Xbox’s new anti-toxicity system grants players up to eight chances to change their behaviour

Xbox announced its new system of sanctions for toxicity from players, yet it has been criticised for inconsistencies and possible ambiguities.

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The strike system means that players are able to receive a total of eight strikes before they are “suspended from Xbox’s social features like messaging, parties and party chat, multiplayer and others for one year from the enforcement date”.

Different activities will lead to different responses from the strike system. Profanity and cheating are worth one strike, sexually inappropriate communication and harassment or bullying are two strikes, and hate speech is worth three strikes.

Strikes remain on a player’s record for six months and players are able to appeal enforcements that they perceive to be unmerited. “The system is similar to demerit strikes used in driver’s license systems in many countries,” justified Dave McCarthy, Xbox’s CVP of player services, in a post to Xbox Wire.

“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,” he explained.

While a portion of the player base are ridiculing those who refuse to acquiesce to the toxicity in gaming spaces, others are pointing out that this system allows users to offend over and over again. A cheater could be caught repeatedly spoiling the game for others before being reinstated after a week’s absence.

“The feedback is helpful and I’m sure we will want to continue to tune the system,” said CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer in a reply on X. “The visibility into how the system works along with the transparency reports we put out will allow people to see our progress and how the systems are working.”

In other gaming news, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre team Gun Interactive assured players that the game would not encounter the same stumbling blocks as Friday The 13th: The Game.

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