To: My old email address; Subject: Why did you kill my Gamertag?

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Feb 18th 2009 12:45PM

And so we meet again, Xbox Annoyance #010. Microsoft is currently "investigating" an issue afflicting Xbox Live accounts, specifically those tied to expired email addresses, according to GI.biz. It seems certain email services, which are set to expire after a certain period of disuse (see: Hotmail), are taking their linked Windows Live IDs with them into the internet's graveyard.

Once the email account has perished, the player's Gamertag also ceases to exist. GI.biz notes that the problem exists among "a relatively small percentage of users," the only solution currently being the creation of a brand new Gamertag. That's one with a pitiful "zero" Gamerscore, by the way.

We expect Microsoft will receive quite a few angry emails about this problem -- probably from Gmail addresses.

Source

Tags: Email, Glitch, Microsoft, Xbox-360, Xbox-Live

Reader Comments (107)

Makes me glad I'm using gmail.

Gmail accounts expire too, although it takes 9 months of inactivity instead of 4 months like on Hotmail and Yahoo.

That is not the point here.
If my gmail account were to expire, nothing would happen to my gamertag. The bug is the fact that your hotmail account IS in a way integrated with the gamertag. So if it expires all windows live services that are linked to it die.

If my gmail or another account expired, i simply would miss notifications.

Well, not according to this story or its source. It says this occurs on e-mail services where old accounts expire, mentioning Hotmail as an example of those. That doesn't make it sound like a hotmail-specific issue.

Anyway, I hope they'll be able to restore those disappearing Gamertags somehow. In the meantime, whether you have to log in every 4 months or 9, this issue shouldn't be too hard to avoid now that we know about it.

Wow that's scary ass hell.

lol i meant scary as hell not a hell full of buttcheeks.

Lawl. Your explanation was better than your original post. Thanks for that laugh.

Nice

Wednesdays are weird.

Who the hell goes 3 months without checking their email anyways?

me?

My gamertag is linked to an ancient Hotmail account – one that I never used (see annoyance #10 linked above). Since it's Hotmail, I can't change the email address on the Passport (now Live ID) – so it remains myoldgamertag@hotmail.com.

Or, what if someone switched from Hotmail – a pretty *terrible* service – to Gmail? Why would they continue to check their Hotmail? This is an embarrassing issue for MS, and one they've struggled with since the launch of the 360. Give us the ability to divorce Hotmail accounts from our Live IDs/Gamertags and problem is solved (for those of us who know to switch). Otherwise, these problems happen and MS seemingly has no idea how to rectify them.

Not saying its not an issue but 1, you get warned about this like a bazillion times during the account creation and, 2, hotmail is used for so many things it makes since to have it at least as an alt account.

MS has been getting better though. I dont know if youve used hotmail in the past 6 months, but its way different than it used to be, and, imho, way better. They also extended the expiration date from 30 days to 90 days. Hell, I think its actually 120 days now...

And for the record, you can change the gamertag to a different hotmail account, but only if you still have access to the old one. The option for it is on the xbox dashboard under account managment.

It should never expire. Ever.

I have the same problem as Christopher. I never use my old hotmail address and couldn't switch it with LiveID. I tried, and now I end up getting sent my info from MS at one address while I still am tied to the old hotmail address I never would use. This is particularly annoying as the new address is hosted by MS as well. So I have to remember to log into my hotmail address just to make sure nothing happens to it. I think this is a pretty lame problem that should be addressed. They shouldn't force people to be tied into an email address indefinitely.

Christopher nailed it. I'm in the exact same boat as him. I've kept a very old hotmail account for use with certain MS services, which used to require having some MS based account. Maybe they've got better about that nowadays.

@R This issue here is not whether or not your email address expires, who the hell cares about that. It's that it will take down your Gamertag as well. The Gamertag information should not be flushed away just because an email account went inactive. You are not warned about that during account creation, as far as I remember.

Now I better go sign into my hotmail account.

this happened to my GF's gamertag. she plays L4D with me and got addicted to collecting the achievements with me. we play with friends online so it was obvious she needed Live, so she made herself a @live.com account. (also known as hotmail with a different name) after her 3month card expired she wanted to redeem a 12month card. she got a strange error code. we couldnt log into her email and when we called xbox support (After being tossed around for an hour or so) we were told to make a new account. needless to say she doesnt want to play L4D anymore... shotty service ruined a really good thing.

Well, you know you can change your live account on your XBL account from your Xbox? I switched from my hotmail live id to my gmail one about 6 months ago.

tis no use lieutenant, ive posted that like 3x in this topic but people refuse to acknowledge its existance.

Also, I forgot that hotmail was the only email account service that expires after disuse....

oh, wait,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_webmail_providers

If you have another hotmail account, you can also link it so you get the old emails to your new account.

Ah crap I should go check that e-mail account before it gets erased...dammit that is scary

Heh... I just did the same thing!

When I created my gamertag I was using optonline as my email client. A few months ago I switched to Verizon, meaning that I was given a brand new email address with no way of linking my gamertag to my new address. This is a ridiculous problem that I cannot even begin to warp my head around. i have not a clue as to why Microsoft would choose to do this, but it is infuriating.

I am infuriated.

See the post above...You can change the link to to your gamertag to a new email address

I pity the owner of the email example@hotmail.com...

Yea apparently they know Laura Munro, an evil maniacal genius.

MSN hotmail?
Oh the ironing.

Didn't MS eventually release a method whereby you could change the email address associated with your Gamertag? I originally linked it to my Hotmail just because I already had that "Passport" account, but I never check that Hotmail. It's just a junk repository. I'd like to be able to move it over to an email address I ACTUALLY use.

Works for anything but Hotmail accounts – I've tried to switch it over myself. :-/

Sure, you can change the contact email, but your Live account will stay connected to the very first email account you created it with.

whoa whoa whoa...what?

There is a method to switch the associated email address? Where can I found out how to harness and use such magic?

In the dashboard you can change the contact email only. So they will contact you at one email, but the original email still has to be alive for your account to be alive.

LOL I just did some researching again.

What I was talking about was the ability to change the Windows Live account that is associated with your Gamertag.

Christopher - I think you're referring to the ability to change the primary email address associated with a particular Windows Live (formerly Passport) account. Yes, if it is a Hotmail account (like mine), you cannot change it.

So what I've been meaning to do for years is create a NEW Windows Live account with an actual current email address, and then change my Gamertag to associate with the new Live account.

"We expect Microsoft will receive quite a few angry emails about this problem -- probably from Gmail addresses."

Oooohhh BURN, Mr. Kietzmann! Well played.

Gamerscore of 60...

But then, I only have a GFW Live account, and then only because of the DoWII beta.

Yeah, you got them there. This issue totally ruins all the things I have used XBL for over the years. Oh wait, it doesn't!

Like I said, you can change your email address to anything you want, as long as its an msn/hotmail account. And you can change the account your gamertag is linked to, as long as its an msn/hotmail account. Yes, its annoying if you hate hotmail, but seriously, logging into a hotmail account for 3 seconds every 3 months isnt a death sentence.

If this is all you people have to complain about, you got life GOOOOOOOOOD.

Oh, fuck you too reply system. Wait till I catch you in the alley after school.

I have lots of other things to worry about other than logging into an old unused email account every 3 months. Its a stupid problem they should fix.

For everyone unable to use google, I bring you the good news.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945419

"logging into a hotmail account for 3 seconds"

it takes more than 3 seconds to even load http://login.live.com/ ...

Well its 2-3 seconds on my 1 meg DSL, so I dunno what your issue is.

Wow, this is scary. Not only do you lose your achievement points, but say goodbye to any purchases you made on Xbox Live.

I've got my gamertag tied to my Hotmail account... I'll just have to make sure to keep checking it until Microsoft (HOPEFULLY) does something so I can change my gamertag to my Gmail account instead.

You can. My windows live ID and contact email are both gmail. You just have to set your gmail up as a windows live ID, which isn't hard... http://www.passport.net and then go to "Use an e-mail address you already have" and the Get Started now right below that.

Any email address can be used for a gamertag, you just have to set it up as a Live ID if it isn't hotmail.

As posted above, here's how you can magically change your windows live ID from the xbox (provided you have made the email a Live ID per passport.net)

anyone who's dealt with Xbox's overseas-routed customer service knows very well that they don't give a modicum of a shit, particularly if getting a new gamertag means paying for a new gold account. It seems their computer systems are incapable of doing the most simple of tasks (i.e., they accidentally triple charge your account for 3 years of service, and it is totally "impossible" to reverse any of those charges).

Yick that's pretty disgusting really. I've set up my hotmail to fwd to my gmail account. I'm warning my friends about this until MS fixes it, even if it is a "small" percentage of people who get screwed by it.

Whats that? Oh wait let me EXIT out of what ever enjoyable thing i was doing, so i can respond to you on my Blue Tooth, which just finished charging i might add *rubs collar*.

:P

i love the *flees* part, nice touch, had me choke on my water some.

damn that would suck. I log into my hotmail at least once a month now.....but before I got my zune a few years back I hadnt been in it since 2003

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To: My old email address; Subject: Why did you kill my Gamertag?

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