Hawty McBloggy Invites You to Play

*As I relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend, I offer you a reposting of a series I wrote back in June. This is part two of a three part article about what we can do to make Xbox Live a more positive place. See you on Monday.

Xbox Live can be a negative place. If you utilize that service for multiplayer gaming, you are already aware of that. Each individual person has the opportunity to help make our gaming arena a better place though. We already discussed a simple two word phrase that helps create a positive playing environment. Now let’s discuss something a little different that requires a bit more action on your part, the feedback system.

From XBox.com :

The feedback system was created to empower gamers. Choose to use it or not, but it drastically improves your online experiences when you let Xbox Live know what you think about certain players. When used responsibly, the tools can greatly improve your online experiences. On the flipside, if you overuse or abuse the system (i.e. by giving negative feedback to everyone you encounter) you’ll ostracize yourself from the general population, so use it wisely.

Leave feedback and increase the odds that you’ll be paired up with someone of similar skill—and character—next time you play. While you won’t get a free mint with each feedback form, you will get some satisfaction knowing that you’re in control of your online world.

There are several options for negative feedback. If someone is doing any of these things, leave the appropriate feedback option for them. The immediate advantage is that leaving that feedback will reduce the chance that you will meet up with them again in matchmaking. You are not only doing yourself a favor though, you are also helping the gaming community as a whole. If they are doing something severe enough, perhaps they will be graced with a ban in their future thus saving numerous people from a negative playing experience.

The options for negative feedback under Player Review :

Communication

• Trashtalking – The player excessively insulted, taunted, or made negative comments about other players.
• Unpleasant Language – The player used unpleasant words, phrases, or slang.
• Disruptive Voice – The player’s use of voice communication was disruptive (for example, singing, noise, or inane chatter).

Game Behavior

• Overly Aggressive – The player took the game too seriously or got angry at other players.
• Unsporting Conduct – The player did not play according to the rules or spirit of the game (for example, driving the wrong direction or team killing).
• Quit Early – The player quit the game or disconnected before it ended.

Player Skill

• Lacking Skill – The player lacked the skill to compete with others in the game.
• Too Good – The player was too skilled compared to others in the game.
• Unfamiliar With the Game – The player did not understand how to play the game.

*Skill reviews only improve matches. They aren’t shown to the player and don’t affect their rep.

If someone you run across in matchmaking is doing something entirely unacceptable, such as cheating or saying racist or sexist comments, you then want to move on to the FILE COMPLAINT category.

The options for negative feedback under File Complaint :

Profile and Content

• Gamertag – The players gamertag is offensive or inappropriate.
• Personal Picture – The players personal picture is offensive or inappropriate.
• Motto - The players motto is offensive or inappropriate.
• Player Content – In game content created by the player was offensive. Player content may consist of images, game maps, characters, vehicles, and so on.

Text and Voice Communications

• Text Message – The player sent a vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening text message.
• Voice Message – The player sent a vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening voice message.
• Voice Chat – The player used vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening language in voice chat.
• In Game Voice - The player used vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening languat during in game communication.

Video Communications

• Picture Message – The player sent a vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening picture message.
• Video Chat - The player used vulgar, hateful, harassing, or threatening language or gestures during video chat.

Tampering

• The player tampered with a game, a console, Xbox Live, or the Feedback System.

If someone does something severe enough to warrant filing a complaint, encourage everybody who is in your party to also leave the same feedback on this person. Assuming everybody was witness to it, leaving feedback in groups will speed up the process of getting that person banned. Imagine if everybody stopped their entire room to take 10 seconds to file a complaint against an offending player. Those people would be banned anywhere from 4 to 8 times quicker, and that is significant. Take the time to ask your friends to also leave feedback when the offense is serious. If they are doing something that wrong, people will be happy to stop and give their feedback if it means ridding Xbox Live of another jerk.

Often times people give a lot of negative feedback, but they don’t think to leave positive feedback. Did you play a competitive game with someone that showed great sportsmanship? Don’t you wish you could play against more people like that? You can. Leave them good feedback and you increase the likelihood that you will be matched up with them again in the future. Did you play against someone who had people quit out on their team but they stuck with it and gave it their best effort? Leave them good feedback. Those are the people you want to see more of. Did you have a pleasurable post game lobby full of good games instead of the usual “you suck” rant? Make sure you have that experience again by leaving them good feedback.

The feedback system will work for you if you let it. The naysayers don’t utilize it so of course it doesn’t work for them. Have faith that the system in place does in fact make a difference and do your part in assisting that process. Together we can make Xbox Live a better place.

How to Make Xbox Live a Better Place
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3