The Xbox Live gamertag selection is fucking with my head.

gilrain

Yeah, so I bought an Xbox 360 this afternoon. Yes, even though the Elite comes out in a bit, and the price on the Premium will drop. Let us not dwell on that. Instead let us dwell on why Xbox Live is raping me through my pants.

I've never signed up for Live before, so I'm doing that now, of course. I put in "gilrain" as my gamertag. Now, understand that gilrain is an extremely uncommon nick, and I almost never have it taken on anything. So, it says it's taken. Well, it is an (extremely rare) last name, as well as the name of an obscure German band. So, crap, I think, this will cause confusion on PA. I hope the guy that got my nick isn't a jerk, or anything, I think.

So, I go to my backup nick. This one has never been taken anywhere else. You want to know how I can be sure? It's a a nine-letter word I crafted myself from roots in an imaginary language. Yeah, yeah. I put that in, and it again says it's taken. Yeah, bullshit. That piece of impossibility combined with the previous unlikelihood that even gilrain is taken makes me think there's a problem.

Has anyone seen this? Is it possible for one of you, who's already a member, to check to see if those gamertags exist? I want to set up my 360 so badly, but I'm not going to proceed past this screen without one of my two traditional Internet names. :-(

Marlor

Yeah. I got an XBox 360 a few days ago, and found that most of the names I use were taken too.

You might have to try an alternate spelling or something.

jclast

Well, Gilrain is taken.
You can search gamertags here.

Recoil42

Yeah, you're pretty much going to have to do what I did, and just give up and stick an X or some important number to you on the end of it.


Because yeah, pretty much everything out there you can possibly think of is taken.

Cokomon

jclast wrote: »

Well, Gilrain is taken.
You can search gamertags here.

Doesn't seem like he has ever logged on, though.

gilrain

Well, shit, they are both taken, it seems. How the crap did someone wind up using a name I invented.

I will try my EVE names, I guess. I really have no attachment to any names aside from the two in use. And I don't do alternate spellings. Ask not for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for me, or whatever.

LewieP

jclast wrote: »

Well, Gilrain is taken.
You can search gamertags here.

So if it says -
"The information couldn't not be retrieved from Xbox Live or from the XUG database. Please fill in a correct gamertag or include more characters."
then it means LewieP is as of yet untaken?

*Hi5's self*

I might be getting Live in the next 12 months...

gilrain

Okay, Tavus is available. However, before that, I'm going to call Live Support and see if they will clear up gilrain, for me. It looks like it was never used, so maybe. I'll keep you folks posted. For Internet name justice!

ShimSham

I had signed up for ShimmitySham right as the 360 came out, even though I didn't get one for almost a year after that.

But yeah I totally had that name reserved for when I did.

Grimm

You would be surprised what some people use for their nicks. A few years back on some random PC game, i tried for over an hour to come up with something that hadn't already been taken. In a fit of anger, i type in a string of the worst obscenities that came to mind at the moment. And guess what happens, "That name has been taken, please choose another".

xWonderboyx

ShimSham wrote: »

I had signed up for ShimmitySham right as the 360 came out, even though I didn't get one for almost a year after that.

But yeah I totally had that name reserved for when I did.

Assholes as yourself make it impossible for people such as the OP to get the tag they want.

For shame.

gilrain

Yeah, so, that was interesting. I got a very helpful guy. He determined that "gilrain" is indeed taken by someone, and I was not able to persuade him to yoink it away from that someone. However, the second, made-up name was actually registered by me, some years ago. I apparently completely forgot. Also weird: I never owned an Xbox, so... Yeah. Anyway, I decided to go with Tavus, anyway.

Now, however, after creating the account, it won't let me log in, so another hurdle, here.

xWonderboyx

That is fucking classic.

Stormwatcher

All my nicks are belong to other people.

Mr Peepers

Is there any possible way to change your e-mail attached to your Live account?

I want to change my e-mail address, but Live is holding me back...

Zek

This is why I hate having to play games under my account name.

Suriko

Darn. Suriko is taken by a seemingly dud user with no details or online activity.

gilrain

I have successfully logged in as Tavus, now. Even though that name is very recent, as one I just created for EVE, I'm quickly growing attached (see ava and sig for proof), so it's not all bad. Thanks for cheering me on, folks. I'm sure I'll be seein' y'all 'round Live, soon.

(Although the first game I'm playing is Crimson Skies, since I didn't own an Xbox and the game rocks.)

wetflame

I tried a bunch of different names. I eventually went with one I've never used - ThousandNeedles. Almost didn't fit, had to abandon the space.

Deusfaux

I once had an AOL rep try to tell me the reason my username was already registered (for AIM use) was that it's a very popular french phrase.

I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him for making up such BS on the spot to satiate me. I MADE the damn name up, you dumb bint.

This was hours of trying to explain to them their registration had fucked up and I was halfway in the system, I couldnt pick it as a new name to register under, but the name didnt exist when you tried to recall the password for it either.

Finally AOL and EA stopped sharing the same database and I could register an EA account with my name. And... fuck AOL/AIM

Giganticus

Recoil42 wrote: »

Yeah, you're pretty much going to have to do what I did, and just give up and stick an X or some important number to you on the end of it.


Because yeah, pretty much everything out there you can possibly think of is taken.

Someone took Giganticus
















(that someone was me )

chasm

I tried about fifty different Preacher references before I said fuck it and added some Ls onto either end.

xWonderboyx

Deusfaux wrote: »

I once had an AOL rep try to tell me the reason my username was already registered (for AIM use) was that it's a very popular french phrase.

I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him for making up such BS on the spot to satiate me. I MADE the damn name up, you dumb bint.

This was hours of trying to explain to them their registration had fucked up and I was halfway in the system, I couldnt pick it as a new name to register under, but the name didnt exist when you tried to recall the password for it either.

Finally AOL and EA stopped sharing the same database and I could register an EA account with my name. And... fuck AOL/AIM

Too bad everyone and their mother uses fucking aim. I hate it, but when I make new friends they all use aim.

Oh well, I guess that's what miranda/trillian is for.

Veevee

Also, original xbox live users are listed as taken but not as ever being active. I know that my xbox 1 live account I had and canceled is listed as taken but as having no activity when I know I at least played halo 2 with it.

xWonderboyx

Heh, I remember when my live tag was VaginalJesus, and I was too embarrassed to call and cancel my account so I just let my card expire and with it my live account.

Pooch

Yeah, most of my names were taken so I just stuck my birthday on the end of it.

Deusfaux

xWonderboyx wrote: »

Deusfaux wrote: »

I once had an AOL rep try to tell me the reason my username was already registered (for AIM use) was that it's a very popular french phrase.

I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him for making up such BS on the spot to satiate me. I MADE the damn name up, you dumb bint.

This was hours of trying to explain to them their registration had fucked up and I was halfway in the system, I couldnt pick it as a new name to register under, but the name didnt exist when you tried to recall the password for it either.

Finally AOL and EA stopped sharing the same database and I could register an EA account with my name. And... fuck AOL/AIM

Too bad everyone and their mother uses fucking aim. I hate it, but when I make new friends they all use aim.

Oh well, I guess that's what miranda/trillian is for.

it varies by region.

up here in this part of canada its all WLMessenger

Threepio

Good old Adium. Bridging the gap.

As for my nick - well, no one ever wants to be the gay robot from Star Wars.


No one but me.

FyreWulff

I stopped using my regular "FyreWulff" gamertag almost a year ago, and it's never gone back into the pool so that I can re-register it

Pooch

FyreWulff wrote: »

I stopped using my regular "FyreWulff" gamertag almost a year ago, and it's never gone back into the pool so that I can re-register it

You can recover it if you know what the credit card number and stuff associated with it was.

Ziac45

Ziac45 is never taken anywere. I got it on live right off the bat now I figured I had made this name up years ago but turns out Ziac is a medicine for lowering you're blood pressure, whoda thought.

skippydumptruck

I started using this name 10 years ago, I think, and it's never taken anywhere.

The downside being, what sounded cool at 14 doesn't at 24.

Stormwatcher

Deusfaux wrote: »

xWonderboyx wrote: »

Deusfaux wrote: »

I once had an AOL rep try to tell me the reason my username was already registered (for AIM use) was that it's a very popular french phrase.

I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him for making up such BS on the spot to satiate me. I MADE the damn name up, you dumb bint.

This was hours of trying to explain to them their registration had fucked up and I was halfway in the system, I couldnt pick it as a new name to register under, but the name didnt exist when you tried to recall the password for it either.

Finally AOL and EA stopped sharing the same database and I could register an EA account with my name. And... fuck AOL/AIM

Too bad everyone and their mother uses fucking aim. I hate it, but when I make new friends they all use aim.

Oh well, I guess that's what miranda/trillian is for.

it varies by region.

up here in this part of canada its all WLMessenger

Same thing happens in Brazil, it's all Windows Live Messenger and Gtalk.

DHS Odium

Yeah, I always try to sign up for things, such as Live, with just the nick "Odium", it's always taken so I have to tack on my initials to the front.

Plus I've had other handles, Corvus, from Heretic, and Kindred, specifically from Vampire: The Masquerade. Both those were taken here, so when I signed up here I used Odium, a fantastic word that spreads love to everyone.

ArugulaZ

I think Hotmail, Microsoft Passport, and Xbox Live accounts are all linked. If I want to check my stats without booting up my Xbox 360, I've got to sign into Xbox.com with my old Hotmail name and password. Note that I haven't used my Hotmail account for years, and that it was supposed to expire after three months of non-use. Note also that everyone and their grandmother had a Hotmail account prior to its acquisition and subsequent ruination by Microsoft.

Lukin

I've been Lukin for over a decade; it's still my AIM name. I've been able to get away with using it most everywhere I try to register, but as of late, it seems like there are Lukins everywhere. Hopefully one day gmail will allow users to register 5-letter names, and I'll get in there nice and quicklike.

Captain K

xWonderboyx wrote: »

Heh, I remember when my live tag was VaginalJesus, and I was too embarrassed to call and cancel my account so I just let my card expire and with it my live account.

VaginalJesus might be the best online name I've ever heard.


...no, Hoe Slappa is still better.