Xbox Live Gamertags: Too Much Privacy

[Jason Dunn]

Something has always bugged me about the way Xbox Live deals with Gamertags: I think there's too much privacy. I may be the first one in the history of the Internet to accuse Microsoft of protecting my privacy, but hear me out: on Xbox Live my original Gamertag, registered way back when I got my original Xbox, was Kensai. The original Xbox Live wasn't good for anything other than head to head gaming, which I didn't do much of, so I let it lapse. Along the way my credit card number and expiration date changed, so when I got my Xbox 360 and tried to activate my original Live account the system wouldn't let me. I called in, and they informed me that due to privacy restrictions they were unable to let me have my old Gamertag, regardless of how I could prove that I was the same Jason Dunn that registered it. Gee-whiz, thanks for protecting me right out of my Gamertag, I really appreciate that.

http://www.jasondunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/xboxlive_logo.jpg

Fast forward to today, and we have an over-done sense of privacy negatively impacting Xbox Live gameplay. How? By not allowing users to attach their real name to their Gamertags. Microsoft is so focused on the "cool" Gamertag experience where everyone uses a handle that they forget that Xbox Live is connecting real people, and sometimes real people like to use real names. On Xbox Live today my Gamertag is Tetsubo. What's a Tetsubo (also known as a Kanabō) you might ask? It's a big-ass iron-shod Japanese club meant for smacking people with, which is basically the way I play games (blunt force trauma). A quick look at my gamer score of 600 tells you that I don't play game on the Xbox 360 that much, although I'll point out that I think it's lame that finishing a game like Gears of War on regular mode gets you a mere 110 points. That's a rant for another day.
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Back to the issue of privacy: because I'm unable to attach my real name to my Xbox Live profile, at least half the time when I add someone I know, I get a message back from them saying "Who's this?". My Tetsubo Gamertag doesn't ring any bells with them, because it's not attached to my real identity in any way. This was made especially evident when I installed the Xbox 360 update a couple of months ago and it integrated my Windows Messenger contact list, sending invites out to everyone on it that was also on Xbox Live. I received no less than six messages back from people asking who I was, and I had several people decline me outright - and these are people that I chat with online quite often, but they had no idea who this "Tetsubo" fellow was.

Why can't Xbox Live allow people to attach their real names, making it optional of course, to allow people like myself who have no need to hide their identity behind a Gamertag? It's great that the people behind Xbox Live want to protect my privacy by shielding my gaming identity from the world, but I should have the option of telling people who I am if I wish.

[rzanology]

you make a good point jason. I'd agree one should have the option to do so....but on the other hand...the racism and ignorance on xbox live is through the roof. I can't tell you how many times i've head "blah blah blah...blah blah blah...where do you live??? i'll come and do such and such." wouldnt that be a little scary if they could actually do it just by searching your name on the internet? hmmmmm

on another note i had some problems with microsoft in the past....they made me change my tag which was "supa n3gr0" but my friend who had the same exact by oppisite tag "supa white guy" still has it till this day...lol although i find it amusing...i think the way they monitor the tags needs a lil work.

but i love me some xbox live non the less! GAME ON!

[Jeremy Charette]

My name is RVB PVT DONUT. I like Forza 2, Command &amp; Conquer 3, GRAW, long walks on the beach, and puppies. Looking for fellow gamer with great sense of humor, pretty eyes, and HD DVD drive. Send photo of HD DVD drive. Message me. :lol:

[Felix Torres]

Did you try to recover your old tag?
It is supposed to be doable; the gamer tags are tied in perpetuity to the email account they were registered with.
Like, i Was there when my brother tried to sign up on 360 with his old tag from the original XBOX and the system reported the tag was in use. So he went to another tag. When he got to inputing the contact e-mail, *then* the system said that address was linked to a gamertag and did he want to recover it. He did and he got back on. With his original tag.
FWIW.

[mrozema]

I had a very similar experience to Jason. I tried to recover my old gamer tag from my original Xbox Live account and no matter what I tried it wouldn't work. I eventually called tech support and tried to recover it with them and got the same result.

They finally told me that it was completely locked. No human could ever access it again and at the same time I could never use the associated email address with another Live account. Great...

So, I had to create a new passport account with a different email address and then use it to create a brand new gamer tag on Live. What a crappy deal. And damn, is it ever hard to come up with an original gamer tag these days!

[Jason Dunn]

Did you try to recover your old tag?

Yup, I tried to, and I also phoned in about the issue - it was the credit card expiring and changing numbers that evidently locked it up completely. Lame.

[jeffd]

jason, the credit card numbers prevent even the email recovery part?

I've sort of lost one of my old everquest accounts cause the email it was tied to was from an old ISP. I might beable to get it back with the key, maybe if they asked me to reactivate it with a CC in my name right then and there, but with no email and no old card on record, its probably lost.

The reason for the tight security , especialy for gamertags, is MS has allready fallen victim to social engineering scams. you may have missed it jason, but MS was actually publicly shamed when a guy documented how easy it was for him to take over someone elses tag (it was a friends, for his demonstration) through what information he was able to obtain over several calls to MS live support.