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[BeOnEdge]

surely everyone is aware of MS all off a sudden finding peoples gamertags are "too close" to eachothers and giving out free games or a free year of XBL if you are one of the "few" that need to change your gamertag. I just find it odd that this is happening so close to MSs due date of wanted 1,000,000 subscribers.

 

[FightyF]

Maybe it's a database problem. A search for a particular username is too resource hogging or something like that.

 

[BeOnEdge]

has AOL ever had this problem?

 

[DopeyFish]

Ok here's the reasoning

Say when you choose a gamertag... and you make it BeOnEdge but before signing up there was a dude named Be On Edge... the way XBL works is it collapses spaces in a name when working on an intersystem level meaning possibly your highscores, or your DLC, whatever. So essentially BeOnEdge and Be On Edge are the same. This is the reasoning for making people change their tags.

Edit: during registration it didn't take the collapsing into account therefore some people were registering a gamertag that was already in use, but allowed them anyways

 

[BeOnEdge]

ahhhh. that makes sense.

 

[Joe]

mines r a g e and rage was already taken. i want a free year.

 

[DMczaf]

Im sure someone uses a XBL tag close to DMczaf!

 

[FightyF]

Well, if I made a new one called "DM czaf" just now...it would suck if they forced YOU to change the name. I hope they are smart about this and let the "older" names exist as is.

 

[sc0la]

Well, if I made a new one called "DM czaf" just now...it would suck if they forced YOU to change the name. I hope they are smart about this and let the "older" names exist as is.

What would be cool is if you made that, they asked you to change it, and you go t a free game and the name you wanted in the first place

DMwned

 

[FightyF]

Well, I have a friend who will sign up soon, referred by me. That will get us both a game each. And if he picks "DM czaf", then he'll get another game for free. 2 games plus Live for only $69.95 Cdn (or whatever price it is).

Purdy shweet!

 

[DMczaf]

What would be cool is if you made that, they asked you to change it, and you go t a free game and the name you wanted in the first place

DMwned

Noooooooooooo!

 

[Fifty]

I hope they don't make me change my gamertag (Che Guevara) for political reasons

 

[Alcibiades]

Well, I don't know whether they count as shipped (cause they really don't get to retailers), but Microsoft is always giving away stuff (XBox-related and PC-related)...

At my college, you'll always find at least several opportunities ever school year to win Mice, Keyboards, handheld stuff, XBoxes (raffles, by attending lectures, etc...), and PC software...

Then there is that generous retailer-related thing where they give massive discount to employees for XBox games/accessories, much more so that Nintendo's "raffle"-style givaways which don't guarantee anything...

I also wonder how much of a bump Microsoft would get if they included these numbers in their statements for shipped consoles/software...

 

[DopeyFish]

well it's something that make people happy... you get people talking... you get word of mouth going then watch the sales roll in. It might seem generous but it's actually a very good marketing tactic. You might not gain your money back in short term but it can help VERY MUCH in the long term =]

 

[cvxfreak]

I need to trademark my username sometime.