Xbox Live General Manger Discusses Haters, MS Fun Money

Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten addressed a range of questions in an interview with GameInformer, touching on but mostly deflecting the subjects of abusive online players and Microsoft’s use of points instead of money. Rather than disallow a rowdy bunch of 13 year olds from having a good ol’ homophobic time, Whitten explained that they’d rather allow every user to find the experience of their choice.

“Live is bigger than a lot of major cities, and just like cities there are parks and gardens and bars and restaurants and everything in between,” Whitten explained.  ”What I’d like to do is get better about telling you that you’re walking in to a bar and not the zoo.”  Whitten also cited their efforts to enforce policy to clean up the worst offenders.

On the topic of Zune Video, Whitten explained that they’ll be sticking with Microsoft points rather than using real currency, which is oddly different than the recently launched Games on Demand service, which lists prices in actual dollar amounts and charges directly.  He confusingly addressed the difference by, well, not really addressing it.

“I’ll put it this way: we want make it as easy as possible for people to have the entertainment experiences they want,” he said.  When pressed for further comment, he stated that they would “continue to focus on making the system simple, without giving you the roadmap.”

The full interview discusses other topics such as Live’s recent Twitter/Facebook implementation, possible uses of Natal, and Games on Demand.

[GameInformer via Bluesnews]