Merging Profiles – A How Not To

Merging Profiles – A How Not To

Oct 09

Let me start by saying that there are very few things in this world that manage to piss me off like Microsoft does. Very few. I’d rattle them all off for you except I’m still so dumbfounded that all I can think of is PETA and John and Kate Plus 8.

Anyways, back to Microsoft…

Here’s the deal – I don’t get on Xbox Live much anymore. I let my membership expire a couple years ago, and have since then been buying my multiplayer games on the PS3. However, Xbox does have some exclusives that I like to play now and again, so I recovered my old gamertag and decided to start playing again. However, there are a few problems – I used to play 360 on my roommates console, and that’s where my gamertag was associated. My girlfriend bought me a 360 a couple Christmas’ ago (badass eh?) and have been playing it non-stop since. Some of you can probably see where I’m going with this – I recovered my gamertag, and I now have two profiles on my 360. And Microsoft makes merging profiles a complete and utter pain in the ass.

First I tried just figuring it out on my own. However, it became quickly apparent that I was probably going to end up deleting my profile or something stupid without further instruction, so I pulled up google and entered “merge xbox profiles.”

Firefox predicted my entry at the first “x.” This is either a really good sign, or a bad one.

The first result looked promising. It was from xbox.com and seemed to address the exact question that I had. However, when I pulled it up, things got a little hairy.

Here are the instructions as Microsoft gives them:

If you’ve created an offline profile on your console and want to keep it, and you’ve also created a profile at Xbox.com, you essentially have two separate profiles, one on your console and one on Xbox Live. To get your offline profile online with the same gamertag, and with all your achievements intact, you have to get rid of your placeholder Xbox Live profile and supplant it with your offline profile.

The tools for doing this are all on your Xbox 360™ console; you just have to do some shuffling around to make it work.

Note: This procedure does not apply to anyone who is already a member of Xbox Live when they first use Xbox 360. It is only for Xbox 360 users who have built up achievements in offline play and who created a gamer card at Xbox.com before joining Xbox Live. If you don’t want to keep your offline achievements, there’s no need to follow this procedure.

1. From either the Xbox Dashboard or the Xbox Guide, call up your gamer profile and select Edit Gamer Profile. Let’s say your gamertag (profile name) in both cases is Trixie360.

2. Select Profile Name.

3. Enter a new gamer profile name, say, Trixie361. (Alternatively, you could move your profile as is, without changing its name, to an Xbox 360 Memory Unit for safe keeping. See How to Use Your Xbox 360 Memory Unit for details about moving or deleting an item from your memory unit.)

4. Sign out (X) of the Xbox Dashboard.

5. Go to the Xbox Live area and select the Xbox Live banner, then select Join Xbox Live and follow the on-screen instructions.

6. At the gamertag screen, enter your gamertag, Trixie360. When you see the Gamertag In Use screen, select Recover Gamertag and follow the on-screen instructions. Be sure to keep your Microsoft Passport Network account password and e-mail address handy, and make sure you create a free Xbox Live Silver Membership, since you will probably not keep or use this membership after this procedure.

7. Once you’ve recovered your online Xbox.com profile for Trixie360 to your console, repeat steps one and two above to change the name of this gamertag to something other than Trixie360, say, Trixie362. (From Edit Gamer Profile, select Gamertag.)

Note: You must redeem Microsoft Points to change a gamertag linked to an Xbox Live membership. If you have no Points you’ll have the option to purchase them. For more information, see Account Management FAQ: Microsoft Points.

At this stage you’ll have two profiles, neither of which is named for your original gamertag. Trixie360 is now available.

8. Sign out (X) of the Xbox Dashboard.

9. Select Sign In, then select your original (but renamed) profile, Trixie361.

10. Quick like a mouse, before another gamer grabs your now-free gamertag, repeat steps one and two to change the name of Trixie361—with which all your games and achievements are now associated—back to your original gamertag, Trixie360. (If you moved Trixie360 to a memory unit in step three, this would be the time to move it back to your Xbox 360 console, no additional name changing required.)

11. 12. Now you can delete Trixie362 from your console. See How to Use Your Xbox 360 Memory Unit for details about moving or deleting an item from your memory unit.

Now here is the funny part – xbox.com describes this as something that takes some “shuffling around to make work.” Doesn’t sound very reassuring does it? And in case you didn’t catch the best part, this involves turning in Microsoft Points as well! As it turns out, this process takes 800 points, which is the equivalent to about $10. While that isn’t a ton, it’s enough to keep me from attempting to merge these profiles (even if it weren’t pretty confusing.) And at the end of the day, I’m not sure if I even get to keep my points from the old profile!

In all reality, it isn’t that big of a deal, right? Well for me, it kinda is. You see, I have a lot of achievements on my “offline” account that I’m kinda proud of. Its not every day that you meet someone nerdy enough to have all the achievements in Oblivion, Madden, and Mass Effect too. And then there are the old games I used to play on Xbox Live as well. If achievements weren’t designed to show your dominance to the herd, then what’s the point? I want all the 10 year olds playing World at War to know who the alpha is, and this is putting a damper on things.

Why hasn’t Microsoft made this process any easier yet? I kept searching and searching and all I found is other people, just like me, griping a moaning on the forums about how ridiculous this really is. And if they aren’t complaining about that, they’re complaining that they accidentally deleted one of the profiles for good and lost all their achievements.

So why is it that now Microsoft wants to fleece its customers for even MORE money, just to change their gamertag? And why on earth should you have to change your gamertag just to merge two profiles? I find it very hard to believe that the think-tank over at Microsoft has yet to figure out a fix for this, as it probably took longer to write the “how to” than it would to write the code. And taking into consideration that I’m obviously not the only person out there ticked about this, I can’t believe anyone (but Microsoft) wouldn’t have fixed this by now.

I guess when its all said and done, I’m starting to become a believer in Sony’s mantra that while the PS3’s initial price may be higher than Xbox, it quickly pays for itself when you add on all the extras that you need to make the 360 function at the level the PS3 does. No wonder Sony has basically turned what used to be my seXbox into the eXbox when it comes to online gaming.