After almost two decades of XBOX online gaming, Microsoft is finally taking more intense steps to combat toxic gamers. Last month, MS started a pilot program to record the voices of players who harass others. Now, an entire enforcement plan is being put in place.
Have you been a bad boy or girl? Been using profanity or spewing hate speech? Well, every nebulous infraction is attached to a point. The point system stacks up and eventually leads to suspensions.
Yes, Microsoft is treating your XBOX account like it is a driver’s license. Too many points accrue, and you lose access for up to 365 days.
Image Credit: Microsoft
Each strike lasts six months, making it easy to stack up if you get mass flagged. Thankfully, Microsoft says it won’t mindlessly enforce strikes like YouTube does, “All reports are evaluated, there are no automated enforcement actions based solely on the fact that a report was made. No volume of inaccurate reports results in an enforcement.”
Less than 1% of XBOX users have received temporary punishment. So, what’s the point of enacting such a wide-ranging list of potential offenses and suspensions?
“With the new system, enforcements will also include strikes based on the severity of their actions. The system is similar to demerit strikes used in driver’s license systems in many countries. For example, a player that has received two strikes will be suspended from the platform for one day, whereas a player that receives four strikes will be suspended for seven days. Players have a total of eight strikes and, once reached, will be suspended from Xbox’s social features like messaging, parties and party chat, multiplayer and others for one year from the enforcement date.”
It was already pretty standard for players to voice chat outside of Microsoft’s servers. These new measures could see in-game chat become barren.
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