User management is absolutely awful!

[Scenario]

I love Rock Band. I've bought one for 360 and one for PS3. But I've got to say, there's nothing more infuriating than the way Rock Band handles multiple users. It is ridiculous to have to create a character per player per instrument. Common sense dictates that in such a social game, players are going to want to switch instruments on a whim, using the same character they created. But instead, we get a total trainwreck of a user interface from Harmonix and EA. If I were the program manager on this product, it would not have shipped until that scenario was nailed.

What's worse, when a new user creates a named, multi-player band, that user is soon going to realize this ******ed limitation and they're naturally going to delete that band and try to recreate it ad nauseam. Then they run into the other infuriating problem: Deleting a band doesn't delete it off the server, so that means you can't reuse a band name you created. And that's doubly ******ed.

Rock Band's designers and developers should be ashamed of these problems and having spent $100's of dollars on this product, we should all demand and expect a revision released ASAP.

P.S. Please don't bother telling me that I should search before I post. I'm sure this issue has been griped about a thousand times, but the search feature on this site doesn't seem to work.

[cuddie]

Agreed, but I don't see it as THAT big of a problem. I'd rather have 1)BWT Online Patch and 2) More DLC.

[Scenario]

It IS that big of a deal when it causes your kids to fight on Christmas day over who needs to log out and who's the leader and who should touch the controls and who needs to spend another 20 minutes recreating their character with the new instrument they want to play-- all while setting up Rock Band on their 360 before even playing their first song.

And when my girlfriend and I set up our new PS3 this week, we wound up yelling obscenities at Harmonix's "MIT graduate" designers because we couldn't figure this seemingly simple problem out. It's all compounded by the fact that the PS3 has multiple user accounts, which at a top level implies that you can create "yourself" once and use that profile in any game.

I'm a UI designer with 20 years experience so I know these problems intimately (they can create customer support nightmares), and what's astounding is that Rock Band is easily the game of the year despite completely botching this part of its user experience.

[McDreads]

I also agree, however, there are bigger problems that need to be dealt with.

[ncspacemonkey]

Still can't play the game (hopefully tomorrow...) but I have a question: If I have many characters created under my profile (X360), can friends use any of my characters when they come over to play? Or do multiple players require multiple profiles with separate characters under them?

[Fyrus]

I also found this annoying, and wished that we could let one character play more than one instrument or switch places in a band. I doubt its a thing fixable by a simple patch though.

[Lady Siara]

Still can't play the game (hopefully tomorrow...) but I have a question: If I have many characters created under my profile (X360), can friends use any of my characters when they come over to play? Or do multiple players require multiple profiles with separate characters under them?

I'm not sure what the case is if they want to use THEIR own gamertag, but I know if you sign them in as guests that they can use your characters.

While it is a pain, once you get used to it, it doesn't take more than a minute or two to switch instruments.

[shadebug]

I think it's probably an issue with career mode. If you let characters be able to play all parts then in solo career they're earning money from 12 different tours. This means that the unlockables have to be priced to match which forces people to play all the instruments to be able to customise their characters fully. If you see what i mean.

Personally, I see why it's annoying, but it also means I get to flex my creative muscles and create more characters, even if they are all different spins on me. We have formal me who plays guitar in a suit and bald most times and in full on morning suit with the top hat and that goatee with the moustache sides when in the band. We have casual me who is closest to me in real life and is a very casual singer in cords and a tshirt with a ragged beard. And disshevelled me who plays drums topless with frayed shorts and loose boots and has messy hair and a long beard and the mummy wrap gloves.

If only I could make a band with all three (and play as them) it'd be awesome.

As for getting the kids to not fight, that's called parenting. the fact is that the first few hours of rock band should be spent creating characters and coming up with a band name that fools the censor.

On the subject of band name, this is simulation of a real band, if you break up a band and kill it off you can't start a new band with the same name. It'd be an insult to the fans. Just look at guns n roses

[davidshek]

I'm not sure what the case is if they want to use THEIR own gamertag, but I know if you sign them in as guests that they can use your characters.

Under one gamertag, you can create up to 8 character per instrument. That means 8 guitarists/bassists (it's shared, so you only get 8, not 16), 8 vocalists, and 8 drummers.

If your friends sign into your xbox with their own Gamertag, they'll have to create new characters, as yours will not be available to them. If they just get on as a Guest, they can use yours.

[HeadHunter67]

It IS that big of a deal when it causes your kids to fight on Christmas day over who needs to log out and who's the leader and who should touch the controls and who needs to spend another 20 minutes recreating their character with the new instrument they want to play
I'd guess this isn't the only time your kids fight like that. So RB is just an example, not the underlying issue. ;)

[HatTrick924]

Under one gamertag, you can create up to 8 character per instrument. That means 8 guitarists/bassists (it's shared, so you only get 8, not 16), 8 vocalists, and 8 drummers.

If your friends sign into your xbox with their own Gamertag, they'll have to create new characters, as yours will not be available to them. If they just get on as a Guest, they can use yours.

I have a question along the same lines as the above.

A while back, my wife and I created a 2 person band under my XBoxLive Gamertag with the intention of just trying the BWT out (my wife was only casually interested in the game at the time). Fast forward 2 months, my wife is as addicted as I am to the game and wants to start tracking achivements and leaderboard bragging rights.... :)

Is there anyway to migrate her existing BWT character from my gamertag to hers without a memorystick?

[Jaytee93]

Hmm...
Bombs exploding in the middle East.
Children dying in Kenya and Darfur.
....
Me playing Rock Band with an big ice cold beer with 3 of my best friends.
Does user management really matter?

[NoD]

Not being a jerk, I do not see what the problem is.

You create Joe Blow as Drummer
You create Suzy as Guitar player

What's preventing users from switching instruments
You play 1st as guitar next song as drummer
She play 1st song as drummer next song as guitar.

I created Band(s) and have had plenty of people play different instruments.

Is the issue the no of Band you can create, not getting it.

[Dzhokhar]

Hmm...
Bombs exploding in the middle East.
Children dying in Kenya and Darfur.
....
Me playing Rock Band with an big ice cold beer with 3 of my best friends.
Does user management really matter?

Says the guy posting on a forum about Rock Band...... :confused:
Go join the army.

[shadebug]

yeah, no good having children dying in darfur, go out and make sure they're dead

[Cash_Newman]

I could not have stated the problem any better than Scenario did. I grew infuriated with the character control that Harmonix built into the game. Oh well, at least I've grown somewhat used to it, but I am less enthused that my band is now "Newlers" instead of "The Newlers"

Still Rock Band kicks ass :)

[vsTerminus]

I always tell my friends to create themselves for the instrument they like best (or play best) and then if they want to play another instrument to create someone from a TV show or something.

As a result, I have the entire band (save Murderface) from Metalocalypse on my Xbox. Skwisgaar, Toki, Pickles and Nathan. When we aren't using characters modelled after ourselves, we typically use these characters. Or one of my other ridiculous other characters :)

It does get confusing though when we all load up our "me" characters and then switch instruments. You see your name on the screen, but that's not the right chart anymore!

[Destnaru]

In my opinion the original poster makes some very good points and those are things that I found to be very aggravating about the game as well.
This game has so much potential to be great but it is pretty messed up at the moment.
I really hate the fact that some band names that I was playing around with are now regarded as "already being used" even though they are not, and I can't do anything to free up the name.

Can't find a second guitar controller for the PS3 for under $120 US. even though that is more the fault of Activision and Sony for restricting the patch than it is Harmonix but in my opinion they shouldn't have locked in the spec to begin with.

Yeah, the game definitely has some issues but hopefully they will eventually fix them.
I am trying to be optimistic because I really do like the game. (the DLC not withstanding)

[Gryffindor]

There is a reason why created characters can't play differing instruments - BWT and unlockables.

The best example I can give is BWT and the Endless Setlist and the awarding of clear instruments and medallions. While you may be an Expert guitarist you would be miscatagorized as an Expert vocalist and Expert drummer even though it's unlikely (not impossible though) that is truly the case.

[davidshek]

Is there anyway to migrate her existing BWT character from my gamertag to hers without a memorystick?

Unfortunately no, you can't move characters between gamertags, even if you had a memory card.

The guys in my BWT had the same problem at first, but they just created new chars and now use a memory card to carry their profiles and RB Save Game back and forth from my house to theirs (mine has the bigger TV and sound system, so we always play here ;))

[HatTrick924]

Unfortunately no, you can't move characters between gamertags, even if you had a memory card.

The guys in my BWT had the same problem at first, but they just created new chars and now use a memory card to carry their profiles and RB Save Game back and forth from my house to theirs (mine has the bigger TV and sound system, so we always play here ;))

Thanks for the info. Kind of a bummer but it saves me the expense of the memory card!