Microsoft Finally Getting Rid of Microsoft Points

[The 1 2 P]

It's about damn time. Of course, this hasn't been made official (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/microsoft-dropping-microsoft-points/) yet but it's an announcement thats long overdue.

[misfits859]

I've spent my share on them over the past few years but...who the fuck came up with this idea?

[Collector_Gaming]

First off why are they supposedly getting rid of them

and second off why would this be a good idea to get rid of them?

[kedawa]

How is it not a good idea to get rid of them?
Forcing consumers to exchange regular money for a completely redundant intermediary form of currency never did anyone any good.

[Cryomancer]

I'll be pissed if this means the end of in-store cards to buy, though. I prefer to buy them with cash and put a code in instead of giving my consoles credit card details.

[Gameguy]

Forcing consumers to exchange regular money for a completely redundant intermediary form of currency never did anyone any good.
Yet gift cards still remain a popular type of gift. I guess it works better if the redundancy is voluntary.

[heybtbm]

I've spent my share on them over the past few years but...who the fuck came up with this idea?

Brain research.

It's all a farce based on the human brain's need to see similarities in like things. A scam based around tricking your brain into thinking things were cheaper than they actually were. 800 points registers in the brain as "$8.00", 400 points registers as $4.00 and so on. Not to mention the whole 8 hot dogs, 12 buns thing they had going on with MS point cards. You always ended up with 200 points. So clever.

I'm glad the whole idiotic thing is finally going away. It's borderline insulting. Much easier to be upfront with pricing and show the actual cost. It feels less scummy.

[goatdan]

To be fair, I think that part of the whole reason that Microsoft converted cash into "not-really-cash" was to avoid some particular rules that the government imposes on cash transactions. I forget offhand exactly what they were, and obviously Sony cracked that nut a few years ago, but I believe there was some sort of issue figuring out tax and a bunch of other stuff when people used cash. So, they decided to transfer them to points that weren't exactly cash to work around that.

Since Sony cracked it, they have no real reason to keep it the exact same. As for the brain research, I wonder if they would sell more as 800 points or $7.99. To me, $7.99 seems cheaper than 800 points. My brain does the opposite when I do those cards, and I always assume I'm paying MORE for things than I am.

[Collector_Gaming]

How is it not a good idea to get rid of them?
Forcing consumers to exchange regular money for a completely redundant intermediary form of currency never did anyone any good.

oh....
you mean like oh i don't know........ a arcade where you exchange a quarter for a token to use the game machines... which is what the xbox service is named after?
http://www.boingboing.net/images/gametokens.jpg

yes of course that sounds completely redundant and absurd... who would ever do such a thing?

http://www.stuffwelike.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/arcade.jpg

or the newer setup arcades which use a card service that you purchase a card that will contain points that you use to play games with. You can also load more credits onto the same card thus eliminating the need to carry 10 pounds of tokens around the arcade!

[kedawa]

And arcades are flourishing!
Seriously, though, quarters work just fine.

This doesn't mean the end of prepaid cards, it just means they'll say $20 instead of 1400 space bucks.

[dgdgagdae]

And arcades are flourishing!
Seriously, though, quarters work just fine.

This doesn't mean the end of prepaid cards, it just means they'll say $20 instead of 1400 space bucks.

That'd be 1600 space bucks. See how confusing that whole mess was?

Changing over to real dollars, if that happens, can only be good.

[TonyTheTiger]

The point system would make much more sense to me if there was value in buying in bulk. If the cost per point varied based on how many points you bought at one time then I would be all for the console specific currency, awkward denominations be damned. But as it is, where no matter what you're always paying the same amount, it's pointless and annoying.

[Kitsune Sniper]

So forget buying 2000 points cards for half the price! Those days are over.

[goatdan]

So forget buying 2000 points cards for half the price! Those days are over.

Yup, that's what I think this ultimately means. I'm guessing it means less of a margin on the cards for retailers and very little chance of them ever going on sale now.

[Nz17]

So forget buying 2000 points cards for half the price! Those days are over.

Oh? I wouldn't be so sure if others are an example (http://www.padgadget.com/2011/12/18/walmart-online-sale-50-itunes-gift-card-for-only-40/). Wal*Mart was selling $50 iTunes gift cards for $40 recently.

[dgdgagdae]

So forget buying 2000 points cards for half the price! Those days are over.

What makes you say that? Whether you're buying a virtual 1600 points to use on Live or a virtual $20 of credits to use on Live, I'm sure it works out the same for retailers. Either way, you're buying a specific amount of credit that you can only use on that service. It's not like you're exchanging cash for cash.

I like the idea of matching the credits to real US dollars, but I don't see why that would change anything else.

[Oobgarm]

I think it's a great idea, finally converting back to actual money.

No more of this bullshit of buying points in "packs". If I want a 1200 point game, I don't want to have to go and buy a 1600 point card. I'm sure I can find something I want for those extra points, but the fact of the matter is that I didn't want to spend that extra $5 to begin with. I know this can be done online with smaller packs, but I'd rather not put my CC on the Xbox.

...and we'll still see sales on the cards. Maybe not quite as often, but they'll still happen. The retailers aren't likely going to start paying a different amount for them. The denomination on the card could be in points or dollars, it's all the same to them when they take your money.

If you have the means to, buy cards when if/they go on sale before the change, and you'll be getting free money when they convert them over.

[Oobgarm]

oh....
you mean like oh i don't know........ a arcade where you exchange a quarter for a token to use the game machines... which is what the xbox service is named after?
http://www.boingboing.net/images/gametokens.jpg

yes of course that sounds completely redundant and absurd... who would ever do such a thing?

or the newer setup arcades which use a card service that you purchase a card that will contain points that you use to play games with. You can also load more credits onto the same card thus eliminating the need to carry 10 pounds of tokens around the arcade!

But the thing here is, they're not saying "to get a 25¢ token, you have to give us $1 and we'll give you 4 of them". Never mind the fact that you only wanted to play one game. Then you're stuck with 3 more tokens you HAVE to use there at some point. It's basically forcing you to come back for more or essentially throw your money away.

The credits/points thing on cards at places like D&B's is similar to MS Points, and sucks almost as much. Though, when you go there, you kinda decide how much you're going to play and just put that amount on the card.

It's not like a retail environment where you have a set item in mind that costs $X dollars...then have to give them $X+Y dollars to buy it and have Y leftover in an unusable-outside-this-establishment currency.

[Robocop2]

What exactly makes anyone think that switching over to dollar amount is going to make that particular gripe about having a left over amount that you can't do anything with in your account balance? I've had a perinnial leftover balance in my iTunes account since the first time I bought a card, same thing with my 3DS shop accoun and they BOTH use a dollar amount on ther pricing structures. If using points instead of dollars on a card makes you feel offended you really need a thicker hide. I doubt that they will give you back that .86 cents you have leftover in your account after you spend your 20.00 or whatever amount of money you sent them.

[NE146]

Exactly.. I have leftover balance in my Nintendo Shop. It's all the same.

MS Points were pretty much was ALREADY straight money anyway.

i.e. Everyone knew .0125 cents a point. So, 400 = $5, 800 = $10

Only way you could get around it was if you found a points card on sale, but those were few and far between.

[Griking]

oh....
you mean like oh i don't know........ a arcade where you exchange a quarter for a token to use the game machines... which is what the xbox service is named after?


yes of course that sounds completely redundant and absurd... who would ever do such a thing?

or the newer setup arcades which use a card service that you purchase a card that will contain points that you use to play games with. You can also load more credits onto the same card thus eliminating the need to carry 10 pounds of tokens around the arcade!

Well to be fair, arcades did this to reduce the motivation for people to break into their games for the money inside. Microsoft doesn't have to worry about this.

[skaar]

The points system was an attempt to introduce a standard global currency. Points cost different amounts in different countries yet the titles had fixed prices. Try to think outside the US, people.

Five (?) years later currency values have shifted but the buy rate is the same. This is why it costs more for me to buy the same XBLA title than someone in the US.", despite dollar parity.

I would be glad to see them shift to a currency model, but I will believe it when I see it.

[Rob2600]

Dwight: Don't you want to earn Schrute bucks?
Stanley: No. In fact, I'll give you a billion Stanley nickels if you never talk to me again.
Dwight: What's the ratio of Stanley nickels to Schrute bucks?
Stanley: The same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.

http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users16/dazed2793/default/one-schrute-buck--large-msg-119301658823.jpg

[Leo_A]

The points system was an attempt to introduce a standard global currency. Points cost different amounts in different countries yet the titles had fixed prices. Try to think outside the US, people.

And the benefit is...?

I suspect the true reasons have already been noted. It was created by people familiar with consumer behavior that recognized that something like 1600 MS Points to the average consumer is going to feel cheaper than if it was labeled the actual amount of $20, increasing the likelyhood of a purchase.

And for credit card users, it justified the entire points system. They'd have a harder time explaining why you can only buy certain incremental values of MS's virtual dollars when the game prices are in dollar figures. Going to a points system helped reduce criticism that you couldn't do something like charge the exact amount you needed to a credit card for a specific purchase. Thus, the typical consumer will almost always have some extra points sitting idle while MS pockets it before the consumer ever uses it to make a purchase.

I think my Wii shop account has had a dollar or two unused on it since day 1 (Thanks I imagine to a few import purchases with strange values like 900 Points that have kept my account from ever completely emptying out). That's a real benefit to a company when you have millions of consumers that have purchased money that is sitting idle since they had a small amount left over after making purchases that wasn't of much use by itself. Go to a system where your purchases are in dollar amounts makes it all the harder for a company like MS to justify that situation to consumers, where as when they're virtual points, I don't think many people object.

If you can make millions of consumers pay today for something they won't need until tomorrow, that's to their benefit. MS no doubt always has several million dollars in the bank associated with unspent MS Points.

[TonyTheTiger]

You can get that same benefit, though, without people lashing out at the inherent unfairness (as much), by offering more bang for your buck at higher denominations.

It all of a sudden starts making a whole lot of sense when what would otherwise be $50 worth of points if bought at low level increments costs only $40, or even $45, when bought in bulk. While the end result is the same, you have left over money tied up in the system, the discount on the dollar to point ratio makes it feel less shady since the point system justifies itself with the pricing scheme as opposed to coming off as solely there just for the sake of having unspendable points left over per transaction. I'd actually probably prefer that to a straight 1:1, everything priced in legal tender, system (which can still tie up money in your account if things can't be bought on a per-item basis). And it could potentially work to MS's benefit, too, thanks to the human tendency to buy more when you get more.

There are potential niceties to a point system. It just so happens Microsoft and Nintendo haven't employed them.

[goatdan]

Well to be fair, arcades did this to reduce the motivation for people to break into their games for the money inside. Microsoft doesn't have to worry about this.

Uhm, no?

Arcades did this for two reasons:

Reason 1 is what people mentioned -- you put in your money, you get X number of tokens, you can't spend them anywhere but there.

Reason 2 is that they could do deals for larger amounts of tokens. Stuff like 4 for a dollar, 24 for $5 (4 free), 50 for $10 (10 free) and so on was / is common. And guess what -- you don't spend all those tokens because it takes too long to play the games or you run out of things you want to play, and you have a physical reminder of how you need to go back to the arcade to spend them.

Remember -- there was still a machine to convert cash bills into tokens, and what would it be easier to make off with -- a wad of bills that could easily total a couple thousand bucks from one single machine, or tons of quarters from a machine that probably only has a couple hundred it it at most.