TGS 2008: Microsoft: You WILL Make an Avatar, Dammit!

Ah, I just love looking back at the slippery slope that Microsoft has dared to tread upon. First, it was “you don’t have to use it, if you don’t want to,” which soon gave away to “there’s no going back” and “there is no escape, resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”

Now, Microsoft has fessed up and said straight up that they are forcing you to make a f@#$ing Avatar. You will sit there, shut your whore mouth, play with your virtual doll-self, and bloody-well f@#$ing like it!

That’s more or less the gist; here’s what was actually said:

“We’re forcing you to have a visual representation of yourself,” Greenberg said, when asked if he thought hardcore gamers would be put off by the requirement. “But you can make a pretty badass avatar.” — IGN

You can see a walkthrough of the creative process below:

All said, this just seems like they really don’t believe anyone would try this out if they didn’t have to. And so they’re strongarming all their users into trying it.