Phil Spencer Wants Cross-Platform Bans For Toxic Players

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has called for toxic players to be banned across all platforms But will this ever happen?

Unfortunately, toxicity isn’t just a gaming problem, it seems to be an issue in all walks of life. However, it is most certainly an issue in gaming and one that needs to be dealt with. A recent example of toxicity in gaming occurred when streamer Grenade Queen was the victim of sexiest abuse while playing Halo Infinite.

Social media and gaming platforms attempt to address toxic behaviour, sadly, it will likely never go away entirely. Those convicted of abuse can have accounts banned, however, there’s very little that can be done for a person to create a new profile to continue the cycle. Furthermore, toxic behaviour can still continue on already existing profiles on other platforms.

what can be done to tackle offenders?

halo infinite
Credit: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios

When speaking to The New York Times, Phil Spencer has called for proven, offending players to receive bans across multiple platforms. How this would work is that Microsoft proposes to share information with competitors to tackle those that abuse others.

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?” said Spencer.

gaming
Credit: @frdx/Unsplash

In an ideal world, people would just be nice and respectable to each other. Regardless of gender, skin colour, disability, nationality, or video game skill level. 

Would permanent bans result in a safer and more welcoming gaming community? We’ll probably never know for sure, but discussions between companies on the issue could be a step in the right direction.

Do you agree with Phil Spencer on how to deal with toxic players? At the end of the day, we all love video games, and they should be for everyone to enjoy.

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Featured Image Credit: Credit: E3/Microsoft