XBox / Games For Windows Live question

[Kitsune Sniper]

So I got a GFW Live game today and figured I'd register an account. But surprise... the username I want has apparently been taken already. I did a little digging and found out that it has apparently -never- been used. It's got 0 gamerscore. I figure it's a squatter that got the name at random...

So.

Is there any way to get the name back, if it's not being used?

[Leo_A]

No, it's someone else's account. 0 gamerscore just indicates it was likely never used on a 360 or a Live PC game with achievments.

It may be an active Xbox account that the owner may decide to migrate to a 360 now that the Xbox has gone offline. Or it might even be used on a 360 already (Some use it for a media extender, Netflix, and marketplace videos exclusively and never get a gamerecore past 0).

Even if its been inactive for years they won't let you use it. It belongs to someone else.

[s1lence]

Yeah, once a tag has been used by someone you can't get it even if it is a dead and dormant account.

[Poofta!]

wow im shocked you never had a 360...


way to be on your game pal :roll:

[Kitsune Sniper]

wow im shocked you never had a 360...


way to be on your game pal :roll:
Uh. What?

Excuse me for not wanting to buy a system whose online marketplace is pretty crippled in Mexico. :P And you know. Being poor.

[Poofta!]

Uh. What?

Excuse me for not wanting to buy a system whose online marketplace is pretty crippled in Mexico. :P And you know. Being poor.

my bad. i didnt know

i was just surprised since you comment on so many modern gaming 360 threads.

[Kitsune Sniper]

my bad. i didnt know

i was just surprised since you comment on so many modern gaming 360 threads.

I admire the system, and wish I had a 360. I want one. But DLC and XBox Live Arcade support in Mexico is really, really bad, we often get stuff months later, if ever. (We don't even have XBox Indie Games!)

Anyway.

Too bad about the username. I just hate it when people take the name and never do anything with it. Usually only spammers do that kinda crap, and it's irritating.

It's one thing to take the name I've used for several years but goddamnit at least DO SOMETHING WITH IT.

Bleh.

[Leo_A]

Like I said, he probably has made good use out of it years ago on the Xbox and may still be using it. The lack of a gamerscore doesn't mean he registered and never used it.

It just means he's never played a game that has achievements during the past 4 and a half years or so of the 7 and a half year existance of Xbox Live. That applies to many people that have made heavy use of XBL on the original Xbox but decided not to carry over their original accounts to the 360, decided not to upgrade to a 360, or haven't upgraded to a 360 yet.

As I recall, if you let your subscription lapse on the original Xbox, there wasn't a way to renew it. So that may also be a reason why it's became inactive while the person that made it might still be active on XBL under a different gamertag.

That's one reason I'm on my current gamertag. It's my third account after not renewing the first two in the early days of XBL. So I added the number I always use in racing games to the end of my name (I'm a Darrell Waltrip fan and he drove the 17 during the latter part of the 80s and most of the 90s, plus it just has a nice look and sound to it). Of course now I regret using my real name online since my name is plastered all over the internet now.

Why not do a variation upon it? Name yourself The New Kitsune Sniper or Kitsune Sniper 2.0 or some other variation of it. Or just get rid of the space and use KitsuneSniper, which isn't taken. That would seem to be the most logical and painless course of action to take if I were in your position and wanted to be consistent and maintain my online nickname.

[Mayhem]

(We don't even have XBox Indie Games!)
Most countries don't have indie games btw... while the range of users in countries that can develop them is reasonably encompassing, only users in US, Canada, UK (NOT Ireland), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain and Sweden can download them.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Why not do a variation upon it? Name yourself The New Kitsune Sniper or Kitsune Sniper 2.0 or some other variation of it. Or just get rid of the space and use KitsuneSniper, which isn't taken. That would seem to be the most logical and painless course of action to take if I were in your position and wanted to be consistent and maintain my online nickname.

But this isn't my nickname anymore. I changed my main online nickname to Foxhack four years ago, and I use it pretty much everywhere except here (because I didn't think it would be OK with the mods if I made a new account) and at a few other sites, most of which I don't visit anymore. I'm known around the internet as Foxhack at Kotaku, Lifehacker, Youtube, Twitter, ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, and other similar sites.

What's funny is that a lot of places started to get user registrations using that name after I started to use the nick. This is why I usually suspect squatters, there's lots of people who just take the names in hope they'll be able to sell them or use them make a buck later on. (The person who had the foxhack.com domain wanted to sell it for a few hundred bucks! I waited him out and bought it when he let it go, bwahahaha!)

[Gameguy]

I changed my main online nickname to Foxhack four years ago, and I use it pretty much everywhere except here (because I didn't think it would be OK with the mods if I made a new account)
Maybe you could ask if your username could be changed here, I'm on another forum and at least 3 of the members had their username changed by the admins when asked. All of their old posts are still there, the only thing that's changed is the username.

[PapaStu]

(We don't even have XBox Indie Games!)

It's one thing to take the name I've used for several years but goddamnit at least DO SOMETHING WITH IT.

You make it sound like the Indie games are all that good. Most of them are not and you're missing little because of it.

Welcome to today, where millions of people have access to the net who did not even a few years ago. Names get taken. I don't have my username for a Twitter account, some right wing kook does. I got over it. Hell, I don't even have the PSN name as I want it (even though i've got the name for everything else on the Sony site). Just modify FoxHack in some way and move on. It's not worth being bothered by it.

[s1lence]

If you really want Indie games you can always make a US account and get Us points and get them that way.

Your not missing much though.

[megasdkirby]

I admire the system, and wish I had a 360. I want one. But DLC and XBox Live Arcade support in Mexico is really, really bad, we often get stuff months later, if ever. (We don't even have XBox Indie Games!)

Anyway.

Too bad about the username. I just hate it when people take the name and never do anything with it. Usually only spammers do that kinda crap, and it's irritating.

It's one thing to take the name I've used for several years but goddamnit at least DO SOMETHING WITH IT.

Bleh.

I know how you feel. A few sites have taken my nick as well, and I wonder what in the world do they do with it anyway! Most that have taken it don't use it, so it's forever useless.

So the Xbox is "crippled" too. No wonder: my friend has a PS3 and he put "Mexico" as his country (even though he is from PR, go fig) and he cannot see many of the things I can, like demos, movies, games, etc. I found it odd, but thought of it as a region thing.

Xbox Indie games are pretty fun, though most do suck. I have a few, like Breath of Death VII, but for the most part, they do suck.

[Kitsune Sniper]

If you really want Indie games you can always make a US account and get Us points and get them that way.

This isn't a country issue, I just can't use the name at all.

I should probably go with OGFoxhack or some crap. :p

[Iron Draggon]

Did you really expect to be the only guy on the net with a name like foxhack? Try cyberfox, I bet there's a bunch of other dudes with that name online too!

[Kitsune Sniper]

Did you really expect to be the only guy on the net with a name like foxhack? Try cyberfox, I bet there's a bunch of other dudes with that name online too!

Actually, at the time I started using the name, I -was-. I actually Googled around to make sure nobody was using the name, and nobody showed up. :\

There's no need to be sarcastic or make fun of me. I was asking for help, and I got my answers. There's nothing I can do about it, so eh.