Xbox Live Service

Xbox live is an online multiplayer gaming service provided to owners of Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It became available for the original xbox console in November 2002. Today the service has over one million subscribers



The service opens up a whole new aspect of social interaction. Gamers feel connected and can speak and see each-other with the audio and visual capabilities of the service. Gamer-tags (user's screen names) allow these gamers to personalize themselves on this online service. What attracted me to the design was the ability to connect with players from around the world and play games that I liked. Most of my friends did not have the same affinity for the types of games I was playing so the service gave me an opportunity to play what I liked while being challenged by human opponents. It was also valuable to be able to hear other players speak and send messages.

Some players may take their gaming a little too seriously. In the following video; players argue about the game they just finished. The argument results in name-calling; one of the main aspects of xbox live.



This design is good because it is:

Trustworthy - Xbox live has been running for many years and they constantly make improvements to their service and add new innovations to make it better

Appropriate- Multi-player gaming on a console makes games much more fun. The service came at such a time when online computer gaming was very popular and the XBOX live service might have stolen a few users from that group. Xbox live is marketed differently to the many regions of the world. The advertisements and appearance of games are targeted toward a North American audience.

Smart - Xbox live is very innovative in the video and audio capabilities on a console. The console does most of the work and all the user has to do is play the game and speak to the players in the game.

Responsive - Xbox live is generally quite fast. Sometimes the service can get slow depending on where the players in the game are located in the world. When a player makes an action; the action is transmitted almost instantaneously to the other gamer's screen...this is responsive.

Clever - Xbox live is clever in it's innovations it introduces year to year. Microsoft is also clever at making money. They introduced the option of Xbox Live Silver versus Xbox Live Gold; Silver is free but basically useless while Gold charges money per month or per year to the gamer's credit card.

Ludic - Because this is a online GAMING multiplayer service this category's title pretty much explains itself.

Pleasureable - The service is pleasurable, provided the user does not take the games they play too seriously. No one likes to lose; but it is not the end of the world if one loses a game...unless they are being paid for it.


DESIGN PROCESS

The element that most intrigues me from the design process would have to be the initial vision or brainstorming of the idea. If I were working on the XBOX live service in it's initial stages I would have liked to be the one who came up with the ideas from brainstorming with colleagues.

- All text written by me
- Xbox live logo from xboxlive.com

D. Koe