Changing Gamertags between Live accounts


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I have two XBox Live accounts, an active one with my acheivements, etc. on it, and an inactive one with nothing important on it.

The issue is the inactive one actually has the Gamertag I want on it. I would like to have that Gamertag on my other account. Is there any way of going about this? I know I can get the Gamertag changed on my active account, but the name I want would be unavailable since its on my other account.

I've thought of disabling the inactive account, but I don't know how long (if ever) it would take before the Gamertag would become available again.

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Are you wanting to have both gamertags merged onto one Windows Live ID? You explained it well, but not sure if I follow exactly what you're saying.

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You can swap the MS Accounts around, but the achievements, content, etc. are tied to the tag.

The only way around that is to purchase a Gamertag change. In the scenario you are in you would have to buy 2 changes.

The first to change the Gamertag that you want to something else, and the second on the account you are keeping to that now freed up Gamertag.

The problem is that once you change the tag it leaves it open. So if you don't snag it once it is released (which I cannot give a timeframe on as it varies a bit) then you are out of luck. :(

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You can swap the MS Accounts around, but the achievements, content, etc. are tied to the tag.

The only way around that is to purchase a Gamertag change. In the scenario you are in you would have to buy 2 changes.

The first to change the Gamertag that you want to something else, and the second on the account you are keeping to that now freed up Gamertag.

The problem is that once you change the tag it leaves it open. So if you don't snag it once it is released (which I cannot give a timeframe on as it varies a bit) then you are out of luck. :(

That's what I thought I would have to do. I didn't know if the name associated with account B would immediately become available once I had it changed or not.

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It's not always immediate. That's the big issue. It's a case of having to try to get it back after it's been released. I can tell you it's not a case of where it's a long period of time. However, there's not a way to know when it's going to happen. So it could be a minute, an hour, a few hours, etc.

So you'd have to sit on it and keep trying and making sure that no one else has snagged it yet.

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That's correct. 800 points per change. The price is mostly there as a deterrent to prevent constant name changes.

I guess that makes sense. Although, if there is an issue with gamertag changes, they could simply not offer the option at all.

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I guess that makes sense. Although, if there is an issue with gamertag changes, they could simply not offer the option at all.

They like the idea of customization and people being able to change things. They just figured adding in a small barrier would prevent it from being an every other day occurrence. :)
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They like the idea of customization and people being able to change things. They just figured adding in a small barrier would prevent it from being an every other day occurrence. :)

Seems somewhat contradictory. If customization and change is a goal of their's, charging an exorbitant fee to do so suggests it's very low on the list of customization priorities.

Who'd care if people changed their gamertag regularily? I doubt most people would anyway. If it is because people could change their gamertag to avoid moderation (cheating, abusive behavior), which is why they don't want it to be done freely, or cheaply, then I could appreciate that.

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Seems somewhat contradictory. If customization and change is a goal of their's, charging an exorbitant fee to do so suggests it's very low on the list of customization priorities.

Who'd care if people changed their gamertag regularily? I doubt most people would anyway. If it is because people could change their gamertag to avoid moderation (cheating, abusive behavior), which is why they don't want it to be done freely, or cheaply, then I could appreciate that.

It's about 'responsibility', would be my response to that.

If someone knows they have to pay for a change it may encourage them o be more responsible in how they behave online. It's sort if a reputation thing. It doesn't make it easier or harder for the people handling enforcement. It does attach a certain concept of consequences to actions online.

Think of it as a way of offsetting some of the effects of John Gabriel's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory.

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You can swap the MS Accounts around, but the achievements, content, etc. are tied to the tag.

The only way around that is to purchase a Gamertag change. In the scenario you are in you would have to buy 2 changes.

The first to change the Gamertag that you want to something else, and the second on the account you are keeping to that now freed up Gamertag.

The problem is that once you change the tag it leaves it open. So if you don't snag it once it is released (which I cannot give a timeframe on as it varies a bit) then you are out of luck. :(

Fortunately, I planned ahead; my Gamertag (tied to my Passport) was the one I migrated to Outlook.com - that way, all my achievements become not merely cross-platform (between Windows and XBOX) but *multiplatform* (if I decide to add WP8 to the mix). It's the same sort of thought that applies to PS3/PSP/PS Vita - and, in that case as well, it requires both preplanning and for the user to actually think.

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what i did was, get a month or 3 month trial on inactive, pay 800 points to change it to something else.

then wait about a month or two and that original gamertag becomes free again and change your active to it with another 800 points.

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what i did was, get a month or 3 month trial on inactive, pay 800 points to change it to something else.

then wait about a month or two and that original gamertag becomes free again and change your active to it with another 800 points.

It shouldn't take that long, and it also doesn't guarantee you'll get the tag back.

One thing to note though (and I should have mentioned this earlier) is normally when you do any sort of change/migration tasks with Xbox accounts it prevents you from doing further changes for 30 days.

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you should be able to change it easily but you'll just need to do some bouncing around.

you need a total of 3 Microsoft accounts

- Create a new Live.com or whatever account (DO NOT GO TO XBOX.COM WITH IT OR IT WILL AUTOCREATE A GAMERTAG FOR IT!!!!)

- Transfer your REAL gamertag to that fake live name (bad live account with good gamertag)

- Transfer bad gamertag to bad live account

- Transfer good gamertag from FAKE gamertag to your GOOD Live ID (Microsoft Account).

So to illustrate, you currently have this:

MSaccount@live.com - crappygamertag

crappyMSaccount@live.com - GOODgamertag

Once you create the 3rd one (extracrappyMSaccount@live.com) you can then transfer and do the dance I mentioned above.

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There's still a gamertag I want which is an original Xbox one, it never got deleted dispite them saying they would delete the old tags.

And yes, this isn't a Zune tag or any other BS service. I've wanted it since Live first came out.

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you should be able to change it easily but you'll just need to do some bouncing around.

you need a total of 3 Microsoft accounts

- Create a new Live.com or whatever account (DO NOT GO TO XBOX.COM WITH IT OR IT WILL AUTOCREATE A GAMERTAG FOR IT!!!!)

- Transfer your REAL gamertag to that fake live name (bad live account with good gamertag)

- Transfer bad gamertag to bad live account

- Transfer good gamertag from FAKE gamertag to your GOOD Live ID (Microsoft Account).

So to illustrate, you currently have this:

MSaccount@live.com - crappygamertag

crappyMSaccount@live.com - GOODgamertag

Once you create the 3rd one (extracrappyMSaccount@live.com) you can then transfer and do the dance I mentioned above.

Bouncing the Gamertag between accounts like that will result in being able to do this, but it will take a couple months in order to accomplish the end goals.

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Well it did take that long,for me anyways, and it was recent too. It would show up on the roulette gamertag option but would always say it's been used, gather it's a security precaution to make sure a persons account isn't falsely changed, and it makes sense.

But yes it depends on how unique the gamertag is really to if he/she will be able to get it back after the time allotted.

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Bouncing the Gamertag between accounts like that will result in being able to do this, but it will take a couple months in order to accomplish the end goals.

Definitely shouldn't, I did it all in 1 day while on the phone with Xbox Customer Support, that's how I found out how to do that. She had me create one and walk me thru the steps on the Xbox of how to do it. Took about 45mins or so.

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Definitely shouldn't, I did it all in 1 day while on the phone with Xbox Customer Support, that's how I found out how to do that. She had me create one and walk me thru the steps on the Xbox of how to do it. Took about 45mins or so.

Hmm. Newly created MS Accounts won't allow a Gamertag to be transferred in for 30 days. So that type of bouncing should take about 2 months total. I've been through the same process, just a few months ago. I'm also surprised that one of the normal support staff would outline this process. They generally do not have this type of information available, unless that has changed recently.

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you should be able to change it easily but you'll just need to do some bouncing around.

you need a total of 3 Microsoft accounts

- Create a new Live.com or whatever account (DO NOT GO TO XBOX.COM WITH IT OR IT WILL AUTOCREATE A GAMERTAG FOR IT!!!!)

Wish I knew this in advance. Don't have an Xbox, but tried the Games app in Windows 8 and it automatically created an extremely lame gamertag for me, and there doesn't appear to be a way to change it (the change gamertag page is completely blank). I was planning to transfer over the existing gamertag on my older Hotmail account.

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