Gold members better not have to see them, or get a large discount, or even make XBL free then. When people say "Make XBL free" I respond with "Money makes them keep it good" but if they add Ads, then THAT is their money, so then they should not be making us pay. I hate getting jipped like that. A online community website (Gaiaonline) backstabbed us with their greed in a similar way too. The place is now full of sponsored adds, and they now expect you to pay for anything decent. I do not go on there anymore.
Where, pray tell, did you get the gold member numbers? A recent Escapist Article I read (Whose link I can't find, my bad) said the numbers were around 7 million, with far more 'silver' members (Which is free, as a reminder). They download demos, and videos, and themes, and all these other things that are being hosted at no cost to developers and creators. Who is paying for that hosting? You want to see how much it costs to run servers to host that many people downloading this much stuff per year?
Besides, there are already ads on XLB, and they are extremely easy to ignore. So who cares? It's like an ad on the bus you're riding on, or on the billboard on the side of the road. Who cares? Just ignore it. It's not jumping in your face. It's just sitting there.
Eh, I read before that there was something around 20 million Gold members, though I may have misinterpreted Microsoft's statistics.
It's more of the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle (I think I just made up a new saying! Sweet!). Most if not all of the time you pay premium for things that normal non-paying people don't get. This includes exclusive content, early access, no ads ect... Many many sites do this, pay for more content, less ads, blah blah blah.
You're paying for what is supposed to be a premium service. Sure, an out of the way ad isn't much, but you shouldn't be paying to have advertisments shoved in your face regardless of how it's implemented.
And don't think for a second I'm being a fanboy here, Qore episodes on PSN (It's like a bunch of exclusive interviews and such) have one or two unskipable advertisments when you go to one of the sections, and it quickly gets annoying. Though I can't remember if the last one I downloaded had ads since I bought the anual subscription, but whatever!
Eh, I read before that there was something around 20 million Gold members, though I may have misinterpreted Microsoft's statistics.
It's more of the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle (I think I just made up a new saying! Sweet!). Most if not all of the time you pay premium for things that normal non-paying people don't get. This includes exclusive content, early access, no ads ect... Many many sites do this, pay for more content, less ads, blah blah blah.
You're paying for what is supposed to be a premium service. Sure, an out of the way ad isn't much, but you shouldn't be paying to have advertisments shoved in your face regardless of how it's implemented.
And don't think for a second I'm being a fanboy here, Qore episodes on PSN (It's like a bunch of exclusive interviews and such) have one or two unskipable advertisments when you go to one of the sections, and it quickly gets annoying. Though I can't remember if the last one I downloaded had ads since I bought the anual subscription, but whatever!
But you are getting a service! You get early access to certain demos (Or exclusive access in some cases), early access to certain DLC, and you get to play online. There is your premium services.
Where is the rule written that if you pay for something, you shouldn't get ads? Probably in the same book that says 'life is fair'.
I pay to fly, ride a bus, eat a meal at a restaurant, drive my car, watch my TV, surf the internet, read a magazine, and even read a book, and there are ads for all of those. This isn't a deal breaking or revolt-inducing thing Microsoft is doing here. It's another source of revenue for a business who wants to, gasp, make money. That's the point of every business.
If they start making them like popups ads (Press X to skip this ad and load the next level), then I'd get annoyed. But if they are just a little item on the XBL dashboard that I can fly past, or a small logo in the top corner as I'm on the dashboard, then why do I care?
Come on Jump, this is sounding a little fanboyish to me. You're better then that.
Baby Tea: But you are getting a service! You get early access to certain demos (Or exclusive access in some cases), early access to certain DLC, and you get to play online. There is your premium services.
Where is the rule written that if you pay for something, you shouldn't get ads? Probably in the same book that says 'life is fair'.
I pay to fly, ride a bus, eat a meal at a restaurant, drive my car, watch my TV, surf the internet, read a magazine, and even read a book, and there are ads for all of those. This isn't a deal breaking or revolt-inducing thing Microsoft is doing here. It's another source of revenue for a business who wants to, gasp, make money. That's the point of every business.
If they start making them like popups ads (Press X to skip this ad and load the next level), then I'd get annoyed. But if they are just a little item on the XBL dashboard that I can fly past, or a small logo in the top corner as I'm on the dashboard, then why do I care?
Come on Jump, this is sounding a little fanboyish to me. You're better then that.
Hey, I already established that I wasn't trying to be a fanboy here god damnit! Sony does this to, ironically only in the pay to use Qore thing as far as I know. Sometimes on the Playstation Store there's some "Verizon Special!" or something showing a special offer for a game or two because of a collaberation or something.
If you pay for a private jet, you don't get advertisments. It's called a "commercial" airline for a reason. And even then, there are some pre-flight services that offer premium stuff and alot of the booklets in the seat in front of you is just self-promoting stuff. And even then, those advertisments are hardly put in your face and easily ignorable if noticable at all. Riding a bus, I'll give you that. Driving your car, unless you turn on your radio, you don't have advertisments unless you're talking about billboards. TV, well, there are many channels that offer advertisment-free broadcasting as well as other things (Pay-Per-View maybe? I never used that) The internet, there are a plethorea of websites that offer pay-to-recieve content as well as no ads. IGN, DeviantArt, and Webs.com do this right off the top of my head and I am sure I could think up more. Read a magazine; depends on what magazine and how many ads :P A book....really? Where would ads be on a book beside the publishing company, in which case that's just self-promotion.
I said it before, it's more the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle. Microsoft gets money from advertisments and money from Gold membership. Gold Members (obsceure Austin Power's reference FTW!) pay for exclusive content, early access, and online. They should not have to pay for an ad to be shoved in their face, something that gets them money anyway, however big it may be. I'm sure many people would pay for LIVE if it meant no ads, more than you'd think, either way Microsoft gets money and it seems like a better way to move people to gold membership however silly it may seem.
Jumplion: I said it before, it's more the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle. Microsoft gets money from advertisments and money from Gold membership. Gold Members (obsceure Austin Power's reference FTW!) pay for exclusive content, early access, and online. They should not have to pay for an ad to be shoved in their face, something that gets them money anyway, however big it may be. I'm sure many people would pay for LIVE if it meant no ads, more than you'd think, either way Microsoft gets money and it seems like a better way to move people to gold membership however silly it may seem.
But aren't you (And I, admittedly) jumping the gun (Lion?) here? We know that ads are coming. Fine. But we don't really know 100% in what capacity, or if it will directly, or indirectly, effect gold members.
Especially in the light of the guy's own words:
"I need to let you know that you don't need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard," he wrote. "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the Live community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."
"No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing," he added. "That's just not good for anyone."
Contrary to what Linux users, Mac sheep, and PS3 fanboys would have you believe: Microsoft isn't stupid. They aren't going to throw ads up in such a way that will hinder use, or interrupt or deter from gaming on their own gaming platform. We're just getting word on that it will happen, let's reserve serious judgment until we find out how it will happen.
Baby Tea: Contrary to what Linux users, Mac sheep, and PS3 fanboys would have you believe: Microsoft isn't stupid.
Does not compute...
Partly because I'm required to think that, but mostly because I'm tired as shit. Don't you dare quote me before I get off! Let me sleep and then I'll tell you "fair enough"!
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
We're also getting a better internet service then compared to the PS3. I often hear of online matches just breaking apart for no reason on the PS3.
And that doesn't happen on Xbox Live? It sure happens to me a lot. And it's not my internet, my laptop and various other things work fine. Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox. I'm just saying that we put up with paying, then we get ads to pay for more stuff. I just hope they don't make "Xbox Platinum, now with less ads than Gold!"
It happens to you? Really? I've been playing on my Xbox360 for a year or two now and I've never had that problem.
And I've been playing on my Ps3 for a year and a half, and the only reason a match ends suddenly is if everyone else quits.
Besides, there are already ads on XLB, and they are extremely easy to ignore. So who cares? It's like an ad on the bus you're riding on, or on the billboard on the side of the road. Who cares? Just ignore it. It's not jumping in your face. It's just sitting there.
A 'laissez-faire' argument? Sorry, but that's really weak, no matter what conversation or topic you are refering to.
It's because of arguments and mindsets like this that modern consumers are just about the bitch of anyone that puts out a product. What happened to ideals and why is no-one getting upset anymore?
Why are they announcing something that's already basically happened? When you turn the 360 on the first thing you see is ads for games and sometimes products. Recently I've been seeing this one Doritos ad come up quite a bit.
How about they lower the price of gold or make it fucking free, I don't pay for a service so they can double tax me. I'll write an angry letter, don't think I wont!
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
Compare XBL to a PSN. I have both and I'll say that XBL is definitely superior. People need to stop whining about the 50 a year thing. If you don't like it, don't pay for it. It's as simple as that.
Ad's don't bother me at all, unless they're popping up mid gameplay I could not care less what microsoft does with the dashboard. As long as I can get to my friends and play without being reminded i'm low on doritos.
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
Compare XBL to a PSN. I have both and I'll say that XBL is definitely superior. People need to stop whining about the 50 a year thing. If you don't like it, don't pay for it. It's as simple as that.
GAH! I'm not whining about paying, I'm fine with it. I'm not fine with the idea of having ads all over something that we already pay them for.
So does this mean Live will be free? It should be as the ad revenue should pay for the server bandwidth. I don't mind paying $50 a year as I can afford it, but I pay that so I don't have to deal with BS like ads.
It's not like we already pay to fucking use this, now we have to pay to look at adverts.