The phrase "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" might be up for some serious reconsideration. Microsoft no doubt angered a great many gamers with its various policies for its new console, the Xbox One, evidenced by numerous rants and memes online. But one dissatisfied customer in particular went old school with their displeasure with the company, opting to pen a well written, thoughtout letter where he knew it stood an excellent chance at being read by the company's higher ups - Gamasutra.
If you haven't met the author behind this post, allow me to introduce Jay Johnson. Johnson is not only a gamer, who like many others, expressed outrage with Microsoft, but he's also an upstanding member of society head and shoulders above many (yours truly at least, I'm writing this while wearing pajamas). Johnson is also a member of the US Navy, served in two combat tours, on three separate aircraft carriers, and a number of other detachments.
No doubt, a lot of us take having an internet connection for granted. Grabbing a cup of coffee, on a college campus, running errands around town, or you're at home or in a dorm, there's always a network set up. As such, a great many of you likely perscribe to the Adam Orth school of thought, and think that Microsoft's online requirement for the new console isn't a big deal. For the members of the service? No connection, no play, because Microsoft decided to eliminate that as an option without a connection. Thankfully, in the company's own words, "you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies."
Johnson calls Microsoft's online requirement, "the single greatest sin...committed against all service members." As Johnson laments, "No longer will the sounds of Master Chief saving the human race echo through the hallowed halls of the USS Abraham Lincoln, or any other USS Ship, when we have a few hours respite. No longer will you see Marcus and Dom sawing through the Locust Horde at the bases in Afghanistan after the Marines have returned from patrol and want to escape their reality for a bit. Those days are now firmly behind us. Microsoft has single handedly alienated the entire military, and not just the U.S. military, the militaries of the entire world."
Certainly a heavy charge.
Microsoft has yet to respond to Johnson's post, but took to defending their console, and the system's policies during E3 earlier this week. Oddly enough, it seems they had considered Johnson's problematic proposition, but only glossed over it. "If you have zero access to the internet then that [Xbox 360] is an offline device. Seriously, when I read the blogs and thought about who would be the most impacted it was a person who said, 'hey, I'm on a nuclear sub.' I don't even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub, but I've got to imagine it won't be easy to get an internet connection. I can empathise... I would be disappointed," said Microsoft's President of Interactive Business, Don Mattrick.
The only problem? With or without an internet connection, you could still play games on the 360.
Johnson's post is easily worth a read. You can find the whole thing in entirety at the Gamasutra link above.