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I decided it was time to stick in a bit of multiplayer into my game, but came across my first hurdle when i quickly downloaded an example from the XNA website.

It prompted me with a login to live. However i really DO NOT want my game to use live accounts.

This is PC btw.

Basically i wanted to know, is it possible to have multiplayer with XNA without logging in through a live account?

Also, is it better to stick with the built in XNA networking, or use a totally different library such as lidgren?

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    \$\begingroup\$ You pay for the XNA dev tools in lock-in. You may get around GfWL, but good luck getting your game running on anything but an XBOX or Windows PC. \$\endgroup\$
    – aaaaaaaaaaaa
    Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 15:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @eBusiness does he say he wants to do that anywhere? \$\endgroup\$
    – PrettyPrincessKitty FS
    Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 17:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ @The Communist Duck Nope, though he doesn't say he wouldn't want his game running on other platforms either. In any case, that is the reason why I posted a comment rather than an answer. I suppose it's not news to most people around here, but the question did arise because the asker wasn't fully aware of the exact extend of the lock-in. We might as well bring the facts to the table. It's not like I want to crucify XNA, but I wouldn't want people to think that Microsoft giving away developer tools is caused by a sudden strike of altruism, it's hard business. \$\endgroup\$
    – aaaaaaaaaaaa
    Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 20:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ It was only for PC, so Josh has answered it \$\endgroup\$
    – Joel
    Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 23:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ Unless you're wasting your time targeting Linux or Mac, XNA is the best Indy dev platform available. MS is also the only console vendor to open up their platform to Indy developers. Think before you drink the "Microsoft is the Man" kool-aid. \$\endgroup\$
    – 3Dave
    Commented Jun 18, 2011 at 19:04

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This blog post may address your issue to a degree (it's fairly old but I don't think things have changed that much).

If you are only targetting the PC, you don't need to use the networking functionality provided by XNA (which will tend to want Live profiles) -- you can use the standard networking functionality built in C# itself and roll your own networking layer entirely, or use a third party one.

Whether or not that is "better" depends on a lot of factors, but if Live accounts are a deal-breaker for you, using something third-party is probably better in that regard.

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