X-box Live: Silver or Gold?

[prettybird]

Cab anyone explain the difference between the silver and gold versions of Xbox Live?

What is the advantage of paying the subscription for the Gold version? Is it worth it for ds (10 on Friday) as it is his Xbox and he is the only one who plays on it.

We need to decide whether it is worth getting him it for his birthday.

Anyone?

Maybe this is a bit too geeky?

The Gold allows you to play interactively online with other people. DS will often be playing with friends from school who are playing online in their own home.This is great for him as he does not live near any of his friends. There is a risk of coming across bad language or unpleasantness from other players, so you need to be aware of that.
DH was playing with some Americans and had to tick off one of them (who was about 12) for using bad language "when grown ups were present."