How Microsoft polices Xbox Live

By Robert Purchese Published 3 August, 2011

"We focus on the really bad stuff."

The Xbox Live Enforcement team is "moving into a realm where we're applying more automation to the process" of policing gamers.

The news comes from a Microsoft-commissioned article about the virtual police force, which needs to keep the 35 million Xbox Live members in check.

In 2007, before Xbox Live hit one million users, "Enforcement was literally done by one guy with a spreadsheet who would go through the complaints once a week," revealed Stephen Toulouse, director of the Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement team.

"We knew Xbox Live was going to explode. We knew we were on the cusp of something huge, especially when we saw how many people came into the service with the launch of Halo 3."

Toulouse assembled a team and built the Vulcan tool ("designed on cocktail napkins") to help. The team now uses Vulcan 2.0.

"Most of the decisions need human eyes to keep it real," said Boris Erickson, Xbox Live Enforcement Unicorn Ninja. Really.

"Though we are moving into a realm where we're applying more automation to the process."

That human eye can be enforcers playing a game with you.

"Part of what we pay them for is to be out there in the community, listening for threats, looking for vulnerabilities, and reporting back to us."

Boris Erickson, Xbox Live Enforcement Unicorn Ninja

"The enforcement agents also play games," Erickson revealed. "Part of what we pay them for is to be out there in the community, listening for threats, looking for vulnerabilities, and reporting back to us."

"If you're playing a game on Xbox Live and somebody snipes you from across the map and you drop the F-bomb, we're not going to ban you," elaborated Erickson, "not for the occasional slip. We focus on the really bad stuff.

"We are not here to be the arbiters of all speech, but there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox Live that cross a line: racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities and more."

Enforcement action ranges from 24-hour bans for offenders to being voted "off the island", i.e. banned for good.

The team do tread carefully, Erickson said, and acknowledge that "these are paid subscriptions we're taking away, so we want to make sure we're doing exactly the right thing".

Xbox Live, on the whole, isn't a melting pot of angst and abuse; Toulouse said the "cross-section of bad apples" dealt with daily amounts to "less than one per cent of the overall population".

"The user complaint volume has tended to stay relatively flat compared to the line of new users," he elaborated. "What that says to me is that our efforts are having an impact, and also that we're broadening our audience.

"To the extent that we do see bad behaviour, it's often tied to the belief that they're anonymous, they won't get caught, and we're not looking."

Stephen Toulouse

"We're bringing in different people that want to experience different things on Xbox Live, not just gaming, and at the end of the day that's going to improve everything."

Toulouse, Erickson and team apparently use pictures of LOLcats to lift their spirits after particularly dour cases. "They do a lot to help," Erickson said. "You sort of need that disconnection from the offensive content sometimes."

Toulouse concluded: "I've learned that the vast majority of people on our service are out there having fun. We have a great community."

"To the extent that we do see bad behaviour, it's often tied to the belief that they're anonymous, they won't get caught, and we're not looking.

"The vast majority of people are out there are trying to be excellent to each other."

Toulouse's top tips for staying out of trouble are to not cross "that line of bad behaviour"; to help each other have fun, which "makes a good behaviour ripple through the system"; to get involved with what your kids play, because "engaged parents tend to have children who don't show up in our complaint system"; and to report the naughties - "We are approachable," roared Toulouse. "We have a complaint system for a reason."

Gears of War 3 will be popular on Xbox Live this September.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jablonski #1 10 months ago

    "cross-section of bad apples dealt with daily amounts to less than one per cent of the overall population" *

    * Figure does not include Call of Duty

  • ps3owner #2 10 months ago

    "Boris Erickson, Xbox Live Enforcement Unicorn Ninja"

    must be a nice business card ;)

  • TheInvincibleCarmine #3 10 months ago

    LOLcats prevents depression and suicide. FACT

  • Collymilad #4 10 months ago

    Well, get enforcing then, because the amount of dickheads and people breaking the ToS on Xbox Live is ridiculous.

    You see it daily.

  • javvyman #5 10 months ago

    Xbox live is great when you're not on one of the popular games, the only time i get abuse is when i whoop someone in FIFA.
    I'm curious, does the level of abuse differ with your preffered zone?
    Edited by javvyman at 03/08/11 @ 15:34

  • Gearskin #6 10 months ago

    Automation?... They didn't stop Judgement Day, they just delayed it!

  • Shikasama #7 10 months ago

    This comments thread should now be links to chavvy dickheads on COD

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb6vs_xxPKU

  • metalangel #8 10 months ago

    http://www.whywasibanned.com and http://www.fatuglyorslutty.com are both great reading for the sort of wonderful people you can meet on Xbox Live.

  • linea #9 10 months ago

    "The vast majority of people are out there are trying to be excellent to each other."

    Bill S. Preston would be proud.

  • DwarfyP #10 10 months ago

    @Collmilad
    Report the players then cos Microsoft aren't going to see everything themselves and rely on reports to show them who they should watch.

    I hope they have Urban Dictionary bookmarked for easy reference :)
    Edited by DwarfyP at 03/08/11 @ 15:48

  • carlitoswagon #11 10 months ago

    "The vast majority of people are out there are trying to be excellent to each other."

    So that's what teabagging's for.....

  • Nephirion #12 10 months ago

    I have seen countless offensive emblems in Black Ops and yet no action is taken ...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #13 10 months ago

    Toulouse, Erickson and team apparently use pictures of LOLcats to lift their spirits after particularly dour cases. "They do a lot to help," Erickson said. "You sort of need that disconnection from the offensive content sometimes."

    It's a little strange the way that makes them sound a surrealist version of marines in 'Nam getting themselves high to cope with the horrors of war.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 03/08/11 @ 16:02

  • 00.00.01 #14 10 months ago

    Cool. So you have to pay to play online, and then the PC-Brigade (as in Political Correctness) starts intervening when you use powerfull language whilst playing 18+ rated titles...Not cool.
    Also...the world is bigger than English. Good luck trying to monitor a 100 languages. Swearing in English canbe speaking in other countries...but little do they know in the now bankrupt You Ess of A.

  • sonicyoda #15 10 months ago

    Makes you wonder whether the Japanese are screaming 'KNIFE N00B' at each other.

  • Phishfood #16 10 months ago

    More of this can be seen at http://whywasibanned.com/.

    Example 1
    Example 2

    I remember there was this guy arguing about how he didn't do anything wrong and at the end he says "My gamertag is NigsHaveNoRites"
    Edited by Phishfood at 03/08/11 @ 17:23

  • jetsetwillie #17 10 months ago

    @TheInvincibleCarmine

    who ever heard of a depressed or suicidal cat???

  • Kami #18 10 months ago

    "We focus on the really bad stuff."

    Pity this rule wasn't applied to the offensively bad and buggy Daggerdale.

  • mukki #19 10 months ago

    Sounds like game material to me!

    The Xbox Live Enforcement team developed by Bungie and an xbox exclusive!!

  • Uncompetative #20 10 months ago

    I pity these poor sods. They are compelled to create their own drama because they play shallow boring games like Call of Poopy and Gears of Whore.

  • meerkat23 #21 10 months ago

    could someone tell thier enforcers to play a game of World at War? pople flying, invincible, unlimited killstreaks its a joke over there.

  • Collymilad #22 10 months ago

    @Dwarfy

    I do report people mate, though probably not as much as a should. Last person I reported was on CoD about 3 months ago, had [EDL] as his clan tag, had the nazi swastika (as in, red, white circle, black swastika off centre - I know they hijacked it but the other stuff made it obvious what it meant here) and a load of racist shit in his bio.

    I'm kinda at the point where I just ignore most people now though.
    Edited by Collymilad at 03/08/11 @ 17:03

  • linksdad #23 10 months ago

    lol they clearly play like the rest of us with mute firmly ON. but wait, doesnt that defeat the object of getting paid to play and weed out racist little and big brats?

  • WizenWolfBain #24 10 months ago

    These enforcers can't be particularly good at their job. I've seen people banned for really trivial things, such as silly bio's and locations, but I'm yet to see any of the hordes of dickheads with modified consoles, host booters and generally threatening demeanors getting banned. I run in to what seems like the same groups of DDoS cheaters, boosters, account sellers and general arse holes virtually every time I play competitively on Halo 3.

    I don't like the idea of people being able to ban someone just because they swear or use a distasteful range of cuss words. Xbox Live is a premium service that hosts adult rated content and services. Surely we deserve to be treated like adults. If you don't like someone's choice of insults; use the mute button. Half the fun of Xbox Live is the banter that can be had between opposing teams.

    How about these enforcers start with the serious stuff like permabanning DDoSers, firmware flashers and other scum before moving on to monitoring bio space and language.
    Edited by WizenWolfBain at 03/08/11 @ 17:21

  • White_Westie #25 10 months ago

    I wish they would add a few more options, it would certainly make like easier when avoiding people!
    [x] player is underage playing a game with an age rated higher than them.
    [x] 12 year old trying to be 18 talking smack talk on a game rated 18+
    [x] Obnoxious 18-22 year old who think they are invicible and extremely funny with your ma jokes after not being able to pull a girl on a friday/saturday night

    or one for myself
    [x] Grumpy old sod wanting to enjoy a bit of team play, not listen to some smacked up 12 year old singing or playing now 78 greatest hits wanting to escape the wife for 1 hour of quality gameplay

    It would certainly make my ears better :)

    ps... actually more than half of those are why i dont play cod...
    Edited by White_Westie at 03/08/11 @ 17:24

  • lucky_jim #26 10 months ago

    The Boris Erickson is an elusive beast, created only by the cross-mating of a London mayor with a former England football manager. You really don't want to witness that, or displease a Boris Erickson.

  • stegabba #27 10 months ago

    i pay for the service and if im annoyed at someone cheating to beat me i will swear all i want , i dont play cod so its ok :L

  • paulf #28 10 months ago

    "We are not here to be the arbiters of all speech, but there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox Live that cross a line: racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities and more."

    you mean 95% of communication then

  • MaFlippinHeadHurts #29 10 months ago

    I play Halo online all the time and for the most part it’s actually ok

    Must admit that the tea bagging gets on my nerves though………and I’m old enough that it shouldn’t bother me

  • natureboy #30 10 months ago

    Load of flying bull i say

  • TRUTH #31 10 months ago

    I find the gamers mostly from USA are rather rude and abusive!..eps playing Sports and Fps games.
    Edited by TRUTH at 03/08/11 @ 18:07

  • darkmorgado #32 10 months ago

    So does this mean that most players of COD are going to feel the banhammer soon?

  • RichyRichh77 #33 10 months ago

    ^^ Amen to that. I tried a few hours of CoD4 with an open profile and couldn't believe the amount of abuse that spewed forth inbetween 12yr olds whining about being claymored for the 20th time and American kids singing sh*ite over the airwaves.

    I soon switched back to Friends Only comms. :)

  • TheInvincibleCarmine #34 10 months ago

    @jetsetwillie
    My cat falls asleep in it's bowl. Does that count?

  • silversun #35 10 months ago

    been playing call of duty for the campaign latley and decided to have quick game online , i was quickly off there.
    I dont mind a bit of banter but it was bit worse than that.

    Guess back to duke nukem forever that is awsome to play online : )
    Edited by silversun at 03/08/11 @ 19:32

  • alan_stealth #36 10 months ago

    I'm really not offended by homophobia/racism or anything on XBOX Live.
    People are retarded.
    Give them a forum, and they will abuse it.

    Let's be fair, anybody who "still" thinks racism is "cool" that they advertise it on their profile - is clearly punching above their weight.

  • varnavides #37 10 months ago

    I think they must be quite good at their job because looking on ebay recently there were loads of banned 360s for sale. Well, the ones that admit to their Xbox being banned...

    I have reported people if really offensive on Black Ops but so many have the bunnies shagging I can't keep up with 'em!

  • gjgjg #38 10 months ago

    '...there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox Live that cross a line: racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities and more." '
    '...the "cross-section of bad apples" dealt with daily amounts to "less than one per cent of the overall population".'

    Not sure you been online all that much! Seems more like 1% are sane and decent folk. Atleast 99% of players with microphones seem to be in the 'cross the line' categorey.

  • smelly #39 10 months ago

    This microsoft advert has been paid for by....


  • 3william56 #40 10 months ago

    No sexism, eh. So DOA just got banned from the 360?

  • ToAks #41 10 months ago

    so,how does this work?

    i mean,on PSN they got like XXX people spread over the most popular online games and none (or so it seems) in the others.
    That said, in the games i do play online (LBP,Killzone,DCUniverse,Motorstorm,MAG and Socom) i more or less never get to see the moderators in action.

    i bet 99% of em hang in BlackOps.....

  • RodHull #42 10 months ago

    So that's where all the Unicorn Ninjas end up. I'll inform the Toots and his Chewnicorn friends immediately.

  • MakeYourself #43 10 months ago

    Xbox Live Enforcer Unicorn Ninja... After 25 years of life, I've finally figured out what I want to be!

  • deano2099 #44 10 months ago

    I love how people think because they pay for something they have to the right to act like a dick. Try going to a pub and buying a drink, then get in someones face and swear and shout racist stuff at them and see what happens.

    The line is fairly clear: if you'd be arrested for doing or saying the same stuff face-to-face then you'll likely get banned. Not that hard to grasp.

  • gamerindia #45 10 months ago

    @22-collymilad
    Actually there's a possibility that the guy is actually a Hindu. The swastika is a religious symbol in Hinduism..... Although not a black, white and red one