Women Gamers reports on harrassment on XBox Live
I’m not too fond of how Nintendo has implemented (or not implemented) true online play. Friends’ lists are good, making a person enter a 16-digit code for each friend per game is a little overkill to keep the kiddie’s safe. However, when you hear about stuff like this, it’s easy to see where Nintendo is coming from.
Currently, the XBOX Live “feedback” system is set up for people to file complaints against abusers. However, abusers can also file false complaints against people like myself, and the children in The GR8 Clan, which has happened, after I’ve booted someone out of my room for threatening a litany of sexual crimes against me and/or my GR8 kids. It gets worse when that first guy has a bunch of his little trolls in the room with him, because once he has been booted, all of his friends simultaneously hurl filthy words and vile threats at us. After I’ve cleared the room, I can see how my “approval rating” among other gamers (XBOX Live’s “feedback” system) has slipped another notch, or two.
I called XBOX Live, and brought this to the attention of the lady on the other end of the line, explaining to her that I have to run my own room to keep it clean and fun, but that these creatures were giving me bad feedback when I refuse to tolerate their horrendous attacks. I asked her if their system could allow enough evil-doers to get a do-gooder banned from XBOX Live. Her response was, “Yes, it could.”
If Microsoft was smart about this, they would make sure that no one was banned without a little covert operation. When someone’s rating sinks low enough, send a Microsoft employee in to monitor a quick game. If they observe abusive behaviors, the ban can go ahead. If they see that the person is being bullied or harrassed, and that their rating is suffering because of abusive behavior, the bad rating that the victim earned is now applied to the people doing the abusing (if they aren’t banned instead), and a letter is sent to the name on the account alerting that the ban is in place for abusive behavior, no refunds. It won’t do much for the adults perpetrating this behavior, but I know if, fifteen+ years ago, I had an XBox live account, and my mom and dad got a letter saying that they flushed $60 down the toilet because I was being a little shit, there would be a reckoning.
I’ve heard that the chatter on XBox Live has gotten steadily worse over the last few months. I really hope that MS takes action on this.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
My colleague’s kid got the same treatment from the guys who bullied him at school, plus a lot of racist shit thrown at him too. I can’t say if it’s getting worse here, but it’s bad enough.
It all makes me think if some kind of counter movement could help. Create a community for support and security, get some memes going, think up counters to racist/sexist/homphobic remarks, create a mark for gamers/servers/clans/companies who actively fight it, etc.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Its strange really, since a couple of years ago my mum would often threaten to stop me from playing on Live, or on a few occasions actually stop me, and that was because of my foul language directed back at abusive players. It worked though, and I did shut up most of the time.
I definitely think Microsoft has really slipped up if its implemented a system on Xbox Live that screws over good players for taking care of bad players, and stopping them from ruining decent players fun. Actually, perhaps “slipped up” is an understatement.
I dont know - a faulty console and online play that could potentially do more than just let abusive players “get away with it”. Sometimes I wonder if Microsoft can tell their arse from their elbow?
August 8th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Just out of curiosity, since the problem has just reminded me of it, does your “Gamer Zone” (I think that’s what it was called?) have any effect on the people you play against? Like I said, Im not yet upgraded to a Gold account, so I only saw it when I registered for Live. I just remember seeing it, and wondered if it was somehow trying to combat people playing against the wrong types of players.
Not so much linked to abusive players, and the problem the “feedback” system on live creates for people trying to stop abusive players mind you. I was just reminded of it and was unsure about it though.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Correct me if I am wrong — but are there laws that protects Women Gamers from harassment in cyberspace? Just curious, because from what I read, men — or should I say boys — can harass you and other women Gamers all they want and get away with it and to be honest, I am absolutely appalled at what the boys have been doing at Xbox Live. Now I definitely know where Nintendo is coming from with the Wii and DS.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I’m pretty sure the answer is no. The good news is that XBox Live and other online game services are private enterprises, and such, can have policies that specifically forbid harrassment, hate speech, etc. There are no first-amendment issues since you’re using their service, they can set the rules. Obviously, this could also work against us if they decide that any kind of political speech is verboten, then you have issues of what “political” constitutes. But it really isn’t hard to distinguish harassment and retaliation from simple game smack-talking, and I can’t believe that companies like Microsoft and Sony wouldn’t know how to implement a no-harassment policy.