can I change my xbox live username?

ferret face · 24 Nov 2008 at 10:59

Does anyone know if I can change my live username/gamertag thingy?

I signed up to live for the first time yesterday and just picked a stupid name, that I now want to change.

Is this possible?

Cheers

Ferret

Ascendancy · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:01

Yup, but it costs points. 800 to be precise.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908658

ferret face · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:11

cheers.

I just need to get some points now!

Robert1986 · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:20

Why do they charge to change your username? I wanted to change mine but don't feel like paying for something that should be free. Does it cost them gigibytes of bandwidth to do this?

Noel Gallagher · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:31

It's a con..

ferret face · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:44

One more question please...

Can i simply set up another gamertag on the same console to log into live?

Or can you only have 1 gamertag per live account? I thought i read somewhere that you can have a max of 4?

Andybtsn · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:53

ferret face said:
One more question please...

Can i simply set up another gamertag on the same console to log into live?

Or can you only have 1 gamertag per live account? I thought i read somewhere that you can have a max of 4?

If you want another gamertag on Live you need to pay for another subscription, you can only have one to an account.

Streeteh · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:57

This is a cheeky method but my mates son gets a few of his friends to report his username as offensive. If there are enough complaints then MS will then 'force' him to change it, basically a free name change.

Adsta · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:02

Streeteh said:
This is a cheeky method but my mates son gets a few of his friends to report his username as offensive. If there are enough complaints then MS will then 'force' him to change it, basically a free name change.

or banned either way

Streeteh · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:13

Adsta said:
or banned either way

Indeed, it's a risk to take so i hold no responsibility for the consequences.

Andybtsn · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:19

Yeah I get occasional messages off randoms asking for me to file report against them so they can change their names.

I should have gone down this route

ScarySquirrel · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:57

You could set up a new Hotmail email, and then transfer your gamertag to this email address (via the NXE) and then your email is free to create a new Xbox Live Gamertag.

I did this recently for my GF and it worked a treat

MadFruit · 24 Nov 2008 at 14:21

Streeteh said:
This is a cheeky method but my mates son gets a few of his friends to report his username as offensive. If there are enough complaints then MS will then 'force' him to change it, basically a free name change.

Does this actually work? As far as I understand it, each report is considered completely individually by (*gasp*) a real human being. Reports are also not logged unless action is taken. So for action to be taken the name must be offensive or break the EULA in some manner for it to be changed - it doesn't matter how many reports a name gets. So if your name was ScarySquirrel for example (sorry, first name that popped into my head

) someone reporting against that for a bad user name would be ignored. It just couldn't be construed as breaking the EULA.

Streeteh · 24 Nov 2008 at 14:24

Never tried it myself, however, he has informed me his kid has done it several times in the past.

Again this is in no was a guarantee that it will work

Tetsu · 24 Nov 2008 at 14:40

Surely if you pay to get it changed to something offensive you can then rally people together to report you and then get a free name change?

NeoReloaded · 24 Nov 2008 at 18:39

MadFruit said:
Does this actually work? As far as I understand it, each report is considered completely individually by (*gasp*) a real human being. Reports are also not logged unless action is taken. So for action to be taken the name must be offensive or break the EULA in some manner for it to be changed - it doesn't matter how many reports a name gets. So if your name was ScarySquirrel for example (sorry, first name that popped into my head ) someone reporting against that for a bad user name would be ignored. It just couldn't be construed as breaking the EULA.

Yes it does work! My username was WhitePrideNeo and i had to change it for free otherwise i was to be banned from Xbox Live

MadFruit · 25 Nov 2008 at 11:53

NeoReloaded said:
Yes it does work! My username was WhitePrideNeo and i had to change it for free otherwise i was to be banned from Xbox Live

Err... yeah, but WhitePrideNeo... why am I not surprised that you were asked to change that!! It's not quite the same as someone having a completely legit name.

rp2000 · 25 Nov 2008 at 12:11

MadFruit said:
Err... yeah, but WhitePrideNeo... why am I not surprised that you were asked to change that!! It's not quite the same as someone having a completely legit name.

LOL.

I too read this only works with offensive names. They are not gonna give you a free name change when they can charge you 800 points for it. Convincing people on your friends list to complain won't be enough, they will know those people are your mates.

rp2000

Margaret · 25 Nov 2008 at 13:01

Noel Gallagher said:
It's a con..

Well it used to be a job of paying £40 to get a whole new gamertag...I prefer it this way.

Plus you don't have to re-friend everyone!

Streeteh · 25 Nov 2008 at 13:40

I can see why they charge for it - to deter people from changing their name every 10 mins. However, i could think of better ways, how about you're limited to changing you name every 5000 gamerscore? So, you can only change your name once you have gained an extra 5000 score since your last change or something along those lines, with the option to pay for those that can't be bothered.

Not exactly a helpful post but yeah, thinking out loud i guess.