Two Players, One xBox 360 Live Account: Can It Be Done?

Especially for families, being able to have multiple players using the same xBox 360 is very important. Luckily, the xBox 360 comes with the ability to set up different profiles for every family member allowing them to keep track of their games, media, stats and more. When it comes to using xBox live though, things get a bit trickier. Here's what you need to know.

1. xBox Live Gold Accounts

This is a very important point - two profiles cannot be configured to share the same xBox live Gold account without using techniques that go against Microsoft's terms of service. If you want to give these types of hacks a try, expect to get banned. Otherwise, if everyone in your family wants to use xBox Live Gold, you have two options.

Option #1 - Buy an xBox Live Gold account for each player in your family. Although this will allow each family member to have their own profile to use with xBox Live, this option can be very expensive. xBox Live Gold accounts cost around $49 per year per account, so multiple accounts can add up fast. If you do decide to go this route, make sure to look for discounts. Amazon frequently offers sales on 12 month xBox 360 Live Gold memberships, so it can pay to shop around first.

Option #2 - Learn to share. That's right, just buy one xBox Live Gold account, create a profile and let family members take turns sharing it. This will save you a lot of money, depending on how many in your household, and it will also teach the younger players important lessons about taking turns. When you really stop and think about it, if everyone wants to play at once, why not just play some of the games in multi-player mode and compete with your own family members?

2. xBox Live Silver Accounts

If the members of your family want to have their own profiles and enjoy some of the online features the xBox live has to offer, why not just create Silver accounts? Silver accounts are completely free and Microsoft will usually allow you to set up enough on one console so each family member can have their own. Granted, you won't be able to play the online multi-player games with a silver account, but when you're ready for that, go back to step one and learn to share.

Silver accounts still allow players to access arcade games, shopping and other media though. Plus, players can access voice chat and text messaging with their other online friends, making this free level very entertaining all on it's own.

Remember though, if you've ever been banned from xBox live before, you won't even be able to get a free silver account. That still beats being a Korean kid though. In Korea, nobody under the age of 14 can use xBox live!

Hopefully, the above information will set the record straight for anyone trying to figure out how 2 players can share an xBox live account. Just remember to stay on the right side of Microsoft's TOS and you shouldn't run into any problems.