Microsoft has been striving to improve the security of its Xbox ecosystem by bringing tools that help gamers keep a safe place for everyone. Now the company has introduced its next step in the battle against toxic players.
A new Penalty system will serve to help players better understand the consequences of their actions. The new system will allow players to view their penalty history, where they can check all of their infractions and the impact they have had.
Penalty transparency says respect to providing players with clarity on how their behavior affects their experience. Our content moderation efforts are not changing as a result of the new penalty system.
As always, when a player believes they have witnessed a violation of Xbox Community Standards, we encourage reporting. All reports are evaluated, there are no automatic penalty actions based solely on the fact that a report was made. No amount of inaccurate reporting results in a penalty. Only reports that have been reviewed by the Xbox Security Team and, when determined to be accurate, result in a penalty.
In this new system, the severity of actions will also be taken into account. Microsoft compares the system to that of fines on a driver's license, where each penalty will be added in accordance with the player's history.
A player who received two infractions will be suspended from the platform for one day, while a player who receives four infractions will be suspended for seven days. Players have a total of eight infractions, and once that number is reached, they will be suspended from Xbox social features like messaging, groups and group chat, multiplayer play, and more for one year from the date of the penalty.
Players will be able to have a maximum of 8 strikes, with a year without access to the console's online functions if they reach that number. Each infraction will give a different amount of strikes.
- Swearing – 1 strike
- Cheating – 1 strike
- Inappropriate sexual behavior – 2 strikes >
- Harassment and bullying – 2 strikes
- Hate speech – 3 strikes
Infringements are marked in the player history for a period of six months, before to expire. To be fair, Microsoft is resetting everyone's profile with this new system, starting to count offenses only starting today.
According to Microsoft, less than 1% of players will receive a temporary suspension in 2022, and only 1/3 of those received a second suspension, with penalty measures encouraging them not to continue.