The Problem With Xbox LIVE and What You Can Do To Fix It

The Problem

I think we all know that Xbox LIVE has an undeniable problem, or to be more accurate the Xbox LIVE community does. In my time on XBL my most played multiplayer games by far have been the Halo games, however, the Halo community has got a very bad reputation, especially on the Xbox 360, and this is something I’ve found somewhat irksome. I feel like the Halo situation is a scenario where a large number of people have been judged on the actions of a small handful of jackasses, and yet, I wholeheartedly agree that the way a lot of people conduct themselves on Xbox LIVE in general is unacceptable. It just happens that with games like Halo and Call of Duty being the most popular on the console, that’s where the largest volume of idiots tends to turn up.

I’m sure we all have plenty of anecdotes about how we were in a multiplayer game and heard one of the other players start screaming obscenities down their headsets, or can recall times when our deaths were quickly followed up by dim-witted opponents crouching up and down on our corpse. Being able to tolerate kinds these of situations should never be a prerequisite for being part of a gaming community.

The Red Herring Solution

 I want a button that looks exactly this installed on my controller. It's still not the finite answer to griefers though.

I’m aware that I’m one of a countless number of people to complain about the kind of harassment that happens on Xbox LIVE, and almost every time I’ve seen someone complain about the less dignified members of XBL before, they’ve been met with cries of “The mute button is there for a reason”. I feel that this is a response which often misses the point of the original statement. Almost everyone complaining about XBL users in an online forum is going to know how to mute players; the point is that they were irritated they had run into those kinds of people in the first place. Usually overwhelmed by masses of people praising the functionality of the mute button, the person who originally expressed their annoyance in this situation backs down anyway.

Not only can liberal use of the mute feature mean players regularly having to break up gameplay to deal with menus, but it doesn’t send the right message to abusers of voice communications, possibly the most troublesome type of XBL griefer. You can mute another user, even submit a negative player review on them, but not only will they be unaware that you’ve taken steps to avoid them, they won’t care, because there’s no negative consequences for their actions. When people are not punished for acting in an abusive manner, it sends the message to them that that kind of behaviour is accepted.

Why Should You Care?

I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t mind systematically silencing the poorly mannered denizens of Xbox LIVE if it provides a bit of peace and quiet, and to those people I’d encourage you to be more considerate of your fellow players, however, even if you are a cold-hearted loner of the online world there’s reason for concern over the less mature users of XBL.

Firstly, while you may get rid of specific individuals by blocking them from communicating with you again, if the message is sent to those people that it’s okay to behave in the way they do, the problem is going to spread. XBL has a reputation for being a place where people who want to grief can grief, and as long as harassers don’t see other harassers being banned it’s going to attract them to XBL because they will believe their particular brand of douchebaggery will be accepted there. In fact in some cases if people see their friends insulting and annoying other players, it’s going to encourage them to do the same, especially if they’re young. The problem is by no means just confined to XBL either. If they think it’s okay to provoke people on XBL then they’ll try it anywhere else they want, from other gaming services to online forums.

Secondly, when potential newcomers to the world of video games take a peek into the lands of online communication, and see a bunch of dim-witted anti-socialites allowed to wage war amongst themselves, it scares them off; I don’t blame them, who would want to tolerate that? With casual games welcoming masses of new people into the world of video games, there is a greater potential than ever for more people to start playing traditional video games. The more people start playing these kinds of games, the more the industry will expand to meet consumer demand, meaning a larger quantity of high quality video games, and that’s something we all want.

Isn’t This Microsoft’s Fault?

 Above: The XBL moderation team dealing with a CoC violator.

When it comes to the abundance of asshats on Xbox LIVE a lot of people are quick to blame Microsoft. I’ve heard accusations that Microsoft’s punishments are not strict enough, or that people go unpunished entirely. Unfortunately I just don’t think any individual has enough empirical evidence about reporting and banning on Xbox LIVE to make a conclusion one way or the other. All the stories of Microsoft’s incompetence seem to be personal anecdotes, referring to a very small number of specific situations with little to no evidence, and not referring to the banning practises of Microsoft as a whole.

According to a post made by an Xbox LIVE moderator earlier this year the mods investigate every report of a violation of the code of conduct they receive, and if they find any genuine violation in their investigation they will always issue a punishment. It’s unlikely that Microsoft are lying about this, however they do say that it takes some time to deal with the amount of reports they get, so accusations that Microsoft staff do nothing about reports seem unfounded, but could it be an issue of them being understaffed? Perhaps, but I’ll come back to that in a bit.

What Can You Do?

Stay Calm, Use Mute

If you encounter someone on Xbox LIVE ruining the in-game experience for yourself or others, the worst thing you can do is react. Remember, trolls want reaction, if they team-kill you or start verbally attacking you and you make some retaliatory remark back at them, they’ll only feel amused or satisfied, in other words they’ll have won. The less attention you pay to a troll, the more likely they are to get bored and stop doing what they’re doing. In fact I think when put in this situation hitting the mute button is exactly what you should do, it just shouldn’t be the only thing you do.

Always File a Complaint

Remember the name of the person who was causing trouble. You don’t have to remember the whole thing, just keep the first or last few characters in your head; it can be surprisingly easy to forget their name between when they start acting like an upset 12 year old and when the game ends. Post-game, find their name on your recent players list, and file a complaint against them. This might be the most important part of trying to make XBL a pleasant place to be.

Remember, Microsoft can easily find people violating the code of conduct through actions such as putting offensive text in their bio, but they have to rely on players to track down and identify those abusing the service through in-game behaviour. Many of the people I see complaining about the behaviour of people on XBL do nothing to try and stop it themselves, and if Microsoft is understaffed to deal with harassment on XBL, nothing will show them users want more moderators like a flood of reports.

Don’t Violate the Code of Conduct Yourself

If you’re reading this then you’re unlikely to be the kind of person who is about to jump onto XBL and start team-griefing and spouting weed references. None the less, try to keep bad language to a bare minimum. Here on Giant Bomb or when among friends, there’s nothing wrong with a little casual swearing, but XBL is a whole different territory. I’ve seen so many people on XBL complaining about the bad language of minors online, while simultaneously punctuating their own speech with every curse word under the sun. Remember, the service is full of impressionable kids and young teens that will pick up on what older players do, and try to imitate it to make themselves seem more mature. You wouldn’t swear around peoples’ children in real-life, so don’t do it online.

Stop the Kids Directly (Without Acting Like a Crazy Person)

 Some methods of intervention are more appropriate than others.

The majority of you out there in Giant Bomb land don’t have kids, but when you do most of you will be smart enough to make sure they aren’t abusing online services. If you know people or become friends with people who do have children who play the more popular XBL games, inform them of the importance of monitoring their childrens’ online interactions, but only if you feel they would be comfortable with you doing so. I’m not going to ask people to offend their friends, but you know how your friends will react, if you think you can say something, speak out. It doesn’t have to be a big, overblown rant on “the state of XBL”, something as insignificant as a small remark about it can make a person think.

Likewise, in the rare event that you know their child is abusing Xbox LIVE, and you know they’ll be comfortable with you speaking about it, tell them. Not only will it be beneficial to the XBL community, but it will be far more beneficial to your friend and their child. Ultimately any competent parent will want to know, and the child will grow up better for it.

Game Over

That just about summarises all my thoughts on the matter. I’d like to sincerely thank anyone who has read this, and as usual any and all constructive feedback is much appreciated, from the smallest to the biggest comment. Good luck, have Bison.

-Gamer_152