[Update: the post we originally linked to has
disappeared, so our links now point to the new post. Thanks, ill trooper!]One of the editors of the Official Xbox Magazine in the UK complained the other day that "someone at Microsoft in the US" wanted to revoke the team's Live gamerpics because folks could use them as their own on the official Xbox web site. What those of us who don't work for OXM UK want to know, however, is how to get personalized pics of our very own.
As far as we know here in the States, we'll eventually be able to customize our 360/Live gamerpics (under the Gamer Card heading here); whether that's with Marketplace-purchased/disc-downloaded avatars or actually custom-crafted pictures has not been laid out yet. If only corporate-approved avatars are allowed, however, the process has already begun with the PDZ, DoA, and Penny Arcade pics online right now. Either way, unless you work for Microsoft in some important capacity (or compete on an MS-sanctioned team), getting your own mug on Live -- monobrow or not -- is currently off limits.
As OXM Monobrow says in his blog, "Surely taking away our gamerpics isn't very community-minded.... Anyways, I believe unique gamerpics just makes it easier for people to find us and play us on Xbox Live." Quite true... so why doesn't MS apply this to the rest of the gamers on Live? Here are a few possible reasons:
- Microsoft gets to keep more of the high-margin markups on microtransactions it's always envisioned from the Live Marketplace by charging for the better and more unique avatars.
- Copyrighted, pornographic, racist, hate-filled, obscene, and/or otherwise illegal pictures will invariably find their way to the avatars if users are allowed to upload their own. Moderation of every pic (even when limited to one per gamertag) would require enormous effort, and which translates to costly manpower.
- MS doesn't want to manage a photo service if people aren't paying to host and distribute the photos.
At least the first two issues cited would be tough problems to surmount, but aren't Live users paying
subscription fees to maintain unique user accounts anyway? What's a few K for an avatar headshot for everybody? Wasn't
the 360 predicated on the idea of giving gamers/consumers more choice? Weren't we supposed to be designing in-game
outfits and selling them to one another at some point (hence, the use of the word Marketplace for the whole set-up)?
And how would banning user-created (or even OXM-supplied) images contribute to
that goal?We're sure that Microsoft higher-ups have considered user-created gamerpics on Live to some extent already. If the plan, however, is currently not to implement them in this console cycle, we urgently beg MS to jump on the bandwagon and try this creativity thing out. All we can say to the suits is that it'll be a lot easier to experiment with new and crazy ideas when there are less than a million 360s in the wild than when there are 4-5 million more. J... just think about it, 'kay?
[Thanks, Godfree]
