@Akeldama said:
" That story lost me at the title. How the fuck can you defect from a console to another? System wars bullshit. "
So you replied to vent your exasperation at the idea of system allegiances? Are you 11? PSN is a free network. You have to pay for XBL Gold. You defect by paying for XBL in the absence of a working PSN and staying on that network for an appreciable period of time due to the fact that you just shelled out $60, although there's a strong chance you'd be called back to PSN (or prevented from being lured away at the outset) due to trophies or the presence of your friends on the PSN.
@ch13696 said: " Well, the best way to tell is to find out the percentage in increase for subscribers on Xbox Live. And the only people that can tell you that is Xbox Live. "
Right. Or the percentage increase of XBL users during the time of the PSN outage. It will be interesting to see if MS releases this data. Given each company's zeal for crowing their successes, I feel like these numbers will be out eventually. I was wondering if anyone had seen any such info.
@Marcsman said:
" I would have to replace 20-30 games by now. Nope stuck with the PSN for now. "
I have a similar issue, albeit on the opposite side. I have a handful of PS3 games, but my friends play on XBL, so that's how I roll. I guess some people are probably attached to their profiles and their trophies, so that would be a barrier to switching in many cases.
I don't know how many people have multiple systems or why anyone would choose one network over another-- i.e. their reasons are their own-- but I find the issue of allegiance through achievements/trophies/gamerscore fascinating. I know that with my group of friends the games I play multiplayer tend to be constrained by the group's choice. I resisted playing Black Ops, but if I wanted to play with my friends that's what I had to play. There's a distinction there, though, between the activity your friends want to engage in versus the system they choose to play on. Since we mostly have both systems the choice of XBL or PS3 is somewhat arbitrary EXCEPT that a handful of my group care about achievements, which makes us play on XBL more often. Despite the fact that achievements are "real," they are clear markers of time and effort and occasionally skill, so people are going to want to maintain them. In effect they are this immaterial hook holding people into a service by the users' own volition. Heck, I imagine there are people who feel more attachment to GB or 1UP or Gamespot for similar reasons.
Am I the only one who finds this kind of thing really interesting?
Log in to comment