Ridiculous reasons for charging gamertag changes.

JacquesVD Westhuizen · Mar 27, 2021

Despite all the previous questions and responses on this topic I have not read a single valid reason only cheap and ridiculous excuses. Some just blatantly taking advantage of users that do not know anything about System designing and IT.
This is purely driven by greedy, nothing more and nothing less.

The most ridiculous excuses I found were:
It uses server space
We need to change records
How will you be able to identify your friends.
To prevent people from changing tags willy-nilly.

No other platform allows this.

Which is so stupid because changing your gamer tag would not use more server space, it would literally just update the text of your username to something else. Changing linked records should be even less of an excuse as it only highlights your incompetence. If the records need to be changed, and for some stupid reason, the records are linked by using gamertags instead of unique id's; then YOU did not apply the basic rules taught in database design and management. I.E. YOUR design flaw. But I guess it was not a flaw if the goal is to make money from this method.

To identify you friends, just display their TAG history in their profile. Its not rocket science... And no, this does not use up so much space, were talking about 1kb maybe for 100+ changes...
Why should I be prevented from changing my tag willy-nilly, Especially if you implement gamertag history or unique user IDs? (which you probably do in anycase). Also you are insinuating that it is OK to change your tags willy-nilly as long as you pay...

And finally, the last point. Have you even heard of STEAM? I wonder why they haven't run into any of your listed problems? Maybe because they designed their system properly? Maybe you should arrange a work group with steam devs, could help you out a bit?

Also, what happened to allowing the name change after 90 days? This seems reasonable doesn't it?

Just admit it's only motivated by profit. Don't insult everyone's intelligence with cheap and stupid excuses.
Feel free to sway my opinion.

:)

JacquesVD Westhuizen

1. Can you seriously not see any situation other than your very own?

2. Because no one except you will pay for a change every week.

3. People create obscene gamertags, which are not "family friendly" for the kids with a console in their bedroom.

1. Yes I can, and the wonders of being a developer is that I can design a system to cater for situations I want to encourage and restrict other situations I would like to discourage.

2. I have not, and refuse to pay for a name change. But others actually change their names so frequently that opened a discussion about it.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/xba_console/gamertag-history/db40bbe5-f143-48b4-bf2e-8b99355dfdb4

So clearly this does not only apply to me.

3. I now understand what you meant with you prior post (I approached it from another point), but this just proves my other point anyway. The system was designed for gamertags to be changed, as offensive tags have to be changed. So I am still perplexed by the fact that Microsoft claim "it's not suppose to change" and that they used the gamertag (That CAN clearly change) as a Primary Key/ID. This either points to a blatant lie or incomitance.

And again, the main point of this discussion is not the fact that I cannot freely change my gamertag. It's about the cheap and ridiculous excuses Microsoft uses to respond to the topic. That is not so "trivial".

SilentJay76

Honestly, if I want to change my ID from mygamertagid to MyGamerTagID or MyGamerTagID.TTV OR MyGamerTagID.YT MyGamerTagID_Gaming. How exactly is this changing my identity?

If I am "not supposed to change your tag constantly", then why am I allowed to do this as long as I pay?

And even if the console is family orientated, every user has their own account so I am perplexed how this is a variable.

1. Can you seriously not see any situation other than your very own?

2. Because no one except you will pay for a change every week.

3. People create obscene gamertags, which are not "family friendly" for the kids with a console in their bedroom.

Stop being so strident about something so incredibly trivial and just enjoy your games.

JacquesVD Westhuizen

Okay, I'll Open a discussion and check maybe they will be able to help me with a valid answer. Or they'll just echo what I am saying.

I mean, if you already know, I don't understand why you won't just explain it?

What I fail to understand is; How its costing Microsoft anything extra to update a GamerTag?
If it is true that it uses additional server space, then for what is the additional space used? Especially considering that the field is being updated with new info and the old name changes are not even being tracked. So what exactly is costing extra?

If it is to update all the records linked to an account (which is stupid to use a changeable field as an ID). But even then, I still fail to understand how this costs Microsoft extra? Even if it is to update the leaderboards, how does it cost Microsoft extra?

Microsoft strongly discourages GamerTag changes but still allow it for a price? I can understand that the load might become a problem, (if all the records have to be changed) and they are attempting to discourage users from changing it frequently by charging them. Or even if it's just to prevent users from changing their names "Willy Nilly". But then why charge for it and not just restrict users to 1 change every 6 months? Or a Year? Or just disallowing it completely? How does it cost extra?

If Microsoft is charging because they would like to generate income and reserve the right to do so, especially because others do it as well. Then I don't have a problem with that, but why deny it? Why look for other excuses?

JacquesVD Westhuizen

No, it is not. I could honestly not give damn if I can change my Tag or not. This only takes a few minutes of my lunch. As said multiple times, I have an issue with the cheap and ridiculous responses received to suggestions, issues, discussions and requests. Responses that take advantage of others lack of knowledge to shamelessly lie to or insult others.

Honestly, if I want to change my ID from mygamertagid to MyGamerTagID or MyGamerTagID.TTV OR MyGamerTagID.YT MyGamerTagID_Gaming. How exactly is this changing my identity? And even If I change it to SomethingCompletelyDifferent, how is it "supposed to be your identity" if I am allowed to change it anyway? Just to highlight how "cheap" your statement is; If I am "not supposed to change your tag constantly", then why am I allowed to do this as long as I pay?

And even if the console is family orientated, every user has their own account so I am perplexed how this is a variable. A lot of desktop PCs are also family PCs. And I agree a lot of sites do not allow you to change your ID or identity, but a lot of sites, games, services, etc... allow you to change your username or public display name. Your GamerTag It is not an ID, it is at most a glorified public display name, that Microsoft either incompetently used as an ID, greedily designed to generate revenue or blindly copied from other companies (that incompetently used it or greedily designed it).

If it was intended to be an ID, then it should not have been used as a public display name, or allowed to be changed.

SilentJay76

So.... this is the biggest worry in your life right now, is it? I hope you know how lucky you are.

I don't have an answer for you. Other than the fact that you're not supposed to change your tag constantly - it's supposed to be your identity. Steam might be an exception, but most sites/services don't allow any username changes at all, not even paid. I'd imagine consoles being somewhat more family oriented than Steam might also play a role.

Ridiculous reasons for charging gamertag changes.