As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
We're funding a new Acquisitions Incorporated series on Kickstarter right now! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pennyarcade/acquisitions-incorporated-the-series-2
In Defense of Friend Codes
Evander
Disappointed FatherRegistered User regular
Disappointed FatherRegistered User regular
For the record, I am playing Devil's Advocate here. I own a 360, and I've been a Live subscriber since April 2004, since the day I first bought an Xbox. I am also an owner of both a Wii and a DS. I've dealt with friend code annoyances first hand (I'd list them, but I'm typing this on my Treo, and y'know, cramps) and I've also been scared/annoyed since learning that I'll be dealing with them again on my Wii. But I was thinking today, and there ARE some benefits that friend codes give you that you don't get from Live. I'm going to list a couple, and I invite others to share in my sour grapes, and add their own ideas of benefits. Or we can use this thread tov discuss what would make a perfect online service (I love Live, but it's far from perfe
1. Choose Your Own Nameventure!
Evertime I play a game on Live I am The Evander. Whether it's Viva Piniata, Halo, or Uno, I'm stuck with the same name, unless I want to pay MSoft a fee each time I want to change it. With the friends codes system, I can have my name be whatever I want, potentially, since my I'D is the number, not the name. I could tailor my name to the game I'm playing, and I don't have to worry about being suck with a name like BaDdWuLf263, just be cause there were already 262 other guys named BaDdWuLf.
2. It's My Party, But You'll Crash If you Want To
Everytime I open my friends list, I get to see what my friends are playing. Some times I even have the option of jumping in and playing with them Here's the thing, though; if I am an awesome dude to play Uno or Burnout witham but having me around just makes Gears or Crackdown suck, you're stuck with the potential that I could jump in, when you really would prefer that some one who was more fun to play with would. With friend codes, you only have to give me the codes for the games you want to play with me, and conveniently "forget" to give me the rest.
So, yeah, obviously these are only tiny things, compared to the benefits you miss out on with a universal friend's list, but its's always a good idea to try and think positive about the things that piss us off. I look forward to reading other people's ideas.
1. Choose Your Own Nameventure!
Evertime I play a game on Live I am The Evander. Whether it's Viva Piniata, Halo, or Uno, I'm stuck with the same name, unless I want to pay MSoft a fee each time I want to change it. With the friends codes system, I can have my name be whatever I want, potentially, since my I'D is the number, not the name. I could tailor my name to the game I'm playing, and I don't have to worry about being suck with a name like BaDdWuLf263, just be cause there were already 262 other guys named BaDdWuLf.
2. It's My Party, But You'll Crash If you Want To
Everytime I open my friends list, I get to see what my friends are playing. Some times I even have the option of jumping in and playing with them Here's the thing, though; if I am an awesome dude to play Uno or Burnout witham but having me around just makes Gears or Crackdown suck, you're stuck with the potential that I could jump in, when you really would prefer that some one who was more fun to play with would. With friend codes, you only have to give me the codes for the games you want to play with me, and conveniently "forget" to give me the rest.
So, yeah, obviously these are only tiny things, compared to the benefits you miss out on with a universal friend's list, but its's always a good idea to try and think positive about the things that piss us off. I look forward to reading other people's ideas.
Evander on
0
Posts
anyway when i play multiplayer games, I like to pick ones with good communities, myth,myth2 and the early days of DAoC all spring to mind. Unlike your average starcraft/counter strike crowd those communities actually had an abundance of cool people. friend codes pretty much take out the whole social aspect of online gaming, which can be a good thing depending on what your playing, but to me is a very negative thing overall
You can do the actual community building online, though. I'm not saying it's AS good, but you definitely aren't entirely lacking in community.
And using live as a comparison, sometimes I meet awesome people on there, and sometimes I meat sceeaming 14 year olds. sometimes a guy shows me his ass during agame of Uno, and then farts into his mic. Sometimes a 14 year old starts screaming at him to stop farting, etc.
My point is muddled there, but essentially, I don't feel like universal systems build community in the same way that single game systems do. In theory, friend codes might actually make community EASIER to build, as long as the option to play with random folks is still there.
Tubes man, they're everywhere.
Edit: An actual point to this post is despite nintendo's fear of peadophiles (I know I can't spell live with it) most people don't care about identity online and will tell you most of your life story if you are online.
A single name just makes things easier.
Satans..... hints.....
It's more than just paedophiles. Do you think Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really want little Timmy listening to BlazinE420 (actual gamertag I ran into) talking about how wasted he is?
We DO have to recognize that the Nintendo userbase skews younger, and more impressionable.
Nintendo would rather you know EXACTLY who your playing with, when your playing with them, and what game they are playing with you. It has nothing to do with the lack of technology, it's all about safety. They aren't about to forsake their family-friendly image.
Did you read the OP? This isn't a serious defense of friend codes being better than other systems, its just an exercise in looking for the tiny advantages that the system has, DESPITE its fatal flaws.
Not sure why they would do that, there really isn't a reason.
I really don't see any defensible points as to why friend codes are good.
So if you have friends you enjoy playing all games with (I have a few), you can give them your wii code. But, if you want to add random_guy_001 from a forum to a game, you can do that.
My 360 is [strike]back[/strike] [strike]bricked[/strike] back!
So that I can be seen with the name I want to be seen in games without having to tack on random characters?
So, you could automatically retrieve the friend codes of anyone you'd exchanged Wii Codes with? That would be handy.
Like Steam.
There's something wrong with that quote. Wii Sports doesn't use Friend Codes in any way whatsoever.
Although, this could be Nintendo saying that when there is player interaction, you will need a friend code for the game. But, if its highscores, then it will use your wii code.
My 360 is [strike]back[/strike] [strike]bricked[/strike] back!
ultimately, trying to find and list as many pals as i can for every single new game that comes out tends to be a pain in the ass when your friends are flakes (i've still got only one other person's wii code, and no one ever visits my mii parade. sigh.) its not all roses with live though, as i often just want to play crackdown or guitar hero in peace and not see pictures of someone's freaking kid or be challenged to a game of uno. but i still prefer the uniform, packaged feel of live over nintendo's fractured concept of an online community. i kind of want an online identity, a place to check out what my friends are doing, etc. friend codes will never really allow that functionality.
I do. I think that many of the douche-bags on Live annoy me enough to not ever get online. Seriously, the only reason I get on XBL is to play Crackdown with a friend of mine. I never play Halo 2 or Gears of War online, because the userbase just annoys the living daylights out of me.
"So yeah I just totally had sex with this chick last night."
"No fucking way!"
"Yeah dude... I know I'm only thirteen, but shit it was good!"
Yeah.. that was something I heard while playing Gears of War online... And I was tired of it.
It's not like Nintendo is NOT letting you play with people online. You can. You can't interact with them (via voice or chat) online during the game, unless you're friends. Strikers will have a lobby in which you can walk around and chat (I think) with people, then challenge them to a game. I'm sure there will be a way to import their friend code at the click of a button, or it'll show it out of their name.
The point I'm trying to make is this: quit yer bitchin'.
Yes, that's why I said "visually distinctive" so you know it's not the name of the Live account. Of course the player list should be able to show the account name somewhere too.
Pokemans D/P: 1289 4685 0522
a lot of your gripes can be handled with simple settings in the dashboard
You can basically recreate Nintendo's online with family/privacy settings except without the annoyance of friend codes.
Right. So if I did that I would be using Nintendo's online... And I would actually be happy.
Just saying that the Friend codes aren't that big of a deal. Everyone's just blowing them out of preportions.
maybe people should just roll over because Mario asks them to and Mario is neato
Ah, yeah I forgot about the fact that Mario said it was good, so I should enjoy it.
I gave you direct reasons why I don't like Live, and I can change it to Nintendo's. So obviously I prefer the way Nintendo's doing their thing... but I guess it means I take it in the butt from Mario then.
Seriously. Quit being a douche.
I hate, hate, hate them.
You're saying people are making a bigger deal about friend codes than they should just because you don't mind them and Nintendo's online is perfect for you.
I guess I don't get it. You don't like Live for reasons that basically don't exist after a couple toggles.
It's this culture of "please forgive Nintendo because we love them" that I don't get and maybe I'm wrong but I think that's what you're doing here. I'm not trying to be a dick but telling people to stop making a big deal about something that is clearly a big issue in online gaming seems like you only wish people would stop talking smack about something you like.
You gave one experience, probably exaggerated. Everyone knows you don't play with pubs if you can help it. Everyone knows you can mute people. Hell you can turn your headphones all the way down so you can't hear ANYONE. You're using a tired internet excuse to not want to play online.
It's fucking awesome and compared to Live, PSN, and interwebs on the PC/Mac it stacks up feature for feature. I don't know why I can't see it.