How to set up an Xbox Live account on Windows 10?

Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system in November 2002. An updated version of the service became available for the Xbox 360 console at the system’s launch in November 2005, and a further enhanced version was released in 2013 with the Xbox One.

The service was extended in 2007 on the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, which makes most aspects of the system available on Windows computers. Microsoft has announced plans to extend Live to other platforms such as handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Live Anywhere initiative. With Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone, full Xbox Live functionality is integrated into new Windows Phones that launched since late 2010. The service shut down for the original Xbox on April 15, 2010, and original Xbox Games are now only playable online through local area networ (LAN) tunnelling applications such as XLink Kai.

The Xbox Live service is available as both a free service, known as Xbox Live Silver and a subscription-based service known as Xbox Live Gold, respectively, with most features such as online gaming restricted to the Gold service.

So to get started with Xbox Live on Windows 10 for gaming thus you first need to an Xbox live profile linked to your Microsoft account. This will provide access to the entire Xbox Live network, including multiplayer and social features.

You’ll first need to have an existing Microsoft account linked to your copy of Windows 10. This will make for a quicker setup of your Xbox Live profile. After forming the link, you’ll be ready to join Xbox Live. Using Windows 10’s integrated Xbox app, setting up a profile is simple.

Simply Press the Windows key on your keyboard.

Type Xbox.

Open the Xbox app for Windows 10. After a few seconds of loading, an Xbox Live introductory screen will be displayed. If a “Welcome back!” page is displayed, an Xbox Live profile is already linked to your Microsoft account.

Click Next to start the setup process.

Enter your preferred Xbox Live “gamertag.” This is a unique username to represent you on Xbox Live. Alternatively, you can choose your automatically assigned Gamertag and change it for free over the next 30 days.

Choose a “gamerpic” for you profile. This is the profile picture that represents you on Xbox Live. After your account has been created you can change your gamerpic freely and even upload your own image files.

Click Next to continue the setup process.

Click Let’s play to complete the setup process. An Xbox Live profile is now associated with your Microsoft account.

If you have an existing Xbox Live account on Windows 10

If you’ve owned an Xbox, you likely have an Xbox Live profile. Before attempting to recover your Xbox Live profile, ensure your Microsoft account is linked to your copy of Windows 10 as said above.

Using the same account linked to your Xbox Live profile will help you keep everything under a single set of credentials. Once your set up, just follow the steps below to sign in with your existing profile.

Press the Windows key on your keyboard.

Type Xbox.

Open the Xbox app for Windows 10. After a brief period of loading, a “Welcome back!” page is displayed.

Click Lets play to complete the setup process.

After setting up the Xbox app with an Xbox Live account, you’ll now be ready for Windows 10 gaming. Going forward, Xbox Live-enabled games will automatically lift your account information from the Xbox app, making for a seamless sign-in process across all titles.

Few words or terms you will come across when using Xbox live profile:

Gamertag

A Gamertag is the universal name for a player’s username on Xbox Live. A Gamertag used online must be unique and can be up to fifteen characters in length, including numbers, letters, and spaces. Gamertags can be changed using an Xbox One or Xbox 360 console (first time is free, then for a price of $10), the Xbox 360 supports eight Xbox Live-enabled profiles per memory unit and thirty-two profiles on the hard drive.

A player’s Gamertag account status can be checked using a variety of online tools, which is useful especially when looking for a new Gamertag, or confirming that a Gamertag exists. Using a valid Gamertag, any player can be located and messaged from within Live. There are also several websites which allow users of Gamertags to upload photos and information about themselves.

Gamertags can be used in a variety of places, including Games for Windows – Live,  Zune, XNA Creators Club, and of course on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Gamertags also contain avatar images (or “gamer pictures”), sometimes associated with certain games or game characters. On Xbox 360, individual gamerpics cost between $0.17 and $0.25, but they are usually bundled into packs; packs of four or five gamerpics usually cost $1, while packs of ten typically cost $1.87. It is also possible to take “Public” pictures which are shown to all that view a profile, unless the user has a different “personal” picture set which can be taken of avatars while using the avatar editor.

Gamerscore

The Gamerscore (G) is an achievements point accumulation system that reflects the number of achievements accumulated by a user on Xbox Live through the displaying of the number of points accumulated. These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches and other various in game challenges.

Initially, retail Xbox 360 games offered up to 1,000G spread over a variable number of Achievements, while each Xbox Live Arcade title contained 12 Achievements totaling 200G.

Gamercard

The Gamercard is an information panel used to summarize one’s user profile on Microsoft’s Xbox Live. The pieces of information on a Gamercard include:

• Gamertag (in front a silver or gold bar) (active gold members who have had Xbox Live for less than a year feature small bubbles. Anything a year or over will feature the number of years.)
• Gamer picture
• Reputation
• Gamerscore
• Gamer Zone
• Recent games played

A player’s Gamercard can be viewed via the Xbox 360 Dashboard, or online through Xbox.com. The top bar that displays the Gamertag is shown in front of either a silver or gold bar which designates if the gamer has an Xbox Live Free or Gold subscription (respectively

TrueSkill

TrueSkill is a ranking and matchmaking system which was first implemented as part of the Xbox 360’s Live services. Developed at Microsoft Research Cambridge (United Kingdom), the TrueSkill ranking system is now used in over 150 titles for the Xbox 360 and in the Games for Windows – Live game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. It uses a mathematical model of uncertainty to address weaknesses in existing ranking systems such as Elo. For example, a new player joining million-player leagues can be ranked correctly in fewer than 20 games. It can predict the probability of each game outcome, which enhances competitive matchmaking, making it possible to assemble skill-balanced teams from a group of players with different abilities.

Now enjoy your favourite games on WIndows 10 with Xbox live.