Xbox boss Phil Spencer is no stranger to interviews, or speaking his mind when asked a particular question. After the disastrous attempt to roll out the Xbox One as an all in one gaming, TV, and media device, Spencer took over as a recognizable face for Xbox fans, and someone who marketed themselves as being focused primarily on gaming. Now, Spencer is turning his eye towards the toxic behaviour players can encounter when playing games online.
Toxicity is a part of many online games, especially competitive ones, where there's a digital rank or number that can be lost. As gaming has become a part of many people's daily routine though, and popular games consistently have a ranked mode or similar competitive element, toxic behavior is something that has been targeted by platform owners and game developers for some time now. Recently, Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley called out toxicity and harassment in Halo Infinite. While there are facilities now for platforms and games to ban toxic users that take their rage too far, Phil Spencer wants to go further.
Speaking in a recent interview, the Xbox boss stated that he would like to see a form of cross-platform bans against toxic users. Spencer said “something I would love us to be able to do–this is a hard one as an industry–is when somebody gets banned in one of our networks, is there a way for us to ban them across other networks?” The idea would revolve around Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo keeping a shared list of offenders and getting rid of them from all online gaming services. It's clear Spencer isn't a fan of people using the Xbox platform to harass others, as he stated recently that Xbox is not a platform for politics.
Alongside having a cross-platform ban to place on a toxic player, Spencer suggested that Xbox and other platforms could allow a player a personal ban list, so that they never have to run into someone that has harassed them again. Toxicity and harassment is a lively topic in discussions around modern gaming, and not just in online spaces. Many developers and publishers have been accused of encouraging toxic work environments, such as Bungie who recently had multiple employees come out with stories of the company's toxic culture.
Phil Spencer's comments seem at least partly inspired by how Activision is treating Call of Duty cheaters. Offenders that constantly display poor behavior or cheat are banned through their Activision account, giving them no more access to Call of Duty. Spencer though, has long took a stance against toxicity in all of its forms in gaming, making comments on the ongoing situation with Activision Blizzard and advocating for Xbox gamers not to view PlayStation as the enemy.
Source: New York Times