If you have ever played games online, you know how toxic some communities can get. It’s an unenviable task to try and keep those communities clean and healthy, but every company has to put in effort to do it. Today, Microsoft’s Xbox announced a new enforcement strike system in hopes of keeping its online community clean of harassment and bullying. The new system is designed to attach strikes to every enforcement, ranging in severity based on the inappropriate activity. To be transparent, every player can view their enforcement history, including strikes and the overall impact they have on their record. The updated system gives players a better understanding of enforcement severity and the cumulative effect of multiple enforcements.
Microsoft stated that its content moderation efforts are not going to change as a result of the new enforcement strike system. All reports will continue to be evaluated and no automated enforcement actions will occur based solely on the fact that a report was made. In addition, no volume of inaccurate reports will result in an enforcement and only reports that have been viewed by the Xbox Safety Team and determined to be accurate will result in an enforcement.
The new enforcement strike system is similar to demerit strikes used in driver’s license systems in many countries. To explain, Xbox gave these examples: 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 will be allowed a total of eight strikes, and once reached, they will be suspended from Xbox’s social features for one year from the enforcement date.
If a player receives a strike, it will remain on their record for six months. Starting today, players all begin with a blank slate, or zero strikes; but all previous enforcements, including suspensions, must still be completed. New enforcements starting today will result in strikes.
It’s important to note that even suspended players will still be able to enjoy single-player experiences and they will not lose access to purchased content. For most serious violations (like illegal activity), however, Xbox will consider permanently suspending all functionality of an account, including access to purchases.
The Xbox team also shared that last year, fewer than one percent of all players received a temporary suspension and only one-third of those received a second. Interestingly, the data shows that players typically stop inappropriate behavior after one enforcement.
You can learn more about the new enforcement strike system here.
