When Microsoft launched Xbox LIVE in 2002, it introduced a concept not seen before: the gamertag. Now, the basic premise of the gamertag is not revolutionary, a name you make that you will be identified in online multiplayer games, the function of it being tied to a subscription service made it different. In order to use a gamertag in an online game on the Xbox or Xbox 360, you must pay for Xbox LIVE Gold, a subscription service that costs $49.99 a year.
In the past, online games allowed you to choose your name when you entered the match. This created utter anonymity. Not only did it prevent anyone from knowing who a player really was, it also removed all consequence for his or her actions. With anonymity comes a tendency to do or say things that a person would not do in face to face communication. In an online community without subscriptions, if someone got punished for acting like a jerk, all they had to do was log out, make a new name, and log back in.
However, with a Gamertag, there is a value with that name. If a developer bans you from the game, you have to spend more money to make a new account. Accounts need to be associated with credit cards as well, so if a credit card is associated with many accounts and all of them have been deemed to be troublemakers, the credit card info can be banned from the service as well.
Microsoft may have been only looking for another way for them to get money, but they ended up creating an online community where bad behavior, while not completely eradicated, has a real noticeable cost to it.
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