Xbox Introduces New Enforcement Strike System - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 September 2023 / 5,363 Views
Xbox announced it has introduced a new enforcement strike system that is designed to "educates players about enforcement severity, cumulative effect of multiple enforcements, and the total impact on their standing."
Players can receive a total of eight strikes and each strike remains on record for six months. Each strike will result in a suspension from Xbox’s social features for different lengths of time depending on the severity.
Once someone reaches eight strikes they will be suspended from using box’s social features like messaging, parties and party chat, multiplayer and others for one year from the enforcement date.
Read details on the new enforcement strike system via Xbox Wire below:
We are constantly improving our safety measures and bringing more systems and tools in place that empower players to respectfully interact with one another – because everyone deserves a place to comfortably be themselves online, free from harassment and bullying. One of the most common questions we get from players through feedback, posts, and appeals is how repeated enforcements impact their gameplay, how they escalate, what they escalate to, and how they know when their account is back in good standing. To help address this, we are introducing a new enforcement strike system.
The new system attaches strikes to every enforcement, ranging in severity based on inappropriate activity. Each player will now have a view of their enforcement history including strikes and the overall impact these have on their player record. This revised system gives players a better understanding of enforcement severity and the cumulative effect of multiple enforcements. Enforcement transparency is about giving players clarity into how their behavior impacts their experience. Our content moderation efforts are not changing as a result of the new enforcement strike system.
As always, when a player believes they have witnessed a violation of Xbox’s Community Standards, we encourage them to report. 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. Only reports that have been reviewed by the Xbox Safety Team and determined to be accurate result in an enforcement.
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. All strikes received stay on a player’s record for six months. Today, players will all begin with a blank slate, or zero strikes. Any previous enforcements, such as suspensions, must still be completed; new enforcements as of today will result in strikes.
With these changes, Xbox is evolving enforcement to focus on protecting players. This is why even suspended accounts remain functional for single-player experiences and players do not lose access to purchased content. However, for the most serious violations – including illegal activity – Xbox retains the ability to permanently suspend all functionality of an account including access to purchases.
In 2022, fewer than 1% of all players received a temporary suspension, and only 1/3 of those received a second. Our data shows us that players typically stop inappropriate behavior after one enforcement, quickly learning what is and is not acceptable based on the Xbox Community Standards and how to better engage on our platform. The strike system is designed to further empower players to engage positively and appropriately on Xbox and with the community. We’ll share data and updates in our bi-annual Transparency Report.
Below is a visual of what players will see in their enforcement history:
Like before, players will still have the ability to appeal eligible enforcements. Where applicable, if an enforcement is reversed, the corresponding strike will be removed. For more information, visit the FAQ on Xbox Support.
Below are some additional safety resources:
- See your enforcement history
- Join Xbox Ambassadors and become part of our community working to make gaming fun for everyone
- Read our Xbox Community Standards
- Read our latest Xbox Transparency Report
- Remain informed on How to Report a Player and How to Submit a Case Review
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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"However, for the most serious violations – including illegal activity – Xbox retains the ability to permanently suspend all functionality of an account including access to purchases. " Is this enforceable? I cannot imagine them being able to cut someone off from their purchases and not being contested in court, no matter what MS said they did. Unless they add it to their ToS for digital games, in which case that's another reason to buy physical.
In this day and age with cheaters/hackers and people refusing to improve their behaviour in online gaming, I feel like there should be absolutely no reason to take MS to court if they have been found guilty of any of those 3 types of violations.
I've seen how this works over the years, simply suspending someone does not entirely work at all on some people, in fact it makes some folks come back stronger in their hate, and this is why a perma ban and losing all your stuff becomes the only logical reason (especially if you are hacking the game or telling people to kill themselves, I'm sorry but there is zero excuse on ownership for doing either of those).
If someone bought physical to try bypassing that loss, then the console itself should be locked out, IP, account and all.
That is absurd. If someone buys a game, it is still their property, regardless of MS allowing them access to their services or not. They have all the rights to play the single player portions, local multiplayer or to create their own servers if they put time and effort to mod everything to that standart away from MS servers.
It's not your property to go around hacking games to ruin other people's time or to hop onto said game and telling others to kill themselves, I'm sorry, but it stops there with harassment and actual illegal activity.
Using singleplayer games as a crux feels like a bad faith argument to allow for these two issues to forever go on with little punishment.
You cannot do something illegal to stop another illegal thing.
You agree to the company ToS, this is how it works and they have done hardware locks before, which was a part of the ToS that was agree to, again like it or not.
I can't believe you'd defend that over the other two issues, like jesus fucking christ.
No, these companies change their ToS every couple of months. Am I going to get a full refund if I decide I don't agree with the new rules? Of course not. Just because it's on their terms of service it doesn't mean it is enforceable at all.
Plus, If a party in a contract breaches illegal contract terms, that party is not held liable because the contract itself is illegal. And barring someone from their already made purchases and owned products is rather illegal. They can ban someone from accessing their services, but not from accessing the titles they own, nor do they can brick the system for misbehaving.
Then get a full refund if you disagree with the ToS, because the ToS are designed to be there for what they say on the tin.
I can't believe you are dancing around the issue I am trying to point out to you here and how you're only hiding behind ownership of a game or a system that isn't even fully yours as defined by the ToS (we literally do not own the data that's on discs, let alone digital games, and I wish ppl would wake up to this).
It's so weird how you word it as "misbehaving", like it's such a tiny insignificant problem, that isn't growing worse by each month/year.
Like I am all for customer rights, but I am so damn sorry, but the rights fully stop when you tell another person to kill themselves or when you hack/tamper with a system that's interacting with others online, making other people's paid for experiences utterly horrid. (and no, banning a profile in this day and age does not work anymore, neither does banning a static IP in the age of VPN's).
seems a good idea better than them just straight to banning accounts ive known people to get kicked off it and then thats everything paid for off the store gone with it, ive spent alot of money its same account from 360 to series X so i behave when im online
I remember when they used to ban people until 12/31/9999 lol
wow, so no one can get a perm ban and lose everything from being the worst possible human online to someone else lol...
Sorry, but this reminds me of why Rare isn't doing much about the cheating/profanity going on in SoT, and it seems it's stemming from MS, who going by this chart, does not want to perma anyone in the fear that they might lose a customer for either their console or even GP.
If someone continues to be the worst possible person to others online and they refuse to improve, they must be removed permanently.
Valve has no issue perma banning users from entire game forums completely and forever, as well as vac banning people time and time again that cheat, preventing them from joining Vac servers.
All MS is offering here is a 1yr ban, and nothing else (yes I know the fine print is there, but they don't entail that they enforce this all the time, especially seeing as how the fine print isn't a core part of the chart is alarming to me, since it should have been the ultimate follow up after 3 strikes).
Have the COD players calmed down their toxicity over the years?
my downvote means no!
There should not be a strike system.
Why is that? Genuinely asking.
Do the crime and you do the time, simples. ZERO CHANCES. Are users seriously thinking my original comment meant that abusers should be able to do what they want? Your interpretation skills need fixing people.
Thing is, it was not an interpretation... It was literally what your sentence said :)
The fact that there were more about it than what you said is on you, how can people know that...
Hard disagree. People should be given opportunities for correction. Especially if the instance occurred as a mistake (e.g. telling a joke not thinking about it's effect on others).
This strike system is good. Transparent, more objective, and allows for the ability to correct behavior organically through warnings.
While I agree I'm not so sure about 8 strikes seems to me to be way too many chances for those that continue to offend say past 3 times, especially with increased penalties per strike in place as a deterrent if behavioural change isn't forthcoming after 2 or 3 strikes and they are reoffending all giving them 8 strikes is doing is seeing those people who have to endure that behaviour being subjected to it for a longer period than necessary.
You should elaborate more next time because it's certainly not clear which you mean. I still disagree though. Nobody should be banned based off one time instances. What if the person did nothing wrong but was wrongly reported? Happens more often then you think. If there is a pattern of offensive strikes, at least there is a good chance most are genuine.
