I gotta say that the one thing I am not really missing about XBL is the racist, misogynist, and downright immature behavior of some of the users. In fact, I remember reading an article in OXM (this is the Sept 2007 issue i think) where one of the writers spent a week trying to get kicked banned from the service, and during the week long tirade, he became embarrassed. Eventually he receives a 24 hour ban towards the end of the experiment. But if someone can be a complete prick online for a whole week and receive only a 24 hour ban, it's safe to say that XBL is rife with idiots, who have little regard of their moronic remarks.
Though we have the ability to submit player reviews, and file complaints these have less affect towards the community as a whole. What we need is to let the community govern itself, an opportunity for gamers to take responsibility for their actions even when shelled within anonymity. Let us say the everyone starts out with a rep of 0, from here you can earn as many as 2000 points, and fall as many as -2000 points.
You earn or lose points based upon your actions within the gaming community, which is to say that your actions count even after you turn your Xbox off. Players would gain/lose points based upon their contributions to Xbox.com forums, Play and Win weekends, and of course, their actions on Xbox Live. Players who can be helpful in their forum posts, and help newer players around XBL and during matches online, could receive points via positive player reviews. Players who can't help but swear and demean others within the community would lose points via player review as well.
As players gain points they could receive bonuses such as exclusive gamerpics, themes, XBL Arcade games and even Xbox Live Ambassadorship (which I will discuss in another post). As gamers lose points privileges would slowly be stripped away until a permanent ban would be imposed at -2000 points, with a breakdown of removed privileges below:
-100 points / players lose the ability to submit player reviews.
-200 points / players lose the ability to use voice chat/vision cam online & receive a 24 hour ban.
-500 points / players lose the ability to host matches & receive a week long ban.
-1000 points / players lose the ability to play on weekends & receive a month long ban.
-1500 points / XBL Support reviews players rep, and warns gamer of potential permanent ban.
-2000 points / Gamers' Gamertag and Xbox 360 MAC address are permanently banned from XBL.
Granted I focus on the negative here, simply because that is where the problem lyes. MS has done a great job of providing a great foundation for a gaming community. Though it's unusual, it is the gamers themselves who are rotting the core of a good service. What do you think?
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