WORK: Hyper News – NZ Gamers Get The Short End Of The Straw

Here’s an old bit of news that was once new at the time it went to print. I really should follow-up on it to see if anything has changed, but first I need to stop distracting myself and write my essays. Hit the jump for the article I wrote for issue #192 of the ever lovely Hyper magazine. Issue #194 is on-sale RIGHT NOW. I’m sure this piece of information will excite many of your in the general pants region.

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If you think young gamers get an unfair rap, try being a young Xbox gamer living in New Zealand.

Across the Tasman, users of Xbox’s popular online network, LIVE, who had registered with child accounts found that they were unable to use their Microsoft Points after a Microsoft update in June. Users were also unable to make purchases over the network, or download games, trailers, music, or videos.

Initially it was thought to be a technical glitch as users were greeted with the message “Can’t retrieve information from Xbox LIVE. Please try again later. Status code: 80153065” when they tried to download content, but it later became apparent that this was a deliberate move on behalf of Microsoft to stop under-18s accessing mature content.

Anyone who had their Xbox set to New Zealand’s zone and had registered with a date-of-birth that the system recognised as making them under-18 years of age was automatically blocked from all Xbox Live downloads. At the time of writing, more than a month after the ban was implemented, underage gamers still do not have access to downloads.

In an official statement from Microsoft, it was explained that the company implemented the block as a safety measure to protect younger gamers.

“Microsoft is a responsible company and believes in working together with families to use media in ways that are fun, safe and healthy,” the statement, which was received by many media outlets said. “By default, under 18s are not given access to Xbox LIVE or the ability to download paid content from Xbox LIVE until an adult as consented.”

Users were given no warning of this when they logged onto LIVE, or when they purchased their Gold accounts or Microsoft points at retailers.

“After setting [Xbox LIVE] up, I could not download anything! Not even the under 18 content,” said Dorren Andrews, 16, who didn’t find out that he’d been locked out because of his age until he consulted the Xbox forums.

“The response from Xbox LIVE has been pitiful. After emailing them many times I had a load of different responses. My father rang the helpline in the USA and was told ‘my account had been banned and I had breached the terms and conditions and had no recourse; go to the forum pages’.”

Dorren is not alone. Many other Xbox users in New Zealand have received equally confusing responses from Microsoft. Oliver Lin, 15, who has been using the service for more than two and a half years said that when he tried to contact Microsoft to find out why he couldn’t access downloadable content, they could provide him with no information.

“I had to ring customer support nearly ten times in the last month,” he said.

“First they said it was government-mandated, and then they said it was their own initiative. So they lied to us. For about a month they would not even refund my Microsoft points. Then they said they would. Then they said they wouldn’t. Their support drove me crazy.”

When Hyper contacted the Internal Affairs department of the Consumer Affairs Ministry of New Zealand, we were told that they were unaware why a block was in place. Similarly, when we emailed New Zealand’s Office of Film and Literature Classification to ask if they’d played a role in the decision, we were kindly told: “The Office of Film and Literature Classification has had no involvement with Microsoft’s decision to ban its under-18 users from downloading content from Xbox Live.”

When we posed a series of questions to Microsoft to find out what was going on, all we could get was two official statements released by Xbox LIVE, which failed to address any of our queries.

“Microsoft has taken an initiative in New Zealand to ensure people under the age of 18 cannot access mature content,” the statement said. “We are working to limit access to content to the appropriate age group in New Zealand. This will take some time due to technical reasons. We are working to remove the ability for people under the age of 18 to add points until we can resolve this issue.”

For users whose points are already sitting in their accounts, Microsoft has offered to transfer those points into adult accounts, although this process has not been a smooth one.

“It took four phone calls before they [transferred the points], one of them lasting 30 minutes,” said Oliver Lin, who has 2290 points in his account. “Still, I’d rather have it on my account than a ‘fake one’. It seems funny that Microsoft tries to block kids downloading, then just tells them to make a fake account.”

“They are also sending me a free game as compensation. Funnily enough, it’s an R16 game. They even offered me Ninja Gaiden 2, which is R18,” he said.

By implementing such a block without informing customers before they purchase Gold accounts or points, Microsoft may have also violated the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act, which sees software as a good.

While it is still unclear what Microsoft’s plan of attack will be, it is clear that they have a lot of disgruntled customers on their hands.

“Overall, I’m extremely angry with Microsoft for not fixing this issue,” said Dorren Andrews. “I seriously want my money back for the time wasted [on a] wrongfully sold item and I wanted my money back for my Xbox because I can’t use it for the purpose it was bought for.”

Q&A WITH MICROSOFT

Or how we asked questions and they didn’t really answer them

When Hyper contacted Microsoft’s PR agency in New Zealand to find out what was going on, the response we received was…unhelpful. We asked questions along the lines of: Who decided to implement this block and why? Is this change temporary or permanent? Why were users not informed of this earlier and why have under-18 users been banned from downloading content appropriate for children? Will future Xbox LIVE users receive warning of this before they purchase Microsoft points?

Here are parts of the spiel they gave us that was meant to answer our questions:

“…All New Zealand content is still accessible via an adult account on any console, so parents can still download appropriate content for younger gamers to use on the same console, and for their own use. The update has had no impact on them chatting with friends online and young gamers can still enjoy the popular online multiplayer gameplay features.

Until we can restore downloads of appropriate content for under 18s, we are also working on removing the ability for people under the age of 18 to add points that can’t currently be spent…

Xbox wants New Zealanders to be assured that we take a responsible view on access to appropriate content and Xbox 360 has family setting that enable parents to manage the gaming experience in their home.”

A VIOLATION OF THE CGA

Microsoft may have violated New Zealand’s Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (CGA) by banning underage gamers from using all components of Xbox LIVE. The Act, which treats software as a good, states that, subject to section 41 of the CGA:

(a) That the goods are reasonably fit for any particular purpose that the consumer makes known, expressly or by implication, to the supplier as the purpose for which the goods are being acquired by the consumer; and

(b) That the goods are reasonably fit for any particular purpose for which the supplier represents that they are or will be fit.

If the Xbox Gold accounts and Microsoft Points were sold to those under 18 and the customers were then unable to use the accounts and points for their intended purpose, then this must be remedied by the supplier. At the time of writing, there has been no word about how Microsoft will handle the situation, or if the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will be looking further into this.