Talk:Live Search Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There hasn't been an article on this, as far as I know, but Live Search Club has been something of a clusterfuck. The prizes were worth a lot of money, including Windows Vista Ultimate which retails for $400, and through various forms of cheating could be had after playing for only an hour or so, or could be won legitimately after playing for perhaps 6 hours.

The majority of the players have probably been various types of bots, winning probably tens of thousands of copies of Windows Vista between them. As of now Microsoft is trying to clean all this up and find ways to stop the bots and other hacking programs from robbing them blind. I doubt there is a reliable source on all of this yet, though. --Xyzzyplugh 14:51, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Fair? Unfair?

Well, I've been playing Chicktionary for awhile with an anagram dictionary, and it seems to be within the rules. They do have a mildly effective CAPTCHA if you type the letters too fast. Besides, Microsoft probably gets some sort of bonus from the ad companies for each hit their search gets, or something like that. So really, you should feel bad for the ad companies; they're funding the "clusterfuck". (Please respond on my talk page if you must.) tinlv7 20:30, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Not really. Microsoft was well-aware of the fact that people would eventually begin cheating at the games. They aren't so stupid as to believe that any single product will be unhackable. Every single time they release anything, they are fully aware of the risks of people hacking the software.
So, with them being aware of this, they knowingly let advertisers begin funding this project, knowing that at some point, the advertisers won't get the money they deserve anymore. Hopefully the advertisers were also aware of this.
Really, nobody should feel sorry for anybody, here. It's just a bunch of big corporations getting more money, and losing a tiny bit in minor prizes. Not a huge deal, really. -D14BL0 00:03, 18 July 2007 (UTC)


I do not even know how bots work let alone have any. But the Live Search people have decided I am using them and refuse to ship my prizes about 7,000 points. Getting a response from them other than automatic is almost impossible. It is just another rip off site. (starch) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.238.160.96 (talk) 12:43, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy section

Does anyone have a source for the ticket limits and/or the claim that Microsoft put them in as a response to people using bots? Dave6 talk 03:36, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

As stated in the article, there has never been an official confirmation from Microsoft regarding this issue. Regardless, the ticket limit has been proven by people who have reached the limit and are unable to earn any more tickets once they reach that limit. -D14BL0 17:49, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Isn't it possible these people have just run through the available games for each of these game types? NaySay 15:48, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Suddenly I find that the page is completely unavailable. I get a "page not found" or "Error" message. Does anyone know anything about this. I know it's their end, but how does one contact them to find out what's going on? 03:50, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Check your certificates. They may have expired. NaySay 15:48, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
Wipe out all your Microsoft, Live Search and Live cookies. Then try it. After that, don't have the computer remember your password or login. That means you will have to sign in each time. 70.188.129.49 19:51, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
No, I'm having the same problem and I delete my cookies and temp files all the time. It's been this way for a few weeks now...are you still having the problem?
My problem seems resolved. But I had to try a lot of things to get back in. I have to reiterate that you can't keep your name and password in the cookie; you've got to sign in each time. Also, another problem was the browser. There are fewer problems if you use IE (no surprise.) Also, things got a lot easier when I uploaded a newer operating system (but not Vista.) But it still locked me out if I kept my login/pw in a cookie. I must say the MS did try to help, which I appreciated. But in the end, I seem to have worked it out myself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by NaySay (talk • contribs) 17:08, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm having an issue lately with getting the Captcha to load. I haven't been able to play anything for a couple of weeks. I can log in, the separate window opens up and then it just says "Loading" under the instructions to enter characters to continue. I clear my cookies, etc. a couple of times a day (and obviously have to log in again each time) and have done so for years now. This wasn't a problem with the games for several months so I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Can any tell me how to force the characters to load, please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Computerchallenged (talk • contribs) 15:16, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Removed games

It appears that though the Red Carpet and Elvis games have been removed, their pages are still up. http://club.live.com/red_carpet_reveal.aspx http://club.live.com/elvis_lives.aspx

I'm pretty sure that's some sort of overlooked glitch, as if you try to play either of those games, it loads up Chicktionary. D14BL0 17:48, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
I think they were just fixing them, because Red Carpet Reveal is back.Dude902 22:03, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Typos

Should we leave the typo about the 'Mens T-Shrits' there? It's quit obvious they mean 'T-Shirts' and not 'T-Shrits'. Mr.KlicK 18:26, 27 July 2007 (UTC)Mr.KlicK

Who are we to question the shrits.
Shrits are a higher-class of shirt...pssh, everybody knows that!

[edit] Shipments

No prizes have shipped to anyone since June. The terms of service say limited rewards. Microsoft could theoretically have run out of rewards, and is making pure profit off the website now.

Can someone confirm anything along this lines? For when a valid account currently orders a reward, it indicates "In Stock", which would forcibly mean that Microsoft has not run out of rewards. -thurago
I got my prize on 8/17/07--Princess Homestar 00:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
The only reason that prizes have not come, is because people have been cheating. Legit play still gets you prizes. I also think this talk page is becoming a 'forum' in itself. 76.223.203.165 21:44, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

i got a prize in November —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.171.169.16 (talk) 04:00, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

I got my prize today (November 3, 2007), so there still is some activity, despite the fact that the actual website seems to be non-existant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.171.0.146 (talk) 20:00, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

I ordered the XBox 360 wireless controller, and it came nearly a month before they said they would ship it. It was supposed to be shipped 11/30/2007, but it arrived the beginning of November. JadedHeart (talk) 11:42, 24 November 2007 (UTC) I ordered A Flight Simulator game it ended up coming 8 months later and about 5 months late —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.61.190 (talk) 21:23, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

I ordered an Xbox 360 wireless controller and 2 games at different times, all legit, and it's been well over a month since they were supposed to be shipped and I still haven't heard anything about them. I've contacted them a few times and never got any kind of reply from them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.223.68.35 (talk) 06:42, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

I order a prize back in Novemeber and still haven't recieved it. It is now February and I emailed them about it. I got nothing back from them for awhile...when I did get a response it was accusing me of cheating to get the points for that prize. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.58.154.100 (talk) 20:01, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I actually cheated to get all of my points, and I got a shipment confirmation TODAY. Soemone else got a backorder notice yesterday (74.183.138.133 (talk) 05:18, 27 March 2008 (UTC))

I received flight simulator X deluxe dvd today. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.153.126.198 (talk) 22:03, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

It seems they are sending items in bulk first it was flight simulator a couple of my friends got it the same day as me then it was t-shirts I wounder if i'll even get my zune I ordered legitly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.61.190 (talk) 20:25, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

I have gotten all prizes ordered; almost all came at least several weeks early.

[edit] Elvis Lives

If you check out the link to the previous game, Elvis Lives ( http://club.live.com/elvis_lives.aspx ), the name has been changed to Star Shuffle. This could be a hint at a re-release of the game.

Also, does anyone have the current limit on Red Carpet Reveal? It needs to be added to the main page. CaffeineJunkie 18:30, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

I just got a shipping confirmation for my Zune today. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.131.211.32 (talk) 01:55, August 20, 2007 (UTC)

I received confirmation on Oct. 07, 2007 for points redeemed for Microsoft Zune with a shipping date of Nov. 30, 2007. To date I have not received my prize and subsequent letters via snail mail (as emailing customer service is a JOKE!) have received zero response. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.188.205.72 (talk) 14:17, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with 'Elvis Lives'. 76.223.203.165 21:45, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Remove the 'current cap' section?

Most of the edits to this page are changing the caps to the games. None of these have been confirmed, and the caps are subject to change at Microsoft's whim anyway. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Youdummy (talk • contribs) 21:52, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

They added more tickets a while ago so the caps have been raised. On a side note, I'm sad that I won't be getting three Vista Ultimates. I haven't checked this in a looooooong time. 209.91.61.223 02:32, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unnecessary prize list

I think that the prize list is not really necessary as a Wikipedia article. Maybe just saying that there are prizes would be best. Dude902 (talk) 00:31, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ping

Does club.live.com not respond to ping for everybody else too? --Alph Tech STUART (talk) 23:27, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] access ability to live search club

i played my rear off for points/tickets for over a month and accumulated 1/3 of what i need for a prize. I tried to access site this am (and still) and cannot get into it. browser just keeps returning me to msn home page and says "signing out of live search". What gives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.217.86.190 (talk) 21:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)