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[FlyinJ]

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/06/marketplace-10-commandments.aspx

"Last month I made a post, asking you for your thoughts and suggestions on how we can make the Xbox 360 experience better. This month, I’d like to kick off another conversation this time around Marketplace. The Xbox Live Marketplace is an area where the community has had some vibrant and colorful discussions. Last week we posted details on some of the polices around Gamerscore, but I wanted to extend that to Marketplace. As you can imagine, we have some very specific guidelines and policies in place for Marketplace, but I want to open up the floor for discussion and see what the community thinks. I’d like to frame this as what should the ‘Xbox Live Marketplace 10 Commandments’ look like?"


How about Commandment One: Hire a competent certification team to get XBLA titles out.

And Commandment Two: EA is not allowed to use microtransactions anymore

EDIT: Fixed

 

[Flynn]

Honor Thy Roots: When releasing a classic game use classic art whenever possible. Try to recreate the original arcade/console experience. Offer behind the scenes history, trivia and production. Pretend your XBLA offering is a Criterion Collection version of the game.

 

[Wario64]

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

 

[nubbe]

1. Patches are not games

2. Themes and gamer pictures are not games

3. Release more damn games

 

[CrapSandwich]

Revamp the DRM to authorize up to 2 machines and deauthorize dead machines.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Can a mod fix the title? It's supposed to be "marketplace" not XBLA; looks like the OP fixed it in his post but obviously not the thread.

1) All games that feature DLC will give some of it away for free, even just a little.
2) DLC should endeavor to have the same value:cost ratio as the main game.

That's what I got right now.

 

[NotMSRP]

1. Thou shall not allow the transfers of profit on the resting day of the Sabbath.

 

[pr0cs]

1) don't charge for items that are "for free" on other platforms/consoles, this includes cheats, graphical upgrades like shirts/jerseys/costumes, etc
2) don't offer items that give a distinct advantage to players in multiplayer matches (ranked AND unranked)
3) addons to games do not render previous versions of said games as "incompatible".. If I buy a multiplayer addon I should still be able to play with friends that don't have the addon, just they won't be able to visit/use/play with the content I purchased. (map packs for example)
4) give me some way to preview gamer themes/pics and other dashboard enhancements BEFORE I buy them
5) at least TRY to keep the other marketplaces up to date. the Canadian marketplace for example still advertises the Kameo halloween pack dammit, that's just lazy. Will we ever see video marketplace outside of the USA, even in some limited form?
6) let us buy microsoft points in the amounts WE want. Why am I always stuck with some random point count (ie: I have 236 points left, what can I buy with 236, why can't I buy the exact amount I want)

Thats all I can think of. I have no problems with unlockables, I am happy that the developers/publishers are saving me time in downloading the content... I do *NOT* want to have to waste time downloading content if I can ever avoid it. That doesn't mean soak me by making 80% of the game missing and forcing me to download the packs but put addons on the disc whenever possible and let me decide if I want to pay extra for them

 

[Bildi]

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

Yes.

 

[PantherLotus]

"vibrant and colorful" is a euphemism for "I can tell you're pissed off."

 

[GhaleonEB]

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

Pony up. Performance on downloads has gotten much better since they started this. It's a nice perk for Gold members.

 

[mr jones]

Revamp the DRM to authorize up to 2 machines and deauthorize dead machines.

ARGHWTFWHYCANTTHEYDOTHISNOWMUTHAFUGGAWHUT!?!

*sigh*

For those putting up content:

- Gamerpics and Themes should be free. Its essentially advertising, you bastards. I'm not going to pay a dollar for a 70k oversized icon, or a 2 meg set of dashboard skins. GTFO

- Allow someone to watch a movie as often as they want once they download it to their hard drive. If they delete it, they have to pay to DL it again.

- Say exactly what you're getting when you download a game. It is the reason why I didn't download Lumines for so long, because of the negative backlash of folks downloading the base pack, and finding out how gimped it was. If the shit is non-refundable, let me know what the hell I'm getting before I buy it!

- XBL allows you to see what games your friends played. Why not movies/shows they've watched?

- Free content will get folks to view your product. I'm now interested in Skyland. Why not do this with other television pilots / lower ranking shows?

- More variety in XBLA games, more content, blah blah.

 

[The Faceless Master]

1) things people pay for should work without having to repeatedly call an 800 number to get them re-purchased.

Pony up. Performance on downloads has gotten much better since they started this. It's a nice perk for Gold members.

nah, it's still a slow flashcrowd shortly after release and then fast if you wait out a few hours...

 

[bishoptl]

Can a mod fix the title?

done

 

[painey]

- Gamerpics and Themes should be free. Its essentially advertising, you bastards. I'm not going to pay a dollar for a 70k oversized icon, or a 2 meg set of dashboard skins. GTFO

QFT

oh and DONT CHARGE FOR WHATS ON THE DISK, if its on the disk it was ready when the game shipped and should be included. Don't sell me a house and then charge me for the keys to open the bedroom.

 

[Safe Bet]

Lower the price of renting older movies...

I can buy A Clockwork Orange for ~$15 don't try and charge me ~$5 to watch it once...

Start offering rental packages, rent 5 new movies for $10, rent 10 old movies for $10, etc..

Increase the rental duration, 24 hours for a $5 movie rental is a joke.

 

[GhaleonEB]

done

<3


Also:

3) Marketplace will allow you to preview the content you are considering purchasing.

(Pics and themes - if you buy that stuff - should have a preview. Why not add video or at least pics of the new in-game content as a preview?)

 

[ManaByte]

Increase the rental duration, 24 hours for a $5 movie rental is a joke.

Well to be fair that is identical, and in some markets lower, than OnDemand PPV rentals.

 

[FlyinJ]

3) Marketplace will allow you to preview the content you are considering purchasing.

(Pics and themes - if you buy that stuff - should have a preview. Why not add video or at least pics of the new in-game content as a preview?)

I have to agree with everyone who posted before. These things should be free, if they are associated with a movie/game/product. They're advertising. What kind of slimy hoodwinking is it to make people pay you for the privelege to advertise your product to themselves? It's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Safe Bet]

Well to be fair that is identical, and in some markets lower, than OnDemand PPV rentals.

Which is why I still use traditonal means of renting movies.

Until they start to offer me a better deal there is no reason for me to stop using Blockbuster.

 

[sprsk]

I. Thou shall not charge for content on the disk
II. Thou shall not charge money for items
III. Thou shall not charge for backgrounds and ****ing gamerpics
IV. Thou shall give demo access back to silver members
V. Thou shall not make us pay for things that should just be patches (ala horse armor)
VI. Thou shall be realistic with prices for maps
VII. Thou shall release more than one ****ing arcade game a week
VIII. Thou shall not count Live Arcade demos in our Achievement point totals
IX. Thou shall not charge for online play
X. Thou shall not rape us with a spikey dildo

 

[GhaleonEB]

I have to agree with everyone who posted before. These things should be free, if they are associated with a movie/game/product. They're advertising. What kind of slimy hoodwinking is it to make people pay you for the privelege to advertise your product to themselves? It's absolutely ridiculous.

The idea of buying "gamerpics" just irritates me. What gets to me even more is when Major Nelson and others call that "content" on marketplace. Little avatar tiles are not content.

 

[SpacLock]

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

1. Do not let silver members download content on the first week of release. It's nice.
2. Release 1-2 XBLA games a week.

 

[Tieno]

The idea of buying "gamerpics" just irritates me. What gets to me even more is when Major Nelson and others call that "content" on marketplace. Little avatar tiles are not content.

It's non-content!

 

[Mr. Spinnington]

I. Thou shall not charge for content on the disk
II. Thou shall not charge money for items
III. Thou shall not charge for backgrounds and ****ing gamerpics
IV. Thou shall give demo access back to silver members
V. Thou shall not make us pay for things that should just be patches (ala horse armor)
VI. Thou shall be realistic with prices for maps
VII. Thou shall release more than one ****ing arcade game a week
VIII. Thou shall not count Live Arcade demos in our Achievement point totals
IX. Thou shall not charge for online play
X. Thou shall not rape us with a spikey dildo

Well as long as there are only ten. Those lost commandments always throw me off.

 

[FlyinJ]

The idea of buying "gamerpics" just irritates me. What gets to me even more is when Major Nelson and others call that "content" on marketplace. Little avatar tiles are not content.

To further elaborate on this... Gamerpics are the best form of advertising publishers can get. Every person you play with sees their ad. And people are more than happy to use their favorite games as gamerpics.

Now, to charge people for this is just plain assinine. It's so bad that if you go around Live with a paid-for gamerpic, you look like a an idiot for paying money for the privelege. Therefore, people associate your product with idiots.

It just doesn't make sense.

 

[pilonv1]

1)There's always going to be gamerpics you have to pay for because people will buy them. They're never going to cut off the revenue stream. However there should be a maximum you can charge for any number of gamerpics (say 100 points). I've paid for gamerpics like the Lego Star Wars ones because I got 6 for 80 points. To me thats a good deal. The ones that are 150+ for one or two are ridiculous. Every game should have a free gamerpic though. The same goes for themes, they should have a preview.

2) Fix the menus and make it easier to browse content. It shouldn't take more than 1-2 button presses to see any piece of marketplace content. Wading through 10 menu's to check out something you can't even see a preview of is pathetic. How hard would it be to put a "Whats new?" menu on the front page and have it list everything that's been released WITH DATES.

3) If you're going to put up day one/week one content make it free otherwise you piss people off. See Horse Armour. Any content that's going to be put up for the first month should be free.

4) Others have said it but non gameplay content - jerseys/stadiums/skins should be free. I'm not getting anymore gameplay out of them why would I buy them?

5) I know there's regional licencing and stuff but it's really annoying when regions are left out with certain content.

6) Release more GAMES. Seriously. Skins/gamerpics/theme decks are not content. I want to spend my money on GAMES. WHY DO YOU NOT LET ME DO THIS? If you're going to have weeks where you want to release "content" in place of a game, release more than 1 game the next. I've got about 1000 points sitting on my account for about 2 months now because there's NOTHING TO BUY.

7) Standard map prices across games. I know this will never fly because of the amount of work that goes into them but there should be a standard map/quest price. Obviously if they're new missions/quest like Knights of the Nine then that's different but multiplayer maps should be the same price.

8) I don't care as much about EA letting people buy cheats, because if you're retarded enough to pay for it you deserve everything you get. However paying for content that's on the disc is very uncool and creates ridiculous amounts of negativity. If it's on the disc, it's free.

They're the main ones that annoy me.

 

[Sinatar]

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

No. Absolutely no. Keep the server load low for people who are PAYING FOR IT.

 

[FlyinJ]

No. Absolutely no. Keep the server load low for people who are PAYING FOR IT.

I have definitely noticed that my Marketplace speeds have been faster in the past two months. 800 megs used to take me 3 hours. Now it takes me 5 minutes.

 

[boutrosinit]

Honor Thy Roots: When releasing a classic game use classic art whenever possible. Try to recreate the original arcade/console experience. Offer behind the scenes history, trivia and production. Pretend your XBLA offering is a Criterion Collection version of the game.

Guess what? I.P owners want that, but cheap-ass publishers couldn't give a ****. Believe me, I tried.

 

[Safe Bet]

No. Absolutely no. Keep the server load low for people who are PAYING FOR IT.

..let them eat cake!

 

[HokieJoe]

I have to agree with everyone who posted before. These things should be free, if they are associated with a movie/game/product. They're advertising. What kind of slimy hoodwinking is it to make people pay you for the privelege to advertise your product to themselves? It's absolutely ridiculous.

The only thing I would say in rebuttal is that one doesn't have to buy anything. Generally I agree with though. It is basically free advertisement. If they insist on charging for this kind of stuff, it might be interesting if they held user-designed 'content' contests. The winners could then collect a % off the sales of the item they created.

On the movie thing, yes, they should loosen the restrictions. The service should be as much or more enticing than driving to Blockbuster, waiting on Netflix, or buying a PPV movie. I'd like to add that MS may not have full control over this. I bet the studios have a large say in this matter.

 

[speculawyer]

No. Absolutely no. Keep the server load low for people who are PAYING FOR IT.

I agree.

Too many people here are commies that want all sorts of stuff for free. If you don't want to pay for gamer pics THEN DON'T! Pretty simple. (There are lots of free gamer pics available.)

If you don't like the service of the silver level, then pay $50 for a year. You can often get it on sale.

Or better yet, pay $66 and get:
1year of xbox live gold;
a wired headset;
XBLA game Totemball;
XBLA game UNO;
XBLA game Robotron 2084;
200 MS points; and
The xbox Live Vision camera


What a bunch of cheap whining commies!

 

[Firestorm]

I never got Totemball with my XBL Gold Vision Kit ._.

VIII. Thou shall not count Live Arcade demos in our Achievement point totals

Agreed! Why is my Played list so damn huge just because of demos ._.

 

[speculawyer]

I never got Totemball with my XBL Gold Vision Kit ._.

Are you being sarcastic? It is a free download . . . download it and play it if you want. Be warned though . . . the game totally sucks! :lol

 

[JB1981]

I have definitely noticed that my Marketplace speeds have been faster in the past two months. 800 megs used to take me 3 hours. Now it takes me 5 minutes.

Yup. I download demos in less than 10 minutes now. It's amazing.

 

[Last Hope]

The idea of selling blocks of 250 points is dumb. At first there were actually people who chased after these things as if they actually meant something but now these guys are losing their desire. Now to piss them all off and show them that the points are more meaningless than ever, they have enstated this policy.

 

[Oxymoron]

I've paid for gamerpics like the Lego Star Wars ones because I got 6 for 80 points. To me thats a good deal.

You're part of the problem.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Make your voices heard.

Let silver members download content on the first week of release you ****s

I said make you wait. We are paying for a service, and you are not. Pony up the 50 bucks. It costs 14 cents a day to be an XBL Gold Member. Get a jar and put 3 nickels in it every day, then you can have Live Gold for a year.

What a bunch of cheap whining commies!

:lol

 

[Banjo Tango]

What I don't get is why we can't set our own icons with the vision camera (aside from an "internal" icon). Am I just missing a setting? Can we really not make our own external-facing account icons?

If the fear is that you're going to have icon pics of hairy balls popping up on XBL and frightening children, then change it so you need to friend someone before they can see your custom pic and have some procedure for reporting inappropriate images (like there is for inappropriate live conduct).

If the concern is users are getting a low-rez webcam pic as a "free" custom icon... the publishers should probably rethink their pricing strategy.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

you need to friend someone before they can see your custom pic and have some procedure for reporting inappropriate images (like there is for inappropriate live conduct).

I think that is how it is set up now. You have a gamerpic that the public sees and there is a gamerpic which can be a custom Vision picture which only your friends list sees.

 

[tegdf]

themes and gamer pictures should be ****ing free, and don't overprice DLC

 

[Banjo Tango]

I think that is how it is set up now. You have a gamerpic that the public sees and there is a gamerpic which can be a custom Vision picture which only your friends list sees.

Maybe I'm missing a setting, but I still show up as my regular gaming icon on my friends' lists, and I only see their regular icons as well.

 

[pr0cs]

I still don't get why people feel that because the stuff is on the disc that they are somehow entitled to it. Are you seriously happier wasting time downloading the stuff to make yourself feel better about buying it?
It's like buying a Ferrari and asking it to be shipped in pieces so you feel better about spending $200,000 on it.

 

[aeolist]

If they could somehow enforce a rule that prohibits a developer from working on non-free downloadable content before the game goes gold, I would honestly gain some respect for Microsoft as a company

 

[pr0cs]

If they could somehow enforce a rule that prohibits a developer from working on non-free downloadable content before the game goes gold, I would honestly gain some respect for Microsoft as a company

Good luck with that.. The last thing Microsoft wants to do is piss off developers by telling what they can and can't work on.
You can argue "well they're pissing me off by shipping stuff on the disc and charging me extra for it" but the only reason you know about the stuff being pressed on disc is due to the key size, the developer could easily just leave it off the disc and release it a week later and then you're stuck downloading the shit as well as buying it. You wouldn't know any difference.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

Maybe I'm missing a setting, but I still show up as my regular gaming icon on my friends' lists, and I only see their regular icons as well.

When you go to change your gamericon you should have options, one to change the public pic and one for the friends pic. I just dug this up from the xbox website:

Personal Gamer Picture
With the spring update, your gamer picture was split into two types of gamer picture—your regular gamer picture, and your personal picture. Your gamer picture remains the same, it's your personal picture that's special.

Your personal picture is an alternative gamer picture that shows up on your gamer card only to your friends. Until Xbox Live Vision was released, you could only select a personal picture from the same list where you selected your regular gamer picture. With the camera, though, you can take a picture of yourself, your surroundings, or a nearby object, and use that as your personal picture.

As with picture messages, you have an option to apply an effect, so that you can come up with a really interesting and unique personal picture.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/personality/elle/20060915-xboxlivevision.htm

 

[aeolist]

Good luck with that.. The last thing Microsoft wants to do is piss off developers by telling what they can and can't work on.
You can argue "well they're pissing me off by shipping stuff on the disc and charging me extra for it" but the only reason you know about the stuff being pressed on disc is due to the key size, the developer could easily just leave it off the disc and release it a week later and then you're stuck downloading the shit as well as buying it. You wouldn't know any difference.

Even if I'm screwed either way I don't have to like it. It's a pipe dream, I know, I'm just venting frustration.

 

[pr0cs]

Even if I'm screwed either way I don't have to like it. It's a pipe dream, I know, I'm just venting frustration.

I don't understand why you'd be frustrated, if anything they're doing you a favor by not wasting your time downloading the stuff. As long as the stuff you're interested in buying doesn't negatively impact the game (see my suggestions) then I don't see the problem in buying addons to a game you enjoy.
If anything I wish developers would continue to support games longer.

 

[gohepcat]

themes and gamer pictures should be ****ing free, and don't overprice DLC

Why should themes and gamer pics be created at all? If they were not getting paid for it, why would they do it?

Just don't buy it. Is it really that hard?