice among others that do.  I can only imagine what people who have sensory handicaps must feel on a regular basis, especially considering they can’t just buy a device to be accepted into the group.

All I had to do was think back and remember trying to play games online in other free networks (such as Delta Force 2 on the PC,) and I’m glad they charge a small fee.  It adds just enough deterrent to keep people from being complete jerks.  When people don’t have to pay, they have no incentive to play nicely.  They can register a free account, then wreak havoc by cheating, shooting team members, using vulgar language, and just general bad behavior.  They are then free to switch back to their other account and play without anyone knowing any better.

With the Xbox Live, you have to be a paying subscriber to play online, and it is per identity, called a gamertag.  Therefore if you want to jump online for a bit just to upset people, you’d have to register a new gamertag and pay to upgrade it to a gold account.  They have free 30 day trials, but they limit that to 3 per console (life time) so it can’t be abused more than a couple of times at the most.  Of course they could use their single gamertag they’re paying for, but there is a decent reputation reporting system so they wouldn’t be able to play with people any more.

My only remaining beef with it is that you can’t register more than one gamertag per Live account.  Since we only have one console, my wife and I will never be able to use our accounts simultaneously.  It seems like quite a waste for both of us to have to pay the yearly fee in order to build our own friends list and statistics.  I wish they would do like Everquest and World of Warcraft and allow a limited number of gamertags under the same account.  That way a family could have one membership and cover everybody.  The way it sits a large family would pay more per year than the purchase price of the console if all of the kids had their own accounts as well.

I’m now anxiously awaiting the Gold subscription keys to arrive that came with some accessories I ordered.  With as much entertainment value as we’ll get out of them, they are worth their weight… in gold.

Microsoft is offering a refurbished 20GB hard drive along with a 3 month Gold subscription to the Xbox Live service for $29.99 to Arcade edition owners. It says to go to http://www.xboxstorageupgrade.com and enter your serial number and console ID to see if you qualify. I did it last night when I saw it, and it said something along the lines of “An error has occurred. Please try again later.” I tried later in the evening, and I tried several times this morning. Now when I try it goes back to the same page as if I didn’t enter in my information at all.

I called MS Live support and they basically took my serial and console ID, entered it on their website and said “Yep, it appears to not be working” and that I should try again tomorrow. I asked if I could be notified when it is working again (since she just took my e-mail and contact information for the ticket) and said they are unable to send e-mails from that location.

My concern is it says it is a “limited time” offer and that I won’t be able to get in on it. I’ve priced used 20 GB drives and they tend to run about $40 on eBay and local used game shops, and nobody has one locally. To be able to get one for $30, and have it include a Gold card (normally $20 by itself) is a killer deal.

Microsoft of all companies should know how to run a marketing campaign that works. I’ve noticed a lot of online (and regular) offers lately that are unable to handle the demand they generate, but this is Microsoft. They know exactly how many customers have eligible systems, how many of them have already signed into Xbox Live and have seen the advertisement, and should not be surprised by the traffic levels. Of course when you choose to run Windows for your server, you do get to reap what you sow.

On a semi-related note, if you want to get a 30 day trial of Xbox Live Gold, don’t reserve your gamertag online ahead of time. I did that when Microsoft offered the ability since I wanted to get my name and didn’t have a 360 yet. Now I don’t have the ability to get the customary 30 day free trial to Gold. I asked support while on the phone and she said I could create a new gamertag on the console itself (not in a web browser) and would be eligible for the free trial on that account. I created my tag because that is what I wanted, and I shoudn’t have to switch to a new tag and lose my name and acheivements. Way to drop the ball again Microsoft!