Xbox Live Gold is overpriced.
I said it.
Back in the Xbox days, online multiplayer on a console could be considered a value-added proposition—but in this generation, it is just a commodity. The PlayStation Network is vivid proof of that.
It is also worth highlighting that, with this new incarnation of the service, Microsoft is getting lot of money from Xbox Live, thanks to its Marketplace. The success of TV shows, films and other downloads have exceeded Microsoft’s expectations, so it’s not like Uncle Bill is losing money this time around.
But it is easy to criticize without proposing solutions and alternate options.
To prove I’m not the typical make-it-free whiner who is demanding Microsoft to make Xbox Live completely gratis, I’m instead proposing that the two-level memberships should exist as it does now, but with online multiplayer gameplay (as we know it) being free for everyone, while a paid membership incorporates new features. What features, you ask?
Server-Based Online Multiplayer
Xbox Live online gameplay sucks. A weapon like Halo 2’s energy sword or Gears of War’s shotgun offer strong evidence that the user hosting a match—which translates into having no lag at all—has a terrible advantage over the other players.
Paying for peer-to-peer online gameplay is a scam. If we are paying to play online, the least we deserve is a server-based system where matches are hosted on a server provided by Microsoft.
Clan and Party System
Everyone cheered when Microsoft announced that on the Xbox 360 you’d be able to listen to music while playing games without developers having to program such a feature (as they had to with Xbox games). It was a feature that became universal when it was incorporated into the Xbox 360 dashboard.
So, how about also throwing in there a Clan and Party system that lets you play every Xbox 360 game on Xbox Live like in Halo 2? Bungie (which is owned by Microsoft) has already developed the technology, so it shouldn’t be a big issue for Microsoft's Xbox division to implement this technology across the entire platform.
What benefit should Xbox Live Gold subscribers get over Silver users? Well, Silver users should only be able to join one clan, yet have no option to create one, while Gold subscribers should have the ability to create their own clans and be a member of as many clans they want.
Dedicated Download Servers
Have you tried to download a big file from Xbox Live? You can leave the Xbox 360 on, go to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, then read “War and Peace” and maybe the download will be completed. Granted, Microsoft is saying that the soon-to-arrive Spring Dashboard Update will help this process in a couple of ways, but…
If we are paying a monthly fee for Xbox Live, the least we deserve is to have dedicated download servers similar to those offered by FilePlanet (which, by the way, is a sister service of TeamXbox).
Furthermore, even if you are an Xbox Live Silver user, paid content should always be pulled off from a dedicated download server differently from those hosting free content. If you’re paying for the content, you deserve a better bandwidth!
Microsoft Points Program
Another thing that is totally unfair for paid subscribers is that paid content costs the same for Silver and Gold users. There should be some advantage for those who are paid subscribers and there should also be some benefit for those who buy more content.
I think Xbox Live needs a “Microsoft Points Program,” something similar to credit-card services or airline-mileage programs, in which loyalty to a service rewards you for buying content. Obviously, only Gold subscribers should be eligible to enter the program—and it could be an addition to the Xbox Live Diamond Card.
That way, even if you pay the same as a Silver user for a TV show, a film or game content, you will get some Microsoft points in reward.
No Ads
If you are paying for your online-game service, why do you have to see ads on those Xbox 360 blades? Furthermore, if you are paying for a game, why you have to see ads in games? I’m cool with ads making content free, but, conversely, paying for content should remove any ad.
It’d be great if Microsoft could a develop a technology that enables game publishers and developers to know if the user playing the game is a paid subscriber. That way, the game will automatically know if it should display an ad (or not) in its single-player campaign or online multiplayer modes.
Microsoft has already acquired Massive Inc., which (along with the other big in-game advertising companies, Double Fusion and the recently-acquired-by-Google AdScape) already has deals in place with most major game publishers. You’d think if they wanted to remove ads for a specific group of players, they could easily do so by signing an agreement and developing the necessary technology to identify Gold subscribers from Silver users.
