GAMERTAG PRE-APPROVAL REVIEW

Does Xbox Live provide a means by which their clients may submit a Gamertag (GT) for review for conformance with current interpretations of all of Xbox Live’s policies (e.g. TOU, COC et.al.) and have the GT “pre-approved” by the
Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement Team (XBLPET) prior to actually spending money for a GT change?

In a recent enforcement action the Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement Team (XBLPET) determined that my Gamertag,
[Mod removed] (a word-play on the sound-alike profession of engineering), was “inappropriate”, forced a GT change and assigned me the automatically generated GT “ScaryPup9881961”. I have no desire to keep the GT assigned by the XBLPET team
and would like to change it. But, I have some apprehension. I’ve been told by XBPET that must pay Xbox Live $10 for the privilege of changing my name from the one that they’ve assigned. Their rationale is that my choice of GT violated the Code of Conduct (lack
of intent notwithstanding) and thus was forfeit from the time of its creation. My concern is that XBLPET will now or some distant time in the future (my last GT was okay for 7 years -- before it wasn’t) determine that the new GT is in violation and I’ll be
asked to again pay Xbox Live for the privilege (aggravation?) of creating yet another GT.

My goal is adhere to all of Xbox Live’s policies. But, the determination what violates those policies is incredibly subjective. I’m of the sincere opinion that my former GT was not in violation. Nevertheless, XBLPET is the sole
arbiter of compliance in this arena. Consequently, I feel it is reasonable to request Xbox Live to validate a GT prior to issuance.

Does Xbox Live offer such a service? One that is respectful of the finances of Xbox Live’s clients by ensuring compliance in advance?

Your consideration and response is appreciated.

Kind Regards,

ScaryPup9881961

* Note: I left the "U" out of my old GT in the message above in order not to offend.

:)

 

Will mods be released for 360 version?

Awaiting Approval

Awaiting Approval

Awaiting Approval

Censored

Censored

Censored.

It's a possibility.

 

Playfire.com - legit?

How about, voteDC using my GamerTag on sites, to create GamerCards without my permission or approval & posting the GamerCards on the Forums to be spiteful etc...

 

Hey ScaryPup9881961,

Thanks for posting on the Support Forums!

Currently, as of posting, there is no way for XBLPET to pre-approve a gamertag change; you could potentially open a thread in the XBLPET Forum and they may get back to you, however that area is usually for questions regarding why an action was taken precisely.

If you PM me your new gamertag that you're wanting, I can definitely review it against the policies for you; being as I am an Enforcement United member, I like to think I have a good understanding of what stays and what goes, if you get what I mean.

Look forward to hearing back from you!

 

All you have to do really is keep it clean

All names has to be rated E for everyone

Meaning no sexual , drug or adult references

No special spelling to avoid the word filters

No hidden meanings

No racial slurs or derogatory terms even hidden

 

Or even simpler what you cant say infront of kids dont use it

 

TheJackah and ngocphi, thank you both for your quick replies and suggestions!

TheJackah, I would like to thank you in particular for your service as an Xbox Ambassador & Enforcement United volunteer to support and improve this community.

Ngocphi, I see in the snapshot profile adjacent to your post that you are “Level 7”. I don’t know what this represents. But, given that my profile shows “Level 1” and “TheJackah” is “Level 2”, would I be correct in assuming you are an Xbox employee? If
so, what is your role? Are you an XBLPET member?

Again, while I truly appreciate the suggestions and offer, in the end any decisions made are inherently subjective in nature. In my opinion, my former GT met the conditionals suggested in ngocphi's posts and was in compliance with the Xbox Live CoC. But,
as I pointed out in my previous post, the only subjective opinion that apparently matters is the XBLPET.

If you’ll allow me to put you both on the spot, do you agree with the XBLPET opinion that
[Mod removed] (where “*” = ”u”) is in violation of the Xbox Live CoC?

Thanks Again!

 

The levels you are referring to is your Community User Level (or CUL). It's only related to posting on the forums. The more you post, the higher your level. Official support members have an S as their CUL. The enforcement team has an X. These are community
forums so most of the people here are just regular gamers like yourself.

I'm not one of the original one's who responded to your post, but I do see how your gamertag violates the COC. The first word is a derogatory term for Native Americans.

 

Hey again ScaryPup9881961,

Thanks for posting back!

It wouldn't be my place to comment on whether that gamertag is permitted in the Xbox Community. Personally, I don't find it offensive. However, that doesn't mean to say that others don't, as Smwutches said.

That's part of what 'Enforcement United' is about - multiple people will vote on whether a gamertag is permissible or not; and final decision will eventually come out of this 'crowd' voting system.

The basic rule of thumb is: it needs to be non-offensive to each and every person.

Of course, if some guy came along and was like " is such an offensive gamertag" - that wouldn't immediately mean XBLPET would class it as-so; more that, they'll look at it in context: "is he just saying that, or is it truly offensive?" and they'll
look at how different races, cultures, genders, etc.

I am unable to review the XBLPET's findings, and I'm not saying you have, but there could be a mass of reasons they found yours particularly offensive; as Smwutches said, it could be they class it as offensive flat-out, or they could have possibly seen your
Xbox LIVE Communication history and seen that you did intend for it to be used in an offensive manner. Again, I am not saying you have done so.

I hope that helps somewhat to you understanding how they take their decisions over at XBLPET!

 

The last four letters of the op's old gamertag also violate the CoC so I can see two reasons why you were issued a fnc.

 

Smwutches:

Thanks for the clarification! Very helpful!

I have to ask, though: What does the “V” on your CUL represent?

TheJackah:

Please don’t misunderstand my question. I’m not looking to appeal the ruling. That’s done and past. The point of soliciting your opinions was to demonstrate that this is really a subjective call. And, as a result I find a bit of cognitive dissonance between
Xbox Live not providing a service for approving a GT before the client spends their money and the its policy of charging those same clients again if XBLPET later determines the GT to be “inappropriate”.

You suggested that I contact XBLPET with my question about a review and pre-approval program for Gamertags. I did that before posting here (5/31/15 PM to XBLPET). A week later and I’ve yet to receive a response to my inquiry. This comes as no surprise to
me. It took me two weeks just to get a direct and specific description on how my GT was in violation.

As I’ve stated repeatedly in my past correspondences to the XBLPET, I support respect Xbox Live's right to control the content on its service. But I also believe that the execution of those policies should be fair and consistent - as espoused in the Values
stated on the Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement home page (http://enforcement.xbox.com/). Presently, I believe that fairness and consistency is lacking.

For example, one might think that, having determined that my former GT, [Mod Removed] is inappropriate – heck, it’s so inappropriate that the moderator has/will redact it from this thread (for reference, it is a direct sound-alike of “engineer”) – there
would be no way any variation on the combination “ [Mod Removed]” would exist. I mean, XBLPET’s core value of INTEGRITY requires consistency. So, would you be surprised that three weeks my GT FNC, the following nearly identical GT’s exist: [Mod Removed]? How
it is these are different? In the present situation it's reasonable to conclude that I have been singled out. I have a genuine problem with this.

Daft Badger:

Honestly, I can’t tell if you are being serious or simply trolling me with your observation.

javascript:void(0);

For now, I’ll assume you’re serious. I’m a Structural Engineer. “S.E.” is the title suffix which follows my name in most correspondence. While I acknowledge and embrace the double entendre in my original GT, the four letter pairing you’ve suggested as some
“hidden meaning” is coincidental, offering no value to the spirit of the GT as I intended it.

When hunting monsters, you need to exercise care not to become paranoid – finding them everywhere. I find 79 complete words with the letters “ [Mod Removed]” in them. I can come up with another 1250 containing “ [Mod Removed]” (which I imagine is even less
acceptable). This includes “ambassador” (as in “Xbox Ambassador”) and “Assassin”. If you now stretch it a bit further and start pairing letter combinations *between* disparate words then… well that’s a bit beyond my interest to try and figure out.

Using your rationale, though, every GT out there with “Assassin” in it has two strikes against it. As a matter of fact, there’s a helpful individual on this very forum that meets this test. “DarkAssassin“ has provided responses to a few posts I’ve seen in
this forum. Are you suggesting that he be forced with an FNC because his name has “***” in it twice?

If not, then can I suggest that it’s better to set that particular litmus test aside?

 

I was serious.

Doesn't matter what you meant the gamertag to mean,it violates the CoC twice

 

Hey ScaryPup9881961,

'V' means he is an Xbox MVP.

Microsoft MVP Award

Unfortunately, there isn't much more we can do with this issue; I really don't want to be commenting on whether a gamertag should be permitted or not, as it is really out of my area to-do-so, and should be left to official employees to comment on only.

I hope you understand that - as I do wish to help you, but also wish to stay away from telling players what they can and can't do/have.

 

TheJackah

I think it a reasonable request on my part for XBLPET to explain this difference in enforcement to me. And, yet, the official employees are silent -- despite me pointing out a disparity that is apparent to a three year old:

[Mod Removed] is OKAY

[Mod Removed] is OKAY (same spelling)

[Mod Removed] is NOT OKAY. (same spelling)

Identical in each case. Like I said... even a three year old can see which one's not like the others. (And I'm sure XBL counsel can too)

Daft Badger:

I'm serious as well. If your interpretation is correct, then "Assassin" in the numerous and myriad GTs that rely on that appellation also violates the CoC twice. And yet they still exist. There is a pattern of non-uniform enforcement which XBLPET exhibits.

 

No because it depends on the context.

If you were to capitalise 3 certain letters in Assassin then it would probably get changed.

The first 5 letters of your previous tag could be the reason it was changed as well as the last four.

There's nothing any of us can do.The enforcement team will not reply to you here,if at all