Hey guys,
so I posted here a few weeks ago, with the idea of donating a gaming PC to a nursing home. I talked to someone in charge there today, this might actually happen.
Thing is, to try this out I would probably have to supply the software (Microsoft Flight Simulator being the most important now.)
As I understand it, you can only use the Flight Simulator with a Microsoft account. If I let them use my own account, that would mean a PC with my logged in account would be standing around there in the open, for anyone to access.
Does anyone have any idea how to approach this in a safe manner? I wish I could just buy a physical copy and let them have it for a while, before they buy their own. But even those need a connected Microsoft account nowadays, it seems.
Was also thinking of buying a used Xbox Series S (this might become the long term solution anyway), but same issue with the account, I believe.
(Man, modern gaming keeps finding ways to be annoying sometimes.)
P.S. If you have great game recommendations for octogenarians, bring them on!
I’d recommend just making a new Microsoft account for them, then leaving the username/password with the staff, ideally someone in their IT crew.
So my solution would be to make a dedicated account, purchase a license on there, and hand it over completely to someone in charge at the facility.
If they don’t have someone who can take care of that for whatever reason, still make a dedicated account and restict apps/access rights via parental controls etc
tbh i would just pirate and block network
Thank you guys a lot for your thoughts! I will create a new account and pay for a Game Pass subscription, I think I should get it discounted for the first month. If the guys at the home really like it, I will try to find a permanent solution with their admin people.
It’s a nice gesture, but this is exactly why a lot of people don’t like giving away free stuff. It’s why IT departments are hesitant to give away equipment they are throwing out because some users will come back and expect free tech support. Not saying you’re against doing anything like that, but just that asshole companies like Microsoft make this so damn difficult nowadays that doing as others suggested here to create a new Microsoft account for this is going to get you calls inevitably in the future when they forget the password or run into other issues. And if not, it’ll likely end with them not using it because of the hassle or throwing it out.
I hate to sound negative because it’s an awesome gesture on your part to do and I’m sure in a perfect world, it would be wonderful for some of the residents to get to use something like that.
But since it’s not like the old days of having a CD you pop in but a digital app connected to an online account, you’ll need to do somethings that may cause confusion. It sounds like you’d have to do as others suggest and create a new Microsoft account and have a license for that game on there. Or get a GamePass subscription on that account that would allow access to Flight Simulator and more, but that would mean a perpetual donation for them to use it too.
Someone may come along and suggest a pirated copy of Flight Simulator, but I would strongly advise against that because it can put the home at legal risk if discovered and can cause other issues like if it gets patched in the future.
