Is Xbox Live Really Worth It?

Through my experience with Xbox Live, I was able to understand why people would be interested in joining that community. I call it a community because that is the only word that really demonstrates how people share the space and remain connected because of it. Though it costs money to remain connected to this community, I believe that many would agree with me when I say that it is worth it. It’s not just for the ability to improve skill with games by playing with strangers; it’s worth it because it allows you to play with your friends and family. It helps to keep you connected and sometimes even strengthen those bonds of friendship.

Through my encounter with Xbox Live, I was able to experience first-hand how that space can be interpreted as a place because of the social meaning and values that are encoded when you use it. Many people use Xbox Live specifically as a social space so that they can stay connected to their friends. Facebook may be free but Xbox Live makes it a little more personal because of its video and chat capabilities. If you still are not convinced that’s okay because Xbox Live allows you to go on Facebook too.

I remember when I first joined Xbox Live and the displacement that I felt. Though I hadn’t left my room I experienced a culture shock. I didn’t have any social cues to tell me how to act or behave when interacting with the other people on Xbox Live, I remember feeling confused and even a little scared because of this. Eventually I was able to get over this shock and become part of the community and try to understand the culture as thoroughly as I could. I learned how to use the features and do so proficiently so that I could get the full experience.

Another shock was the realization of the true amount of people who are part of this Xbox Live community. Of course some don’t use it as often as others, but many use it as a means to stay connected to friends and family if they are not able to be with them physically. I used to stay in contact with my friends using Facebook, but now I prefer to use Xbox Live because not only can I talk to them, but I can also play games with them, just like it once was before everyone went off to college.

Through this blog and my own experiences with Xbox Live I have come to realize that not only does Xbox Live make sense, it is an important aspect in many people’s lives. In a way it is a social network, it might not be exactly like Facebook, but it still allows people to interact and keep those relationships alive. The only conclusion that I have about Xbox Live is that it is just one of those things where you don’t realize how good it is until you have tried it yourself. After that it’s all over, you never want to go back to the way it was. I myself question how I was able to enjoy videogames without Xbox Live. Needless to say, I am planning on continuing my subscription.

Social Networks Are Everywhere

A recent development on Xbox Live has been the addition of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If Xbox Live wasn’t transformed from space into place before then it has been now because of these features which allow you to access those social networking sites. The only set back is that your access to it is limited. You can only see the news feed and profiles. Though you can comment on people’s pictures and update your status. You cannot write on anyone’s wall.

When I first saw the notice on Xbox Live telling me that Facebook would be available when you are on Xbox Live I thought it was ridiculous. People already have access to social networking sites at almost any time during the day due to their laptops or cell phones with internet features. However, my opinion changed when I tried it out. If you don’t have access to a computer, you can still have access to updates from your friends and know what is going on in their lives. “When I’m playing Xbox it’s really convenient to see have Facebook available so that I can see what everyone is up to without having to go on a computer” Corey Green, long time Xbox Live subscriber.

Also, because of this new feature on Xbox Live, it has defined itself as being a social place; it has been transformed from just being a space to a place that has meaning for those who utilize it. It has gained that extra meaning. I now have memories of my first experience using Facebook through Xbox Live, I can imagine that space and it is a place where I have social exchanges with my friends. Xbox Live has gained meaning as a place of social interactions and because of this it has become a means of keeping in touch with friends. In a way, Xbox Live itself is a social network.

Corey Green, interview by Jenifer DeNormandie, phone, Norton, MA, 22 November 2009.

Insults or Identity? Issues with the Gamer Tag

As I have mentioned in the last post, a gamer’s tag is a very important to a person’s image on Xbox Live. As I have learned from playing on Xbox Live, if you are not a registered friend of a person, then you cannot see their Avatar. So if you are playing games with strangers, their only notion of who you are and what kind of person you are is through your gamer tag.

It’s easy to see why you might want to put some thought into you gamer tag, not only does it represent you, if you want to change it then you will have to pay extra. If you are playing with strangers it is the only identification you have. However, as of late the spectrum of vocabulary to identify one’s self through their gamer tag has been reduced. Microsoft decided it would be best to “ban any discussion of sexuality in either tags or profiles--a move that makes it impossible for those gamers who want to identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to do so” (Fried, 2009). Though this action is supposed to be helpful and prevent immature people from using the terms in a derogatory sense, all it really is doing is injuring the gay community and making Xbox Live less appealing. The only ones who suffer from this are those with that sexual orientation.

Those who truly wish to insult are still able to devise ways to get around the rules. One way that I have seen is people substituting numbers with letters such as an ‘a’ with a ‘4’ and a ‘3’ for an 'e'. Though Microsoft is working to fix these problems, some people are still prohibited from expressing their identity through their gamer tag.

Fried, Ina

2009 Wielding the Xbox “banhammer”. Electronic document,

http://news.cnet.com/8300-10797_3-235-2.html?keyword=Xbox+360

Avatar Identity

As soon as I subscribed to Xbox Live and created a gamer tag I was prompted to make an Avatar or a person to represent myself in the Xbox Live community. So as I was creating my Avatar I realized that though she resembled me, in a way she was different. Not different due to the limited options for creating her facial structure and features, but because without intention, I had created an idealized version of myself; I had removed all the features that I have tended to dislike such as my freckles. After realizing this, I remade my Avatar so it portrayed me in the most accurate way. However, this small event brought to my mind many questions about what Avatars must mean to some people.

What you choose as a gamer tag (basically a username) is also important to self image being represented on Xbox Live, but what a person actually sees, the thing that represents you as a person on Xbox Live is your Avatar. It is the physical definition of yourself and how you want other people to see you on Xbox Live. It is because of this reasoning that a person would be willing to pay extra money on Xbox Live for different styles of clothes for their Avatar. Xbox Live is a social space where someone would want their Avatar to look like how they want to be viewed and having their Avatar wear a certain style of clothing could be important to the identity they want to be portrayed.

It is because of this representation of identity through Avatars that helps make Xbox Live more familiar and personal. The Avatar helps to give a space meaning and thus turn it into place. But this place can have many different meanings that rely on the person who is utilizing it. Some people may have their Avatar as who they want to be and in such a case Xbox Live is the place where that can be a reality.

Swalwell, Melanie, and Jason Wilson

2008 The Pleasures of Computer Gaming. Jefferson, N.C.: Macfarland & Company.

What Multiplayer Really Means

After many interviews with people who subscribe to Xbox Live, I have found that the major reason why most people decide to join is for the social space that Xbox Live provides. Years ago, the only way you could play a videogame with a friend was that one would go over to the other’s house and they would play together. Of course there were obvious limitations to this kind of gaming. To play multiplayer you had to have a friend or friends over and gaming systems would only allow up to four players, also, the television screen has to be shared by everyone playing. “What I like most is being able to play with friends and have the whole screen to myself. Before Xbox Live everyone had to share the screen so it was split. So with that kind of set up there was a lot of screen watching going on.” Corey Green comments, a long time Xbox Live subscriber. To Corey screen watching was a major factor in deciding to first subscribe to Xbox Live. “I hated it when I had a friend over and he would watch my half of the split screen to see what I was doing. It started to really take the fun away from playing with friends.” Xbox Live solved this dilemma. Corey was able to still enjoy games with friends, but since they weren’t right next to him, he didn’t have to worry about screen watching anymore. By playing multiplayer on Xbox Live, up to 16 people can be in a game compared to the traditional 4. More friends are able to play together and no one has to be left out.

I have always thought that playing videogames together with friends was a great way to bond with that friend and strengthen the friendship. However, once people start moving away or going off to college, it’s easy to lose touch with friends. “I joined to stay in touch with friends after everyone went off to college.” Comments Brianne Bailey, another Xbox Live subscriber, “I didn’t want to lose touch so I got Xbox Live so that we could at least still play videogames together.” This is actually a very common reason why some people decide to subscribe to Xbox Live. After High School, you don’t get to see all your old friends as often as you used to so in an attempt to not lose touch people subscribe to Xbox Live, that way they can still play videogames together like they did when they saw their friends almost every day.

To these people who subscribe just to play with friends and keep in touch, Xbox Live is not just a social space. It is a means to hold on to an old life that is almost lost because everyone goes their own separate ways. It’s the one thing that can stay the same. The games may change, but the interactions stay the same. When playing videogames online with friends, it is almost the same as it was in High School, bonding and reconnecting with each other through their mutual appreciation of videogames.

Corey Green, interview by Jenifer DeNormandie, phone, Norton, MA, 30 October 2009.

Brianne Bailey, interview by Jenifer DeNormandie, phone, Norton, MA, 31 October 2009.

I would like to let it be known that both Corey and Brianne have given me permission to use their names in this blog and they are both aware of the nature of this blog.

Discussing Add-ons

The spectrum of downloads on Xbox Live isn’t limited to demos either. There are many things you can download including older games, extra levels to games that you own or in the case of Guitar Hero, extra songs to play. To me this seems like a bit of a marketing ploy. First you have to buy the game and if you want the extra levels or songs you have to pay more money. Granted some songs or levels are free, but some may argue that you should get the whole game when you first buy it.

Though this may seem wrong to some people, it’s not like the game that you purchased is missing anything. If you didn’t have Xbox Live, you would still be able to play the game and enjoy it. Having Xbox Live just gives you the opportunity of having a more enriching gaming experience because of those little extras that you can purchase or get for free. After you beat a game and finished all the levels, it’s a great feeling to go onto Xbox Live and see that you can purchase more levels to play especially if you really enjoyed the game. “Fable 2 was a great game, but once you finish the quests there isn’t much else to do with it, but I was excited when I found out that I could purchase and download extra quests from Xbox Live.” Corey Green, long time Xbox Live subscriber. Add-ons and game downloads keep the game fun after you have exhausted the original game content.

Corey Green, interview by Jenifer DeNormandie, phone, Norton, MA, 30 October 2009.

The Demo Dilemma

After purchasing a subscription to Xbox Live, the first thing I discovered was the ability to download game demos. I had never really understood why someone would take the time to play a demo since that’s just it, it’s a demo. It’s not the full game and eventually you get to the end of the demo and all that you accomplished has now gone to waste. I would put effort into a little blip of a game just for it to end and that time to have gone to waste. However, after purchasing a subscription to Xbox Live, I was able to search for game demos and try them out. Rather than it being a waste of my time, I was able to appreciate what demos actually do for people. They help people decide if they like the game enough to purchase it. Of course, not all the demos on Xbox Live are free, but it is better to try out a game demo from Xbox Live rather than going through the trouble of purchasing the game only to find that it really isn’t what you were expecting or hoping for. When playing the demo, there is no mystery, you see the graphics, hear the sounds and music, and experience the game play and difficulty. So if you decide to purchase the game, there is no surprise when you start playing, because of the availability of demos on Xbox Live, you are educated on the game and know what you are buying. “It’s a small taste of what the game is actually like so you can decide if you want to buy the game or not” says long time Xbox Live subscriber Corey Green, “I frequently download demos. It’s a great for when you’re not sure if you will like the game or not. Playing the demo has actually saved me from some bad purchases.”

Corey Green, interview by Jenifer DeNormandie, phone, Norton, MA, 30 October 2009.