Execpt they aren't being denied anything. He is getting the exact service he agreed to in his contract. If he want's a better service with the american price he can start a new Live contract in america.
He and others are effectively denied the continuity of service that non-immigrants enjoy.
He is perfectly able to continue his service and has many ways in which to maintain said service. Pay for it with a UK account. Purchase UK account cards. etc. What you seem to be upset about is that Microsoft has no system in place to migrate an account between regions. This isn't MAINTAINING service. He has a service which is contractually limited to the UK. By definition moving that contract to the US would not be continuity but creation of a new contract with new contractual limitations.
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
Yep. GamePartisan's involvement in all of this doesn't seem to be a helpful thing. We still have a multinational corporation who can't handle (in some way) multinationals, clearly policy review is in order. I think that that is the main story, with the offensive customer service as the cherry on top. The GamePartisan stuff seems to be getting everything away from the first and main issue (though for Squirm and the Editor-in-Chief, I know it's a very important issue.)
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
I'm not sure if there's legal issues with content across regions, but it's pretty dumb to not allow migration of the tag itself with associated gamerpoints and even friends list.
I bet it's a case of, "Wow, that'd be complicated to do, and affects like 1% of our customer base....so screw 'em."
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
He is being denied the ability to both pay at the lower rate enjoyed by most other residents of America and enjoy the continuity of his current profile. Non-immigrants pay the lower rate, and don't have to worry about having to re-purchase games, achieve Achievements again, etc.
Grid System on
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amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
Seriously, guys, your metaphors are awful. TVs from Mexico? 360s with toast?
I mean, I agree it's not discrimination, but come on. If you can't make a proper metaphor, don't even bother trying.
Is it my fault that you don't understand it?
The point of the analogy is that the user refuses to give up an expectation that was never set by the company just because the company is part of the same overall group.
there's a reason why it's called Microsoft Europe, and not just because it's located there. It follows different regulations, different laws, and runs itself as a seperate entity. His gamertag is probably even stored on a completely different server NOT linked with the ones in North America. The system, and the company, APPEAR to be continuous, but they're not.
How about a better analogy for you: cell phones. I buy a phone in europe, store all my photos on it, and pay for the service. I buy the phone and the contract from company V, which also has a north american branch. I move to America, and can use my phone in America.
I want to pay my bill in American money for my EUROPEAN account, but the system won't let me. I call the company, and they tell me maybe I should have someone still in Europe pay it for me, and short of me moving back to europe, there's nothing they can do for me.
My expectation of continuity doesn't jive with reality or the contract I signed. Just because I THINK I should be able to pay in american dollars for my european account doesn't mean that the company needs to give in to me. It also doesn't make their remarks racist, and by making it appear as such I'm opening myself up for a big fat fucking lawsuit.
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
He is being denied the ability to both pay at the lower rate enjoyed by most other residents of America and enjoy the continuity of his current profile. Non-immigrants pay the lower rate, and don't have to worry about having to re-purchase games, achieve Achievements again, etc.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
So Microsoft doesn't allow accounts to be imported into other countries - that's not a denial of service. If Squim really wanted to, he could start a new account in America, just like all the non-immigrants.
Is it a absolutely shitty policy? Yes. Does it suck that Microsoft apparently has no intention of having any kind of solution whatsoever? Yes. Would I be pissed off? Yes. Is it discrimatory? No.
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
they could have just given him some points to reDL his stuff so he could play online again .... I mean he already paid for it.
Seriously, guys, your metaphors are awful. TVs from Mexico? 360s with toast?
I mean, I agree it's not discrimination, but come on. If you can't make a proper metaphor, don't even bother trying.
Is it my fault that you don't understand it?
The point of the analogy is that the user refuses to give up an expectation that was never set by the company just because the company is part of the same overall group.
there's a reason why it's called Microsoft Europe, and not just because it's located there. It follows different regulations, different laws, and runs itself as a seperate entity. His gamertag is probably even stored on a completely different server NOT linked with the ones in North America. The system, and the company, APPEAR to be continuous, but they're not.
How about a better analogy for you: cell phones. I buy a phone in europe, store all my photos on it, and pay for the service. I buy the phone and the contract from company V, which also has a north american branch. I move to America, and can use my phone in America.
I want to pay my bill in American money for my EUROPEAN account, but the system won't let me. I call the company, and they tell me maybe I should have someone still in Europe pay it for me, and short of me moving back to europe, there's nothing they can do for me.
My expectation of continuity doesn't jive with reality or the contract I signed. Just because I THINK I should be able to pay in american dollars for my european account doesn't mean that the company needs to give in to me.
No, he doesn't want his european account. He wants to transfer his service to an AMERICAN account. Which is not possible. I'm positive the OP would have been fine with them granting the points back to his subscription for having this issue, but instead, the callcenter guys were pricks.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
they could have just given him some points to reDL his stuff so he could play online again .... I mean he already paid for it.
Except Squirm already said that he didn't download those items onto his xbox, so why would MS give him points to redownload it when his friend with the xbox back in the UK still has access to all those downloads. Word to the wise: if you don't have an xbox, don't pay for downloadable content.
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
He is being denied the ability to both pay at the lower rate enjoyed by most other residents of America and enjoy the continuity of his current profile. Non-immigrants pay the lower rate, and don't have to worry about having to re-purchase games, achieve Achievements again, etc.
Yeah, but the counter-argument is that Microsoft isn't obligated to provide that continuity, and the correct action (in Microsoft's eyes) is for Squirminator to buy a new account. It's hard to say it's denial of services when they'd clearly be happy to do the same for US citizens going to other regions. Denial makes it sound like they went out of their way to screw people over, when it's more like they can't be bothered to get off their collective ass and help them. Incompetence, stupidity and laziness rather than malice. At a policy level, anyways; their customer service is apparently all that and rude, too.
I do think they're sending a clear message that people who are considering a move between regions shouldn't invest anything in Xbox Live. It seems something the robot policymakers at MS should take into consideration.
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
He is being denied the ability to both pay at the lower rate enjoyed by most other residents of America and enjoy the continuity of his current profile. Non-immigrants pay the lower rate, and don't have to worry about having to re-purchase games, achieve Achievements again, etc.
Yeah, but the counter-argument is that Microsoft isn't obligated to provide that continuity, and the correct action (in Microsoft's eyes) is for Squirminator to buy a new account. It's hard to say it's denial of services when they'd clearly be happy to do the same for US citizens going to other regions. Denial makes it sound like they went out of their way to screw people over, when it's more like they can't be bothered to get off their collective ass and help them. Incompetence, stupidity and laziness rather than malice. At a policy level, anyways; their customer service is apparently all that and rude, too.
I do think they're sending a clear message that people who are considering a move between regions shouldn't invest anything in Xbox Live. It seems something the robot policymakers at MS should take into consideration.
All it's saying is that the amount of money and work hours that it would take to install a system which would allow account migration is more than the benefit they would gain by having such a system. the amount of people such a system would benefit is such a small portion of their user base that the creation of a mode of migration would be extremely inefficient. It still sucks for people who have to experience it, but there shouldn't be any level of expectation from the user that such a system exists.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
they could have just given him some points to reDL his stuff so he could play online again .... I mean he already paid for it.
Except Squirm already said that he didn't download those items onto his xbox, so why would MS give him points to redownload it when his friend with the xbox back in the UK still has access to all those downloads. Word to the wise: if you don't have an xbox, don't pay for downloadable content.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
Look, I can't help it if all you people don't know what discrimination actually means. Just because something is merely inconvenient instead of horribly unjust does not all of a sudden make it not discrimination.
Seriously, guys, your metaphors are awful. TVs from Mexico? 360s with toast?
I mean, I agree it's not discrimination, but come on. If you can't make a proper metaphor, don't even bother trying.
Is it my fault that you don't understand it?
It definitely is your fault for using a shitty metaphor, yes. But please, carry on with your pointless metaphors that aren't convincing anyone of anything.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
Look, I can't help it if all you people don't know what discrimination actually means. Just because something is merely inconvenient instead of horribly unjust does not all of a sudden make it not discrimination.
And "discrimination" isn't inherently bad, if we are using the ridiculously broad definition some seem to be in favor of. If anything, they discriminated against him because of the code on his XBox Live account, not because of his nationality, ethnicity, or any political or social opinions he has. Like I said before, they didn't care what color his skin was or where he had lived. They knew that his XBox live account could be renewed from England. That's all they cared about. They wouldn't care if he was Chinese and had an account coded for the UK, they would have told him the same thing: "you could go to England, it would work there."
It's not discriminatory based on anything about him. It's based on his account, which is a much more reasonable thing to be discriminatory about.
You know, total customer service dickish-ness aside for a minute, it is annoying that I couldn't move to the US tonight and expect all my 360 shit to work perfectly.
Annoying, but not entirely unexpected, especially where credit cards and shitty DRM are involved.
I can't help but think, if it were me, rather than making a bigger and bigger issue out of it, I'd have just got another UK Live Gold card, or get a mate to message me a code...
Because, no offense, but I really don't feel sorry for Squirmy having to pay the same price he did before he emigrated, and the same price that I, my family, and my friends all have to pay, for the Live service he signed up for before moving abroad.
Am I missing something? Does the English 360 in some way not work in the US or something?
You know, total customer service dickish-ness aside for a minute, it is annoying that I couldn't move to the US tonight and expect all my 360 shit to work perfectly.
Annoying, but not entirely unexpected, especially where credit cards and shitty DRM are involved.
I can't help but think, if it were me, rather than making a bigger and bigger issue out of it, I'd have just got another UK Live Gold card, or get a mate to message me a code...
Because, no offense, but I really don't feel sorry for Squirmy having to pay the same price he did before he emigrated, and the same price that I, my family, and my friends all have to pay, for the Live service he signed up for before moving abroad.
Am I missing something? Does the English 360 in some way not work in the US or something?
No, his xbox works fine, his UK account works fine. He want's to have his UK account only pay the US price for his subscription.
I can't help but think, if it were me, rather than making a bigger and bigger issue out of it, I'd have just got another UK Live Gold card, or get a mate to message me a code...
Because, no offense, but I really don't feel sorry for Squirmy having to pay the same price he did before he emigrated, and the same price that I, my family, and my friends all have to pay, for the Live service he signed up for before moving abroad.
Am I missing something? Does the English 360 in some way not work in the US or something?
If you moved to the US, you'd be making a US salary. That means if you were making 10 pounds per hour in the UK, you'd probably make 10 dollars per hour in the US. With the exchange rate, you would be paying double what you normally paid. The same would apply to purchasing points for the marketplace. If he wanted cheaper points, then he'd need a second US account and a gold subscription for that so that he wasn't denied online access with any of his XBLA games or DLC.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
Look, I can't help it if all you people don't know what discrimination actually means. Just because something is merely inconvenient instead of horribly unjust does not all of a sudden make it not discrimination.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
I would agree that the article is not very well written, but Microsoft should still be able to do something for him. Is it really too much to ask for that gamertags can be somewhat portable?
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
they could have just given him some points to reDL his stuff so he could play online again .... I mean he already paid for it.
Except Squirm already said that he didn't download those items onto his xbox, so why would MS give him points to redownload it when his friend with the xbox back in the UK still has access to all those downloads. Word to the wise: if you don't have an xbox, don't pay for downloadable content.
I must have missed this .... ?
That doesn't sound right.
Actually i didn't totally remember accurately. Squirm had an 360 in the UK which he downloaded his content onto, he gave that xbox to his brother and got a new xbox when he came to the US apparantly. So his brother has the original xbox with all the DLC access. These games are still associated with that xbox and his UK gamertag.
This part has nothing to do with discrimination or the fact that he moved from one region to another. it has to do with DRM on the games and that his brother still has the xbox which the content was liscensed to.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
Look, I can't help it if all you people don't know what discrimination actually means. Just because something is merely inconvenient instead of horribly unjust does not all of a sudden make it not discrimination.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
because no one else has to pay twice except people that take a plane?
Look, I don't really think discrimination is the word to be used, but either way, it's crap that MS just didn't just let him reDL what he already had (this is one reason I hate Dl games and content, but that's for another time).
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Wow. People get infracted for this kind of retarded argument in D&D.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Wow. People get infracted for this kind of retarded argument in D&D.
That sounds like something Hitler would say.
This thread proves that metaphors should never be used unless you are a professional writer.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Dude. He signed a contract in the UK, which falls under UK law and UK fees/tarrifs/etc. There is nothing stopping him from either keeping his UK contract and paying what he agreed to in the contractual obligations OR starting a new American contract and paying the American price which he wants to pay.
Next thing you will be arguing that this policy is discriminating against everyone who doesn't read thier contracts and liscensing agreements.
I can't help but think, if it were me, rather than making a bigger and bigger issue out of it, I'd have just got another UK Live Gold card, or get a mate to message me a code...
Because, no offense, but I really don't feel sorry for Squirmy having to pay the same price he did before he emigrated, and the same price that I, my family, and my friends all have to pay, for the Live service he signed up for before moving abroad.
Am I missing something? Does the English 360 in some way not work in the US or something?
If you moved to the US, you'd be making a US salary. That means if you were making 10 pounds per hour in the UK, you'd probably make 10 dollars per hour in the US. With the exchange rate, you would be paying double what you normally paid. The same would apply to purchasing points for the marketplace. If he wanted cheaper points, then he'd need a second US account and a gold subscription for that so that he wasn't denied online access with any of his XBLA games or DLC.
I realise that with the exchange rate it would become more expensive, but I would 100% expect that to be the case to begin with, I mean, at least the thing still works abroad. That is the problem with moving between countries.
Ideally, Microsoft should switch his gamertag into "US mode" or something, but I really am not surprised that this simply doesn't work.
At least he wasn't trying this in the PAL / NTSC days of yore!
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Perhaps continuing the grand tradition of bad metaphors...
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Wow. People get infracted for this kind of retarded argument in D&D.
That sounds like something Hitler would say.
This thread proves that metaphors should never be used unless you are a professional writer.
I probably proves that metaphors should never be used in an argument, but should be used in fancy-pants literature to describe a moonbeam or some shit.
NOTHING THEY ARE DOING IS BASED ON HIM. IT IS BASED ON HIS ACCOUNT STATUS. THEY DO NOT CARE WHERE HE CURRENTLY LIVES OR WHERE HE LIVED BEFORE.
If that's how you want to look at it, fine. It doesn't matter if MS is doing this out of malice, laziness, or just a simple mistake, they're still not treating him the same way that they treat (most of) the rest of the people in America, but they would be treating him the same if he wasn't an immigrant. That makes it discrimination. I don't see why it's so bad to acknowledge that.
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He is perfectly able to continue his service and has many ways in which to maintain said service. Pay for it with a UK account. Purchase UK account cards. etc. What you seem to be upset about is that Microsoft has no system in place to migrate an account between regions. This isn't MAINTAINING service. He has a service which is contractually limited to the UK. By definition moving that contract to the US would not be continuity but creation of a new contract with new contractual limitations.
Would it be peachy if Microsoft had a system in place which could migrate accounts? Sure would. But he isn't being denied anything.
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Exactly.
I mean, I agree it's not discrimination, but come on. If you can't make a proper metaphor, don't even bother trying.
All we need is a metaphor about a balloon and too much air and then something bad happens and this thread will be complete. Wait thats an analog.
I'm not sure if there's legal issues with content across regions, but it's pretty dumb to not allow migration of the tag itself with associated gamerpoints and even friends list.
I bet it's a case of, "Wow, that'd be complicated to do, and affects like 1% of our customer base....so screw 'em."
why should microsoft do anything for him now that he's tried to drag their name through the mud, without the proof he needed, and with a bullshit story, on four of the ten top gaming websites?
Is it my fault that you don't understand it?
The point of the analogy is that the user refuses to give up an expectation that was never set by the company just because the company is part of the same overall group.
there's a reason why it's called Microsoft Europe, and not just because it's located there. It follows different regulations, different laws, and runs itself as a seperate entity. His gamertag is probably even stored on a completely different server NOT linked with the ones in North America. The system, and the company, APPEAR to be continuous, but they're not.
How about a better analogy for you: cell phones. I buy a phone in europe, store all my photos on it, and pay for the service. I buy the phone and the contract from company V, which also has a north american branch. I move to America, and can use my phone in America.
I want to pay my bill in American money for my EUROPEAN account, but the system won't let me. I call the company, and they tell me maybe I should have someone still in Europe pay it for me, and short of me moving back to europe, there's nothing they can do for me.
My expectation of continuity doesn't jive with reality or the contract I signed. Just because I THINK I should be able to pay in american dollars for my european account doesn't mean that the company needs to give in to me. It also doesn't make their remarks racist, and by making it appear as such I'm opening myself up for a big fat fucking lawsuit.
That's still not discrimatory. That's like saying non-immigrants didn't have to pack up all their stuff into boxes and then unpack them all again. Or saying non-immigrants don't need exchange their currency before being allowed to spend it in stores.
So Microsoft doesn't allow accounts to be imported into other countries - that's not a denial of service. If Squim really wanted to, he could start a new account in America, just like all the non-immigrants.
Is it a absolutely shitty policy? Yes. Does it suck that Microsoft apparently has no intention of having any kind of solution whatsoever? Yes. Would I be pissed off? Yes. Is it discrimatory? No.
they could have just given him some points to reDL his stuff so he could play online again .... I mean he already paid for it.
No, he doesn't want his european account. He wants to transfer his service to an AMERICAN account. Which is not possible. I'm positive the OP would have been fine with them granting the points back to his subscription for having this issue, but instead, the callcenter guys were pricks.
It's not like saying that at all. It's like having to rebuy things you already bought simply because you moved.
Except Squirm already said that he didn't download those items onto his xbox, so why would MS give him points to redownload it when his friend with the xbox back in the UK still has access to all those downloads. Word to the wise: if you don't have an xbox, don't pay for downloadable content.
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I do think they're sending a clear message that people who are considering a move between regions shouldn't invest anything in Xbox Live. It seems something the robot policymakers at MS should take into consideration.
All it's saying is that the amount of money and work hours that it would take to install a system which would allow account migration is more than the benefit they would gain by having such a system. the amount of people such a system would benefit is such a small portion of their user base that the creation of a mode of migration would be extremely inefficient. It still sucks for people who have to experience it, but there shouldn't be any level of expectation from the user that such a system exists.
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That's still not discriminatory. Grid System's claim was that it was discrimination. It is not. There are things you have to do when moving to a new country. Some of them are shitty.
Look, I agree with you in that it's retarded that he has to buy it all back again, but so is calling it discrimination.
oh I know it isn't discrimination hehe
I must have missed this .... ?
That doesn't sound right.
And "discrimination" isn't inherently bad, if we are using the ridiculously broad definition some seem to be in favor of. If anything, they discriminated against him because of the code on his XBox Live account, not because of his nationality, ethnicity, or any political or social opinions he has. Like I said before, they didn't care what color his skin was or where he had lived. They knew that his XBox live account could be renewed from England. That's all they cared about. They wouldn't care if he was Chinese and had an account coded for the UK, they would have told him the same thing: "you could go to England, it would work there."
It's not discriminatory based on anything about him. It's based on his account, which is a much more reasonable thing to be discriminatory about.
Annoying, but not entirely unexpected, especially where credit cards and shitty DRM are involved.
I can't help but think, if it were me, rather than making a bigger and bigger issue out of it, I'd have just got another UK Live Gold card, or get a mate to message me a code...
Because, no offense, but I really don't feel sorry for Squirmy having to pay the same price he did before he emigrated, and the same price that I, my family, and my friends all have to pay, for the Live service he signed up for before moving abroad.
Am I missing something? Does the English 360 in some way not work in the US or something?
No, his xbox works fine, his UK account works fine. He want's to have his UK account only pay the US price for his subscription.
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If you moved to the US, you'd be making a US salary. That means if you were making 10 pounds per hour in the UK, you'd probably make 10 dollars per hour in the US. With the exchange rate, you would be paying double what you normally paid. The same would apply to purchasing points for the marketplace. If he wanted cheaper points, then he'd need a second US account and a gold subscription for that so that he wasn't denied online access with any of his XBLA games or DLC.
Squirm wants to be treated like any other non-immigrant American. Would any other non-immigrant American be able to access/transfer a British XBL account? No.
Please explain exactly where the discrimination is occurring.
Actually i didn't totally remember accurately. Squirm had an 360 in the UK which he downloaded his content onto, he gave that xbox to his brother and got a new xbox when he came to the US apparantly. So his brother has the original xbox with all the DLC access. These games are still associated with that xbox and his UK gamertag.
This part has nothing to do with discrimination or the fact that he moved from one region to another. it has to do with DRM on the games and that his brother still has the xbox which the content was liscensed to.
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because no one else has to pay twice except people that take a plane?
Look, I don't really think discrimination is the word to be used, but either way, it's crap that MS just didn't just let him reDL what he already had (this is one reason I hate Dl games and content, but that's for another time).
That's like saying women who are denied employment because they want maternity leave aren't being discriminated because they're treated just like the men who would be denied employment if they wanted maternity leave.
Wow. People get infracted for this kind of retarded argument in D&D.
That sounds like something Hitler would say.
This thread proves that metaphors should never be used unless you are a professional writer.
Dude. He signed a contract in the UK, which falls under UK law and UK fees/tarrifs/etc. There is nothing stopping him from either keeping his UK contract and paying what he agreed to in the contractual obligations OR starting a new American contract and paying the American price which he wants to pay.
Next thing you will be arguing that this policy is discriminating against everyone who doesn't read thier contracts and liscensing agreements.
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I realise that with the exchange rate it would become more expensive, but I would 100% expect that to be the case to begin with, I mean, at least the thing still works abroad. That is the problem with moving between countries.
Ideally, Microsoft should switch his gamertag into "US mode" or something, but I really am not surprised that this simply doesn't work.
At least he wasn't trying this in the PAL / NTSC days of yore!
NOTHING THEY ARE DOING IS BASED ON HIM. IT IS BASED ON HIS ACCOUNT STATUS. THEY DO NOT CARE WHERE HE CURRENTLY LIVES OR WHERE HE LIVED BEFORE.
You're right. That was a bad metaphor.
I probably proves that metaphors should never be used in an argument, but should be used in fancy-pants literature to describe a moonbeam or some shit.
In what way, exactly?