Xbox Live is Great…Until your Account Gets Hacked
Let me start this off by saying that I’m a big fan of Xbox live and have been a longtime user and supporter; so when I write about Microsoft’s stellar online service, I’m doing so as more than a journalist–I’m also writing from the gamer’s perspective (or at least this gamer’s perspective). All things being equal, when a new game is released on multiple platforms I’ll usually buy the Xbox version–simply for the Xbox Live implementation; whether it’s to add to my achievements or for the smooth multiplayer experience, Live always adds more than enough value to justify its yearly price tag. But with great power comes responsibility. For better or for worse, people have different expectations of a service that they pay for than they do of a service they get for free–and having just had my Gamertag hacked, I’m here to tell you that Microsoft needs to seriously re-evaluate its policies.
With the recent outbreak of Gamertag hacking, Xbox Live’s greatest strength may have been exposed as its greatest weakness. The fact is, the majority of your online (and sometimes, offline) experience is directly tied in to your Gamertag; in fact without it, you lose your progress in any game that you play online. All of your online purchases are also tied to your Gamertag–and this includes Arcade titles, as well as expansions and map packs. Sure, you can always download the licenses of your purchases so they’re tied to your console instead of your Gamertag; but if your Xbox Live account is hacked, the hacker can always use your information to transfer your download licenses to their console–which is exactly what happened to me.
So what happens when your Xbox Live account is hacked? Of course, the first call you make is to Microsoft so they can temporarily freeze your account (in case fraudulent charges were made), and then reset your password so you can be on your merry way. Not so fast. You see, Microsoft wants to freeze your account for 25 days to investigate before they reinstate your account. 25 days. My first reaction was, “Why can’t you just give me a new password, reinstate my account, and then do your investigation? After all, if you’re just looking back at my history, you don’t need to freeze my account for a month!” The Microsoft rep then told me that they need to freeze the account for a period of time in order to track the hacker; because even though the account is officially frozen, they can still track someone (the person who hacked your account) trying to access the account through their IP address, and then ban their console.
While this explained the need to freeze your account for a period of time, it doesn’t explain why they need to do so for 25 days. After talking with a supervisor, I learned that the time it took to investigate and resolve account hacks used to be a week–but with hacking on the rise and an overburdened Investigation Department, that week has turned into 25 days. But there’s something Microsoft is failing to realize: The good guys are being punished for the actions of the bad guys. Your account gets hacked…so what happens? Your account is frozen for nearly a month, not only locking you out of the online status you worked so hard to achieve, but also keeping you from the arcade games and expansions you spent your hard earned money on.
When Sony had their well-documented PSN “issues,” they did a pretty good job of making it up to their customers with multiple free games–and this was for a free service; Microsoft’s answer? A 30-day pass for Xbox Live Gold, so I could create a second Gamertag while they did their investigation. So…my reward for being a good customer and getting hacked was a free month of what they were already taking away from me? Hmmm…
I never once thought twice about the money I spend every year on the Xbox Live service–and this recent experience hasn’t really changed that; what has changed is my view of how Microsoft takes care of the customers that have stuck by them over the years. Even though we’ve all endured multiple hardware failures, we still come back for more because we believe in the product…warts and all–perhaps Microsoft can return the love by not making a bad thing worse. It’s one thing to get hacked; but being further punished by being locked out of Xbox Live for nearly a month? You can do better than that Microsoft.
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