Xbox today is announcing a new enforcement strike system that is designed to (hopefully) improve community engagement. The policy is meant to ensure more safety for all players online. And to that end each time a player receives an enforcement for something they did or said, they get a strike. Each strike will suspend players from Xbox social features including chat, party chat, multiplayer and more. Each strike also lasts for varying lengths of time. Culminating in a year-long suspension if they reach eight strikes.
Although, a user getting eight strikes seems highly unlikely. As CVP of Xbox Players Services Dave McCarthy states that fewer than 1% of all players on the platform received a temporary suspension. And only one third of those players got a second one. Which means most players aren’t intentionally engaging in harmful of toxic practices that lessen the experience less safe for others. And those that do tend to stop that activity after the first strike.
The Xbox strike system is designed to protect all players
This new system is about protecting all players, McCarthy says. Which is why at first, players who get an enforcement with an accompanying strike aren’t locked out from single player content. They also won’t lose access to the content they purchased. As suspensions only include social experiences.
That being said, it is possible for players to completely lose access to the account, including purchased content, if the violations are serious enough. Naturally, players that receive an enforcement might wonder what got them in that situation. The new system allows players to have a view of their enforcement history with attached descriptions of their actions that led to suspensions.
It’s also possible for players to get multiple strikes in one enforcement. The new history view neatly lays out how many strikes certain actions are worth. For example, profanity is worth 1+ strikes while hate speech is worth 3+ strikes. Strikes can also be removed if a user wins appeals so a suspension. All-in-all, the new system should allow for a cleaner, more detailed view of bans for players on the wrong side of them. And make for a safer play space for everyone.