Microsoft have issued a notice that they will begin rolling out notifications for the Xbox One’s enhanced reputation system in the near future. In aiming to keep the Xbox Live service as a “social activity”, they have redesigned the Xbox360’s community-powered reputation system to better inform players about the behaviour of others in the community.
Currently the system makes use of a three-tier system where the more hours you play fairly online without being reported as abusive by others the better your reputation will be. They claim that the algorithm won’t penalize you for bad reports over a few weeks of play, false reports or reports filed for other “griefing” purposes, although I would treat that claim with scepticism until at least a few weeks have passed.
The three tiers of the reputation system are:
Good Players
The majority of gamers who receive positive reports or just no reports at all. They have plans on introducing rewards for good behaviour.
Needs Work
From this month, players will start receiving reputation warnings as their reputations drop due to community feedback. The purpose of these communications is to remind players about their effect on the community and encourage them to have more positive interactions. These warnings are based on community feedback collected since Xbox One launched.
Avoid Me
If players do not heed warnings and continue to have a negative impact on other players and the Xbox Live community, they will begin to experience penalties. For example, people with an “Avoid Me” rating will have reduced matchmaking pairings and may be unable to use certain privileges such as Twitch broadcasting.
In other words, if you decided to play your own way that might piss off other players but is well within the bounds set by the developers of a game, then you risk potentially losing access to advertised services that you fork out $89.00 AUD a year for.
I am intrigued what will come of this news in the next few weeks, and am left wondering how many XBL online gamers will be using “I’m going to give you negative feedback!” as an unwarranted threat from now on…
