Microsoft's Rewards Program: Awesome, Insidious, Or Simply Banal?

Microsoft is launching a new rewards program that offers gamers incentive to utilize the "gold" features of Xbox Live.  The program has yet to officially debut, but gamers are already bristling on either side of the fence.  So what's the big deal?   More after the jump!

Roughly a year ago, Microsoft confirmed that they were setting up a program to provide "extra value" to their Xbox live subscribers.  A few days ago, they officially added a rewards section to the Live site, along with a table demonstrating precisely how the program works.  Basically, for undertaking certain actions on Xbox Live's Gold (paid) service, gamers are awarded Microsoft points to purchase goods on the marketplace.  Anyone who knows the mentality of your average gamer knows precisely what happens next.  Divisions were immediately set: either this program is a long overdue reward for those who have subscribed to the only paid online console service over the years, or it is one more ploy so that Bill Gates can acquire our hard earned dollars and finally build that space yacht he has been dreaming of all these years.

 And it shall be fueled by hundred dollar bills!

A full breakdown of the rewards that will be available at the program's launch can be found here.  Go ahead, read it.  It's a short table.  Not terrible, right?  After all, the service is completely free to sign up for, and if you are the type who uses Live's service on a somewhat regular basis, getting a few MS points here and there to offset some of your costs can be pretty sweet.  Add to the fact that many points are earned simply from letting your subscription renew itself, and it almost seems like Microsoft is giving us money for nothing.  However, I seem to recall a saying about "free lunches" and their overall fictional nature, so if you'll bear with me, go back to that link and take another look at that rewards table.

You may have noticed that even though there is a column for rewards offered to the free silver subscription as well as the paid gold subscription, they all have something to do with either upgrading to gold or buying items from the marketplace.  And, in fact, gold does not seem to be much better, with the non silver upgrades all linked to renewing your subscriptions (and thus paying more money overall).  You know, that "cash grab" side of the fence is starting to look a little more appealing.  Especially when many are linked to "firsts" on Xbox Live, and the service has been in use for the last 5 years.  Many gamers are incredibly annoyed that they are already ineligible to receive several of the launch rewards because their first purchases or first subscriptions have long since come and gone.

When confronted with the qualms of early adopters, Microsoft

released the above statement.

As a silver subscriber, I was tempted at first to simply lay in to Microsoft about how Live is probably the worst online service, yet the only one that asks you to pay to use the features such as "playing with your friends" or "internet use", and how this is simply one more way for them to mask a slimy hand slithering into your wallet as a "deal".  Honestly, though, the free nature of the program prohibits me from being able to dole out that level of vitriol while still maintaining any level of credibility.  Microsoft is not offering us things for free, and what's more, they never claimed to be.  They are offering an incentive to participate in their particular service, but signing up is not mandatory, and neither is paying money for any of the things that garner you the MS point bonuses.  If you don't want to pay money for things that Microsoft is offering, there is a very easy way to get around it: Don't.  Seriously, try it some time.  I personally have been doing it for years, and it has  been working great so far.

I want to make it very clear that while I'm not calling out Bill Gates as Satan (that's Steve Jobs) this is not an out and out endorsement of the program either.  I think that providing bonuses to new subscribers while not providing anything (perhaps free avatar accessories, or a bonus theme) to those who remained loyal for the last half decade is a pretty low blow, especially since they jacked up the price from 50 to 60 dollars per year in November with no tangible benefit to the subscribers then.  And the fact that there are no launch rewards available other than simply getting some money for giving substantially more makes the program reek of a ploy to rope in people who are bad at math.  But at the end of the day, the people who will be utilizing this program the most are the ones who already make frequent use of Live and its services anyway, and if you're already giving money to Microsoft, I suppose it doesn't hurt to have a bit of a bone fragment thrown your way every now and again.  So fanboys, from me to you, get over your juvenile sense of entitlement, realize that MS (just like Nintendo and Sony) will only ever care about the bottom line, and stop expecting something for nothing.  And Microsoft? Maybe the key to getting people to pay for your service is to offer something that is not available for free on my computer and every other console.

Of course, they probably don't realize everyone is doing it for free,

as the wireless signal doesn't extend to the money pool.