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I HATE xbox live
Guppy Sep 22, 2017
fair warning: the post is a non constructive rant where I just vent some anger


So the big day arrived - the "Better together" update for minecraft ( no longer "pocket/console/win10" just minecraft ) arrived, the kids were up in arms; at long last there would be rockets, banners, coloured glass and armor stands.

The joy lasted maybe all of 5 minutes.


As of a few patches ( around 1.0.0 or so ) discovering local games that are hosted via WiFi is not possible, we've gotten around that by using static IPs and adding each others IPs under servers.

But now you cant join servers with out an Xbox Live account.


well shit...

After grumbling about it for quite a while and trying to come up with other solutions ( local games hosted over cable can be discovered by WiFi clients - but that's hardly a solution ) I caved and went to xbox live to create accounts.

I had an old account from way back when the xbox 360 launched, and after fumbling about their web site I found where you could add child accounts.

Great!

"enter email" - teh hell? they are way to young to have emails, guess I'll use the "create email" link.

After a million hoops and "next" buttons I managed to created an account for each of my children using made up names.

Only I couldn't manage their accounts - only track their location ( not at all creepy microsoft why the f**k are you tracking people? ), turned that off.

on a hunch I logged into one of the child accounts in a different browser and was asked to create an xbox live account ... wtf had I been doing so far?

About a million hoops later child 1 appeared on the parent account - only named 'Winterlilly345' (something like it at least :P ) which is the name that would appear in-game I could change the name only once with out having to get my wallet and I really did not want their real names ( which they usually use ) anywhere near microsofts creepy tracking .. oh well a problem for later.

repeat the million of hoops for child 2

I can't manage their friend list and family members dont appear on it automatically

so for each child I need to enable them to add friends log in add all family members ( mom needs an account too - another million million hoops ) then turn off the ability to add friends.

at this point I'm tired of the service but at least I wont have to muck with it again.

I log in with child 1's account in minecraft to test out the limitations I've put in place.

Turns out you can't play with the people on your friend list unless you enable "multiplayer servers" - which would also allow them to play on the servers microsoft added to the list.... WHAT THE FUCK? :><:

So I now have the choice of either not letting them play together or letting them play with a bunch of random pedophiles online?

At this point in time I am livid with rage

after a while I cool a little off and decided, you know what they will just have to do with rockets and coloured glass for the time being - I'll roll back to the previous version of minecraft.

The I remembered - they are playing on iPads, so you cant decide to play older versions

Why can't every thing just be Linux based?


For the time being Linux offers a solution to my problem - running mcpelauncher on my computer and hosting the game over ethernet means they can play together locally, but where previously their mates could connect to our external IP and join them this no longer possible ( unless their parents gives them an xbox account with server access ... :><: god damn microsoft )
razing32 Sep 22, 2017
Ugh what a pain.

Could you try to get two Raspberii Pis and set them up somehow ? I think there is a way to run the full version on it.
g000h Sep 22, 2017
Ah, good old Microsoft rage. All the corporations are doing it. Tracking your browsing, tracking your gaming habits, forcing you to watch adverts, and so on. The thing I've always appreciated about Linux is that you can use it how you want. You're not forced to do this or that. You have full control. Latest Windows is very invasive, and it is a pain to switch things off (not that you're able to switch all the annoyances off).

I infrequently dual-boot to Windows, and I now think it is 6 months since I last booted to "the dark side".
GustyGhost Sep 22, 2017
Your first mistake was using a console in the first place. Their whole purpose is to trap you and then charge you for conveniences you would have otherwise had. Any reason the kids can't use a general purpose computer (even if it is running windows)? I know parental controls can be a pain but can it be any worse than the pain you just raged about?
Spl-it Sep 23, 2017
Quoting: GuppySo I now have the choice of either not letting them play together or letting them play with a bunch of random pedophiles online?

Wonderful, labeling online players as pedophiles ;)

I think your problem is not just xbox live...
Guppy Sep 23, 2017
Quoting: Spl-it
Quoting: GuppySo I now have the choice of either not letting them play together or letting them play with a bunch of random pedophiles online?

Wonderful, labeling online players as pedophiles ;)

I think your problem is not just xbox live...

I'm not labeling online players as anything and you know it :p hard fact is they exists and have historically prowled online games - hence why as a parent you don't let your children roam free until they are old enough to handle themselves. That's my complaint : online play in Minecraft (pocket)) is now an all or nothing affair, you can't pre screen who they play with
Guppy Sep 25, 2017
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Spl-itI think your problem is not just xbox live...
I have to agree with you there. I'm sensing a little paranoia overprotection.
Pedos usually prowl social media and web based chat rooms, not Minecraft, and certainly not on consoles.

No offense but it's obvious you don't have children - PuG / random servers can be a horrible experience even as an adult, so as a parent I will damn well do what I can to shield them from it until such time that they have the emotional strength do deal with the hate and lewdness that crop up in multiplayer games.

The problem that this thread deals with ( outside of just how mindnubmingly anoying setting up child accounts on XBL is )is that if you prevent the child from playing on random servers you also disable local/friendlist play.

Sure I could Ip block the servers MS adds, but then they add a new one or they take the Ipad ( not console not sure why people keep saying console ) to a friends where there is not such filter...


Anyway this is a rant - feel free to voice your disagreement, but questioning my parenting decisions is taking it too far...
damarrin Sep 25, 2017
Yeah, it's very interesting how perspective changes when kids grow up enough to be able to turn on the computer/consoles by themselves. I can't see any good solutions out there. Every device I've tried has some shortcomings.

Steam's family view is barely functional, Sony's PS3 and PS4 are laughable (PS4 is getting better soon with firmware 5), Nintendo is good on local parental controls, awful with online accounts. No console I've seen lets you limit play time. iOS is nice in that you can limit access to the single open app when handing the phone/tablet to the child with triple button press.

All in all, it's a huge hassle at best and a hopeless endeavour at worst no matter which way you look at it.
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