My school just cancelled christmas for me. No halo 2.

V

Virtua

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So basically, my school just cancelled christmas by saying I can never play halo 2 online. I've been playing counter-strike, rainbow six 3, and burnout 3 online since May with no problem on this network, and on tuesday they just decide to shut off the three crucial firewall ports that I need to connect to xbox live. The reason? There was a lot of unusual internet activity going on..

Now If I (along with my parents) pay almost 22 thousand dollars a year to go to this school, I'd think that they could just let me play xbox live a few hours a week. Is it that unreasonable? Now I'm a month away from the game I've been anticipating for almost 2 years now, Halo 2, and I won't even be able to play the best part of it, xbox live play. All because some techie douchebag shut off some ports that he found suspicious.

Can somoene help? I'm going to talk to the network administrator tomorrow and explain the situation, but I don't know if it'll help. Those tech types don't like to listen to anyone but themselves and he'll probably not take me seriously if I ask if he can open up some ports so I can play a game online.. am I out of luck?
 
Tell him that you really want to play video games instead of doing classwork, so he needs to fix it. :wink:

Sucks even worse if you're paying for your subscription to XBL and not able to play.
 
well its not ilovebees, since my normal internet activity is unaffected, they just have the ports that the xbox connects to xbl servers with blocked. The "unusual activity" was the xbox connecting with microsoft's xbl servers. And no its not that I'd rather do that then homework, It's that I'd rather play a few short fun multiplayer games then something long and involved these days. I rarely use xbox live more than 5-10 hours a week.. is it that much drain on a network for a school of 600 students? All I want is to play halo 2 online... this is so upsetting.
 
Go through your student government or circulate a petition or whatever it is your school does. If you pay to go there, you should have some say in what goes on. Use whatever means your school provides.
 
I think I'll just talk to the admin tomorrow and if that gets no results, try to get some backing from other halo/xbox fans(if there are any) on campus.
 
I say just go to school admins and tell them that the tech bitches are blocking ports that allow you proper downtime in between your classwork, and that you want some of your tuition back if they refuse to release the ports for your use again. As long as your use of Xbox Live isn't putting a strain on the school's network, I don't see why they would block it.

I was in college when Napster hit it big, and nothing ever came of that as far as port blocking or telling students to not use certain programs. You pay enough for tuition and students expect certain rights.
 
Having the ability to play videogames online would reduce the amount of alcohol consumed on campus by providing a safe outlet for the stresses of college life.

You have to tell them what they want to hear. If the network admin won't do it, talk to a dean or something.
 
I agree with dafoomie. You pay to go there and you pay for XBL. Do whatever you can to get them to get the ports back. You have until November 9th, dood.
 
It would take hundreds of XBL users to match the load created by one heavy user of file sharing services. Unless they have wretched badwidth it seems unlikely they'll ever have enough XBL load to impact other users.
 
That's the thing. I'm going to point out that I know countless people on campus that download music, movies, and programs. Why aren't these people targeted? they're downloading illegal files, XBL is totally legal and not even as much of a drain as these programs.

In just the past two weeks my roomate downloaded Max Payne 2, Halo, The Sims 2, Every episode of that 70s show, and Doom 3. Thats around 5-6 gigs of information, all illegal that has flowed through their network. Im not going to rat him out, but the double standard here is rediculous. Thanks for the support, guys. CAG is such a great community! I'll use the next month to do all I can to be online november 9th.

I'm thinking I'll offer some kind of comprimise, maybe I can keep my usage later at night or in the evening when faculty are off campus and don't need the network. Or maybe he could just open those ports after a certain time, like after 7pm until 7am, I don't know.

*edit* as for the alcohol arguement, my school is a dry campus. That means even if you're 21(like me) you aren't allowed to have any kind of alcohol on campus. I love this school but I hate some of their policies sometimes..
 
Well, if its a dry campus, then there needs to be alternatives, like video games.

You could just go off campus anyway and drink, so the argument still applies.
 
I think the petition thing is a good idea. Try to get some support from other people in the dorms. The more people that complain about it, the better your chances of getting things changed. Part of the $22,000 you (or your parents) are paying goes to a decent internet connection. While the primary purpose of a school connection is educational (in the eyes of the network admins), they cannot discount the social and entertainment value of the connection that you are paying for.
 
I'm in a school owned apartment, but the point stands. The educational arguement is nil, since instant messenging, filesharing, movies, music, and any other number of things go on without any preventative measures. Why should xbox live be singled out?
 
I saw burn the place down. That's just how I roll.


Seriously, I'm sure they'll listen to reason. And if they don't then go with the whole burning thing.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Go through your student government or circulate a petition or whatever it is your school does. If you pay to go there, you should have some say in what goes on. Use whatever means your school provides.[/quote]


in a perfect world...

student housing sucks...move out
problem solved ^^
 
[quote name='Mafia']I say just go to school admins and tell them that the tech bitches are blocking ports that allow you proper downtime in between your classwork, and that you want some of your tuition back if they refuse to release the ports for your use again. As long as your use of Xbox Live isn't putting a strain on the school's network, I don't see why they would block it.

I was in college when Napster hit it big, and nothing ever came of that as far as port blocking or telling students to not use certain programs. You pay enough for tuition and students expect certain rights.[/quote]

Yeah, the school is going to give back tuition. You know how hard it is to get money back from them? Trust me, he is not getting any money back unless he takes this to a lawsuit. And a) the university would have far greater resources and b) I'd wager that since the university is his landlord, they can disallow whatever they want to. I hope you get them unblocked, but you aren't getting any money back.

As far as Napster goes, you were lucky you were on the early end of the file sharing. They blocked the ports for Kazaa at my school and they sent cease and desist letters to anyone using it. Things have changed since you were in school.
 
My school has it blocked, but in a different way. We have to register anything we hook up to the network, and we can only have one thing registered every semester. So basically, my PC is using the only internet connection I can have. However, I think that if next time I register I use a router, I may be able to use both.
 
Well your campus probably has run out of bandwidth. Rather than to purchase a super expensive upgrade they decided to target high bandwidth services that are unnecessary for academics. The university is a business and most businesses would have done the same thing.
 
[quote name='Stargun007']My school has it blocked, but in a different way. We have to register anything we hook up to the network, and we can only have one thing registered every semester. So basically, my PC is using the only internet connection I can have. However, I think that if next time I register I use a router, I may be able to use both.[/quote]

Dude just go buy a router. You can clone your PCs mac address and they would not be the wiser.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Well, if its a dry campus, then there needs to be alternatives, like video games.

You could just go off campus anyway and drink, so the argument still applies.[/quote]

Is there a such thing as a non-dry campus? I thought all of them required drinking off campus. That's why none of the apartments or frats are on campus. Only Dorms and school building are on campus.
 
well one thing that i dont get is...how did they canel x-mas? The game comes out the th and one month later are finals. Take that whole month to play. Also i dont think the alcohol arguement is a good one...most halo parties i know have drinkin with it. My idea....play halo with a bunch of people in your room and make a disturbance, then say its their fault for taking your xbl!
 
Here's what you do: get some friends who also want Live back and grab the dean in the bathroom. Wrap a rubber band around his testicles and get a knife. Then tell him he's not going to continue his rigorous port blocking. Tell him he will publicly state that there are no Live players or to imagine the rest of his life with his scrotum flapping empty. Let him know you'll send one to the New York Times and one to the Los Angeles Times, press release style. His nuts will be bicoastal. Make sure he understands. The people he's after are everyone he depends on. They do his laundry, cook his food and serve him dinner. They guard him while he sleeps. They drive his ambulances. Instruct him not to fuck with you. You should get your Live back within 2 days.
 
Indiana, I understand what you're saying, but there are a lot worse offenders then my online gaming for an hour or so every few days. Like I said people like my roomate use their network to download gigs of illegal information. Why is something as innoculous as this being targeted while filesharing goes on without a second thought?
 
Is there a such thing as a non-dry campus? I thought all of them required drinking off campus. That's why none of the apartments or frats are on campus. Only Dorms and school building are on campus.
Click to expand...
In a school owned apartment and if you're drinking age, I think you should be able to. People do it anyway though and thats what I was trying to say, I really wasn't thinking at the time.
 
As a network administrator myself, I can tell you that many of us play video games. There's a chance your network admin might not know he blocked the ports for Xbox Live. He might only be allowing common necessary ports through and blocking everything else. I've never checked to see what ports Xbox Live uses. My point is..... if you can talk to the network admin and explain the problem, I think there's a good chance he'll help you. That is unless he was told by the Powers That Be to start blocking everything. If that's the case, you're probably screwed until you move off campus.
 
Our school is especially natziish about drinking. No matter your age there is no drinking on campus. They have expelled people for even minor transgressions. And I liked the fight club idea. Very funny.

Maybe I should ask melissa for help next live call I get from the axon here.. lol. She could use "shockingly excessive force"

Well im gonna talk to the admin today, wish me luck. If not, I'll just be playing halo2 single player and wondering what could have been.. (I'll still love the single player though)
 
[quote name='Stargun007']My school has it blocked, but in a different way. We have to register anything we hook up to the network, and we can only have one thing registered every semester. So basically, my PC is using the only internet connection I can have. However, I think that if next time I register I use a router, I may be able to use both.[/quote]

Xboxes allow you to spoof MAC addresses...just do it. On another note, I work for a University's IT department and I can tell you that at most schools students must sign a connection agreement, which among other things says you will not use the connection for gaming. At the university we don't really enforce this policy, but if it was killing our bandwidth we might start closing ports. Basically you aren't going to be able to get anywhere if you signed one of these agreements, as it already says you will only be using the network for scholastic purposes.
 
Maybe some one in the area provides Wirless Broadband? Could you afford to get that? I think every1 covered the rest so thats all I can think of at the time. Other wise I have some friends that can talk to this network admin guy if you want. They are real good at solving problems......REAL GOOD ;)
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Go through your student government or circulate a petition or whatever it is your school does. If you pay to go there, you should have some say in what goes on. Use whatever means your school provides.[/quote]

Either student government or Residence Hall government. My guess is that if there is a residence hall government the student government would push you off to them. Look for an organization on your campus called RHA or RHF.
 
Michael Vortega, I'm in Milwaukee, too. My school is actually Wisconsin Lutheran College.. on bluemound and 90th street.
 
WELCOME TO MY WORLD!!!

i havent been able to play ps2 or xbox online since i got here 4 years ago...seems it hogs bandwidth or something...we cant even have routers and stuff...gayness
plus all our 'media' ports are blocked so we have a pain getting onto P2P servers and even playing CS online can be a pain sometimes

i hate my school...waste of a T1 line
 
Well the administrator was a douchebag to me and acted like I didn't know what I was talking about and said they's stay shut.

Then his boss walked in and asked " are you the xbox guy?" and we he said he'd open them but we have to keep our usage of xbox live to nights and weekends. It was cool because he said he used to play quake in college but it had to be early mornings and stuff because his college was the same way. And also if it started to create bandwidth problems they'd shut it off again. I thought it sounded like a good comprimise, because at least I can get on halo 2 live. No more xbconnect, though. That definetly uses too much bandwidth.

This makes my day! :lol:
 
usually when people disagree with me i URINATE on them, but hey i live in chicago, and thats what chicagoians do. We urinate on people.
 
dafoomie i always wanted to know who that pic was of. Also, i making sure my school doesnt try anything like that by looking for the biggest dork i can find and asking about this issue on my campus visits.
 
[quote name='Mafia']I was in college when Napster hit it big, and nothing ever came of that as far as port blocking or telling students to not use certain programs. You pay enough for tuition and students expect certain rights.[/quote]

You made a funny, you meant to say "privileges" or "amenities" but you said "rights" instead.
 
[quote name='mmn']Stop bitching and be happy that you have the opportunity to go to college.[/quote]

shut up. the bills for his housing are paid for with his tuition so he has every right to bitch about it.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Having the ability to play videogames online would reduce the amount of alcohol consumed on campus by providing a safe outlet for the stresses of college life.

You have to tell them what they want to hear. If the network admin won't do it, talk to a dean or something.[/quote]

Man that was smart I have to try that sometime, even though I'm in high school...
 
Im not bitching about the school, I love the school.. but come on.. its halo 2. I've been awaiting this for like 2 years. If I didn't at least try to do something about it I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'll be paying for this school until my kids are in high school, or thats what they make it seem like. They could at least let me play a little halo 2 along with my studying.
 
My advice to you is to get some alcohol and 3 friends and play multiplayer that way. College is to short to play alone online.
 
[quote name='mmn']Stop bitching and be happy that you have the opportunity to go to college.[/quote]

Have you gone to college? Did you spend all of YOUR time studying?

There's nothing wrong with this - he's paying for a legal service, and he's not being allowed to use it. I'd say that he has a reason to complain.
 
[quote name='int80h']My advice to you is to get some alcohol and 3 friends and play multiplayer that way. College is to short to play alone online.[/quote]

Yeah thats what we had been doing over xbconnect, my roomates and I playing online. You can do the same thing on Halo2 online, 4 player simultaneous online.

MichealVortega, I'd be up for that, my gamertag is Son of a Beep
 
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