Xbox's Phil Spencer discusses toxicity in gaming and how to combat it
A good amount of people who have picked up an online competitive game in the past few years will be able to tell a story of ridiculous chat messages, aggressive behavior, or even harassment from random players across the world. The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, is well aware of this, and took to Microsoft's official blog page to discuss how important gaming can be, and how it brings people together and inspires players around the world. Which is why he believes that video games should "be a safe environment" and will be taking measures to combat toxicity in gaming. The first change of which is that Xbox has updated its community standards page to reflect stricter guidelines in regards to "harmful behavior".
This new policy promises to be "vigilant, proactive, and swift" in seeking out abuse on its online platforms to create a safe experience so that anyone of any background can play games without having to deal with toxic people creating problems. Additionally, a focus will be put on Xbox Club community managers, giving them "new moderation tools" to better protect fans, as well as simplifying the process of creating a child account for Microsoft gaming services. At the end of his post, Spencer also mentions that any innovations made to protect its younger gamers will be shared with the entire industry, to ensure the safety of as many players as possible.
While it's an impossible goal to entirely wipe out rude and cruel people from the internet, it seems Microsoft is dedicated to protecting its players, and being an inclusive platform to play games on.
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