In a community as large as Microsoft’s Xbox Live, people need a way to connect with each other. Microsoft gave users two new ways to interact through Xbox Live in mid-2016: Clubs are digital hangout spots that anyone can create. The somewhat clumsily named Looking for Group feature lets gamers put out a call to arms for other players.
Xbox Live Clubs
What are Xbox Live Clubs?
Think back to a time when you and your friends had a special place that you could go, a place that was just for you and no one else. Maybe that place had a special mailbox where you and your friends could leave messages? Perhaps you all met there every time you had something fun you wanted to do together. Xbox Live Clubs make that possible on your Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.
When someone creates an Xbox Live Club, they’re free to set a bunch of parameters. They can say that they only want to be able to send out invites or they can let anyone in without an invite. Tags help everyone identify what type of gamers an Xbox Live Club is looking for. For example, there are tags reminding members to have their mics ready and others encouraging casual users to join.
On the Xbox One and on Windows, Clubs look like Game Hubs, but they feature different sections. There’s a chat for quickly communicating with everyone in the club. The Feed area is a central hangout for everyone to chat. The creator of that club gets to decide what games the club is linked to. There’s also a dedicated Looking for Group area in each club, but we’ll get to that later.
Xbox Live Clubs surface in the Community area on Xbox One and in your feeds and Guide after you join one. You can only subscribe to 24 of them, though, I’m sure Microsoft is betting that most people will be happy with just a few.
Looking for Group
What is Looking for Group?
If Xbox Live Clubs are those friendly retreats from our times when Power Rangers was still a movie franchise, Looking for Group is the replacement for your old walkie-talkie. Ok, maybe it’s better to compare it to an old landline phone. Essentially, it’s you reaching out to the different members of Xbox Live for some play time. In some circles, Looking for Group is the best thing to happen to Xbox Live in a very long time.
The feature integrates directly with all the other community systems. Creators of an LFG can specify a time and date that they want to play a game. You see LFG posts on your console when it sits idle. You also get a message on LFG posts your friends have created and see LFG posts on each game’s Xbox Live hub.
As with Clubs, those that make an LFG are able to add tags that tell users exactly what kind of activities they’re into. For example, Gears of War 4 LFGs usually consist of people looking to play Horde Mode.
Those that come across your LFG are free to show their interest. You’re then able to dive back into the LFG post you made and start an Xbox Live Party with all those that are interested. The creators decide when they want the multiplayer session to take place and how many players they need.
Together, these new features form the basis of a new Xbox Live, one that’s a bit easier to find and make friends on.