So..How does accounts work in PC gaming?

[wrenaudrey]

In a Xbox you make one gamertag, however many games you have, that gamertag you have chosen is the name you have across all your games, unless ofcourse you pay to change it.

So how does it work in PC?
Is there a "main server" where you make your name and that's your name for all games that you will buy in the future?
Would you need to make a name for every game you have/buy?

Also kind of off the topic, what do you guys use to communicate (voice) while in game, apart from the given chat box in the game?

Thank you all in advance 😀

 

[rpg_poser]

The best thing about owning a PC for gaming is it's flexibility. Playing games is one of the many things you can do with one. You tell your PC what to do by using it's operating system. There are many ways to get games for your PC. Some of them don't require you to create a gamertag or sign in at all.
It's very different than say an xbox360, which is what I guess you are used to. The xbox can only play games programmed for it, and for a lot of them, you must sign into xbox live to play them.
Even though you may not understand this yet, a PC gives you much more freedom, but you will have to learn how to use it.
To answer your other question, there are many different voice chat programs available. I have used teamspeak and ventrillo. Ventrillo worked the best.

 

[jwk3]

With PC there is no main server like there are on the console alternatives. Instead it depends on the game that you play on as to how you get or change your name. For instance I play a couple of games produced by Origin (BF3 and NFSTR). When I installed the first game I had to create an Origin account, which is kind of like an Xbox gamertag but ONLY for Origin games. You can have friend lists and text chat there. Another game that I play is COD4, this doesnt require you to sign in or up for anything, you litterally choose your name there and then when you load the game, you can even change your name in-game!

There are also 3rd party programs like Xfire (free) , which are there as the PC version of Xbox live. you can have friends lists/profiles, have voice and text chat, stuff like that.

to tie into your second question, I sometimes use either skype or Xfire to have voice chats, as well as "teamspeak". Teamspeak is a voice chat program like skype, but is designed for larger groups and has to be hosted somewhere, with multiple chat rooms and settings.

 

[AntiZig]

In a Xbox you make one gamertag, however many games you have, that gamertag you have chosen is the name you have across all your games, unless ofcourse you pay to change it.

So how does it work in PC?
Is there a "main server" where you make your name and that's your name for all games that you will buy in the future?
Would you need to make a name for every game you have/buy?

Also kind of off the topic, what do you guys use to communicate (voice) while in game, apart from the given chat box in the game?

Thank you all in advance 😀

1. There's no main server, it all depends on the game you're playing. There are a few publisher platforms that allow you to have a unified account, some games will require you to create an account in-game, others will not. (publisher platforms include but not limited to: steam, origin, uplay, games for windows live) In case with steam for example, your steam account acts as a gamertag, but if you get a game that isn't part of steam you will have to create a different account if the game requires you to do so. So, long story short, I think the simple answer is you will have to create a new account for every game you have/buy, although some games don't require you to do so.

2. VOIP communication is included as part of some games (source engine includes the functionality by default so games that built on it have the VOIP built-in, examples Counter Strike, Left for Dead, Team Fortress, Dota 2, etc). There are also dedicated programs for voice chatting, some of them have the capability for video chat as well: MSN (Live), Skype, xfire, ventrillo, teamspeak, mumble. as jwk3 mentioined programs like ventrillo, teamspeak and mumble are intended for large user base with various chat rooms, so often times they require a dedicated server to be hosting the server program that services the clients.

 

[wrenaudrey]

Best answer selected by wrenaudrey.

 

[wrenaudrey]

Thank you all for your feedback. I now understand. Thank you.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey