Problems with Criteria for Xbox Enforcement Part 2

Evidently Xbox didn't like my original post so they locked it for some reason. So here's the post again. I'm very interested to know why they found it necessary to lock this post so no one else could reply to it though. Perhaps
one of them could answer that. Also new to this whole forums thing on this site so there might be another reason why it was locked literally less than a day after I posted it.

I'm here to talk about some serious problems that I've seen recently in how Microsoft uses their enforcement actions against their player base. I've just received my third enforcement action for communications. I have never harassed
anyone on Xbox live or any online gaming environment that I have engaged in for my entire life of online gaming, going back well over a decade at this point. I have never trolled anyone in a game that would warrant enforcement action on the part of Microsoft
in my own opinion at least and in general I've never done anything in online gaming that I think would qualify as a justifiable means for a communication suspension or one of any kind for that matter.

What I have done is be a competitive gamer and respond occasionally to messages sent to me by people who do deserve some sort of punishment for their conduct. These are the trolls, the ragers, the teamkillers, etc. The people who should not be allowed
to exist in the same environment as competitive and overall friendly gamers and the same people who these enforcement actions should be targeted at but they are not. Even in these, I'll be generous by calling them "conversations", I didn't insult the other
player no matter how much they might insult me, I never harassed them after the conversation had ended by spamming their account with messages or having my friends do it or something. Usually the incident would end with me blocking the other person and moving
on.

What seems to be the issue here is my choice of words in these "conversations." I tend to swear a lot when in non-professional company. I don't think it's a problem and I've been doing it my entire online gaming life without incident. Last year I received
my first communications suspension, meaning messages, party and game chat, etc., for use of "inappropriate communications". From what I understand, and I'll get to later why I don't understand it all, if a message of yours gets reported by the, in my case
usually, absolute waste of human filth that messaged me in the first place to troll me, insult my play style or whatever it is that crosses their mind at that point in time, who would love to harm my account in some way because they probably get off on it
or something. Someone who would love to see your account get hurt in some way has the power to make that happen if I let lose a single profanity. All of this, in a supposedly relaxed, online gaming community which has historically been a place where people
defend themselves with words when challenged, often by using profanity. Who in the **** thought that was a good idea at Microsoft?!?!?

You're telling me, that in an online gaming environment where people swear at each other all the time, you're now going to regulate this act by suspending anyone who uses profanity, which is pretty much everyone who plays online games, on a first offense,
non-harassing basis, on a reporting system that is controlled by someone who wants to see your account damaged? Does anyone at Microsoft really think that people won't take advantage of this? You must suspend thousands of accounts a week if not every few
days with this system!!!! You'd be better off just disabling the messaging system altogether because it is incredibly rare for players to message each other with positive feedback in online gaming and that is a fact that everybody who plays knows.

This raises the question of why Microsoft/Xbox is even regulating speech in general on their platform. Unfortunately I do believe it may be politically motivated, when their questionnaire for even submitting a review of your enforcement has questions involving
the use of hate speech, gender identity and speech that might be deemed offensive by others. It is not the responsibility of the service provider to regulate what their players will see or hear from other players while using their service. Their job should
be to provide that service and update and improve it regularly to make the experience of their players as good as possible. The only thing that they should regulate on their service is the use of hacking and trolling by players in game. They should completely
stay away from communications between players. This does not negatively affect the game because Xbox Live has the option to block players from messaging you or mute them from talking to you. It does negatively affect the game when Xbox Enforcement decides
to get involved in personal discussions between players that do not qualify as harassment by any definition when one player decides to report the other for use of profane language, that player who usually has an axe to grind with the other player for reasons
I discussed above.

For those who think that Microsoft has to censor its players because perhaps there are younger players on the site to hear this content, that is again not the responsibility of the service to cater specifically to a younger audience because their parents
might complain. It is the responsibility of those parents to not allow their kids to be exposed to an environment that has that content if they are against it especially in games that are rated Teen or Mature.

As well as the obvious issues I have with the apparent social justice warrior attitudes that Microsoft Enforcement has adopted recently, they have some serious practical issues with this "service" as well. As I mentioned earlier, they do not provide the
specific message that they suspended your account for. They simply provide a blanket statement such as "inappropriate communications" or something else. So you will not know what message or messages that their "service" deemed worthy of suspension. If you
feel that your suspension was unwarranted, which it usually is, you can choose to appeal that suspension, by answering a questionnaire that reminds me of having to write lines in early school years when the kid did something wrong. Oh, and on top of that,
you have to answer every question correctly to even submit your appeal. On top of all of this, you cannot directly contact the enforcement team to speak to someone about your suspension. Reasons for this should be obvious but it's still very irritating to
not be able to talk to anyone about the extremely vague reasons behind your suspension. Not even a robot.

In general, there are some serious practical and philosophical problems with Microsoft's Enforcement conditions. They should not be censoring the speech of their players and punishing those who do something so small as swearing in a message, they should
not be regulating communication at all because players have the ability to block other players from communicating with them, and they should reconsider the practicalities behind their system involving communication between the players and the administrators,
especially considering this service is not free.

:)

 

Major Problems with Criteria for Xbox Live Enforcement

You swore in your communications, that is a violation of the code of conduct. Yes it is the responsibility of Microsoft to police its live service and you agreed to the rules when you signed up. Live is certified as E for everyone and therefore suspensions
can be handed out. Context in game play is one thing, where the odd swear word can come out amongst more mature players but in a message they are more aggressive, threatening. Simply put, don't swear and cus, you won't get a suspension.

 

Major Problems with Criteria for Xbox Live Enforcement

I'm here to talk about some serious problems that I've seen recently in how Microsoft uses their enforcement actions against their player base. I've just received my third enforcement action for communications. I have never harassed anyone on Xbox live
or any online gaming environment that I have engaged in for my entire life of online gaming, going back well over a decade at this point. I have never trolled anyone in a game that would warrant enforcement action on the part of Microsoft in my own opinion
at least and in general I've never done anything in online gaming that I think would qualify as a justifiable means for a communication suspension or one of any kind for that matter.

What I have done is be a competitive gamer and respond occasionally to messages sent to me by people who do deserve some sort of punishment for their conduct. These are the trolls, the ragers, the teamkillers, etc. The people who should not be allowed
to exist in the same environment as competitive and overall friendly gamers and the same people who these enforcement actions should be targeted at but they are not. Even in these, I'll be generous by calling them "conversations", I didn't insult the other
player no matter how much they might insult me, I never harassed them after the conversation had ended by spamming their account with messages or having my friends do it or something. Usually the incident would end with me blocking the other person and moving
on.

What seems to be the issue here is my choice of words in these "conversations." I tend to swear a lot when in non-professional company. I don't think it's a problem and I've been doing it my entire online gaming life without incident. Last year I received
my first communications suspension, meaning messages, party and game chat, etc., for use of "inappropriate communications". From what I understand, and I'll get to later why I don't understand it all, if a message of yours gets reported by the, in my case
usually, absolute waste of human filth that messaged me in the first place to troll me, insult my play style or whatever it is that crosses their mind at that point in time, who would love to harm my account in some way because they probably get off on it
or something. Someone who would love to see your account get hurt in some way has the power to make that happen if I let lose a single profanity. All of this, in a supposedly relaxed, online gaming community which has historically been a place where people
defend themselves with words when challenged, often by using profanity. Who in the **** thought that was a good idea at Microsoft?!?!?

You're telling me, that in an online gaming environment where people swear at each other all the time, you're now going to regulate this act by suspending anyone who uses profanity, which is pretty much everyone who plays online games, on a first offense,
non-harassing basis, on a reporting system that is controlled by someone who wants to see your account damaged? Does anyone at Microsoft really think that people won't take advantage of this? You must suspend thousands of accounts a week if not every few
days with this system!!!! You'd be better off just disabling the messaging system altogether because it is incredibly rare for players to message each other with positive feedback in online gaming and that is a fact that everybody who plays knows.

This raises the question of why Microsoft/Xbox is even regulating speech in general on their platform. Unfortunately I do believe it may be politically motivated, when their questionnaire for even submitting a review of your enforcement has questions involving
the use of hate speech, gender identity and speech that might be deemed offensive by others. It is not the responsibility of the service provider to regulate what their players will see or hear from other players while using their service. Their job should
be to provide that service and update and improve it regularly to make the experience of their players as good as possible. The only thing that they should regulate on their service is the use of hacking and trolling by players in game. They should completely
stay away from communications between players. This does not negatively affect the game because Xbox Live has the option to block players from messaging you or mute them from talking to you. It does negatively affect the game when Xbox Enforcement decides
to get involved in personal discussions between players that do not qualify as harassment by any definition when one player decides to report the other for use of profane language, that player who usually has an axe to grind with the other player for reasons
I discussed above.

For those who think that Microsoft has to censor its players because perhaps there are younger players on the site to hear this content, that is again not the responsibility of the service to cater specifically to a younger audience because their parents
might complain. It is the responsibility of those parents to not allow their kids to be exposed to an environment that has that content if they are against it especially in games that are rated Teen or Mature.

As well as the obvious issues I have with the apparent social justice warrior attitudes that Microsoft Enforcement has adopted recently, they have some serious practical issues with this "service" as well. As I mentioned earlier, they do not provide the
specific message that they suspended your account for. They simply provide a blanket statement such as "inappropriate communications" or something else. So you will not know what message or messages that their "service" deemed worthy of suspension. If you
feel that your suspension was unwarranted, which it usually is, you can choose to appeal that suspension, by answering a questionnaire that reminds me of having to write lines in early school years when the kid did something wrong. Oh, and on top of that,
you have to answer every question correctly to even submit your appeal. On top of all of this, you cannot directly contact the enforcement team to speak to someone about your suspension. Reasons for this should be obvious but it's still very irritating to
not be able to talk to anyone about the extremely vague reasons behind your suspension. Not even a robot.

In general, there are some serious practical and philosophical problems with Microsoft's Enforcement conditions. They should not be censoring the speech of their players and punishing those who do something so small as swearing in a message, they should
not be regulating communication at all because players have the ability to block other players from communicating with them, and they should reconsider the practicalities behind their system involving communication between the players and the administrators,
especially considering this service is not free.

 

The post would have been locked by a forum mod, not Xbox. Posts can be locked if they are already answered or if they violate the forums rules. Since this is a duplicate thread of a locked post, it'll end up locked as well.

The rules on Live have been the same since it started and are the rules you agreed to when you signed up. If you're receiving suspension it's because you violated the code of conduct. If you run across other people who are, report them and block them.

 

Once again you're missing the point that the other guy missed as well. I know this is the system now; this has not always been the system for as long as Xbox Live has been around. I know this because I've had Xbox live for over a decade and I've never
changed the way I behave and I received my first suspension out of the blue 2 years ago. So tell me again how the rules are the same? What I'm saying is the system is broken and I'd like to start a discussion with other players who probably feel the same
way so maybe Microsoft will see that and do something about it. Unlikely obviously but it's worth a shot. Doesn't help when the forum posts get locked within one day.

 

The rules themselves have always been the same. I think what has changed is the fact that there are more people who are trying to bait people into violating them. But if you're not doing anything to violate the code in the first place, you have nothing to
worry about.

 

Hate to do this but you're wrong and here's why
https://www.fastcompany.com/40550860/microsoft-targets-xbox-trolls-with-offensive-language-ban

and here's why
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3029334/microsoft-aims-to-ban-offensive-language-in-skype-...

and another
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/microsoft-changes-its-code-of-conduct-to-prohibit-offensiv...

just in case you weren't convinced yet.

Seriously who are you trying to fool here? They're trying to prohibit offensive language in an online gaming environment. How many communications bans must they send out in a week with that kind of criteria? Did you even read my post before you commented
in the first place or did you just stop at the part where I said I got a communications ban? Because I mention this in it.

 

This article in particular states that Microsoft was changing the code of conduct on May 1, 2018. If you check the Code of Conduct it has not been updated since 2015.
Profanity has always been on the code of conduct though. That hasn't changed.

 

You do realize that you just invalidated your previous argument with that post right? And not to split hairs here but no that article does not state that the code of conduct was changed on the first of May 2018 but that Microsoft
clarified that "-use of offensive language and fraudulent activity is prohibited." Then answer this question, who defines if language is "offensive?" Oh, I know. The person who is the troll messaging the person who happens to respond not thinking about
what they're saying because apparently everything we write in Xbox Live is monitored now. The same person who would love it if the person they're contacting would have something bad happen to their account because they enjoy that kind of thing. But if you'd
actually read my post I do mention that in a few places.

 

The forums are users helping users. Nothing can or will be done here in the forums to address the processes in place by Microsoft for the Enforcement Team.

Xbox Live is a service in which you agree to follow the rules and policies in place and are subject to suspension if you're caught violating those rules.

Your diatribe is geared more to try and justify your violations instead of learning from your actions.

This post, like your last, will probably be locked once again.

Be part of the solution and post suggestions on
https://xboxideas.uservoice.com/

 

Diatribe? Really? How is this a diatribe? And violations? The only reason they're violations is because Xbox made them violations. Recently in fact. A fact that apparently you ambassadors aren't aware of. Oh but thanks for doing something useful and
providing me with a website where something might actually be done that's not being talked down to by condescending "ambassadors".

 

You're not the first person to post something like this, and you probably won't be the last. These posts are very common because people are angry they were suspended. And ultimately, you're not going to listen to what anyone else has to say because you are
angry. But really your suspensions are nobody else's fault but your own and no fault of any type of system. You said it yourself. The system is set up so you can block those people. No one is forcing you to respond to them. All you have to do is report them,
block communications with them, and not respond to them. Then they get suspended and you get to keep playing. It's just that simple. Whether or not Microsoft has started cracking down on specific violations, doesn't change the fact that you were suspended
because you said something to violate the code of conduct. Use of profanity has been a violation of the code of conduct since day 1. You may not have had anyone report you for it before recently which could account for why you've never been suspended before,
but that still doesn't mean it was allowed.

 

Why is nobody talking about why profanity is not allowed? Why is nobody talking about how easy it is for players to report other players for saying literally a word. ONE. WORD. I'm posting this because I'm sick of this crap happening for no reason other
than somebody was offended by a word or they felt like reporting another player because they're a troll. And no, once again profanity has not been against the code of conduct since day one, I've already shown you the sources to support that that was a recent
update and you yourself said that the COC was changed in 2015. I mean, how can you honestly look at this enforcement system and think it's not broken? Don't assume for one second that my judgement is for some reason being shrouded by emotion, look at my
post. For ***'s sake look at the post, look at the reasons, and counter them if you can. Don't just make wild assumptions about me and be a condescending prick towards me because their system is broken. It just is, and you're right, it's not just me saying
this. There's probably thousands of people being suspended every week for having profanity in their messages because that's just the way online gaming is!!! Microsoft is only hurting their players by regulating a harmless thing like swearing in gaming.

 

The recent updates, even the one in 2015, did not add profanity to the list of things that are against the rules. Profanity has always been on the list. Communication suspensions are not something new. It's not allowed because yes there are kids on the system,
but there are also people who just find that kind of language offensive. If anything can be offensive, it's not allowed.

 

Are. YOU. SERIOUS?!?!?!?!?!? Did you really just say that?!??!??! YOU JUST SAID THE PHRASE "If anything can be offensive, it's not allowed." DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT STATEMENT ARE?!?!?!?!? ANY IDEA?!?!?!? That means if anyone
finds anything offensive, anything at all, they can report it and suspend that user. You're all just ffing sjw's aren't you? Wow just wow