The public outcry over the seemingly-allowed racist behavior on Xbox Live has finally reached a decibel level that Microsoft cannot ignore. The Xbox Community team reported this morning that MS will take immediate and decisive action against anyone using the online service to spread messages of hate. Find out how after the jump.
“We want you all to know that you have been heard, loud and clear,” said Kristi Taladino. “We are outraged by this behavior and the spread of hateful speech over Xbox Live.”
In an unprecedented move, MS has beefed up its servers and infrastructure to a point where they can now RECORD every private and in-game voice chat sent over the service.
“We’re employing a version of our Sync technology to identify thousands of hateful words within these stored .wav files,” said Taladino. “As a user utters any of these awful words their account will be banned, and a special line of code installed quietly in the last XBLM update, will flash the offender’s hard drive and literally erase their machine. It all happens in a matter of seconds.”
While many are applauding this move, others claim that there are flaws in the system that can and do lead to innocent people having their systems rendered inoperable.
Avid Xbox Live user Randal Doran claims he didn’t say anything wrong, but his account was still banned.
“I said ‘I wish the maps on Call of Duty 4 were BIGGER, and that there was a sniper in the WHITE TOWER’,” said Doran. “All of the sudden my system goes haywire, reboots, and everything’s gone. My gamerscore dropped from 9500 to negative 1000.”
Microsoft representatives acknowledge that there are still many bugs to be worked out of the system, but asserts that it is still the best system, and that there is recourse for gamers who feel they have been unjustly targeted by the technology.
“That’s why we’re recording all of these chats, for isolated incidents like these,” said Taladino. “Any gamer who would like their case reviewed can log on to Xbox.com and fill out form 99112222004433256567-A in triplicate. We’ll review every appeal and issue a final ruling within a few weeks.”
In a related story the number of Xbox Live subscribers has been revised significantly from previous reports of more than 11 million.
“The number of active, respectful subscribers now sits closer to about 711,” said Taladino.
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Greeneyedpsyko // May 9, 2008 at 10:10 am
That would suck. “white tower”. I’m glad it’s fake you had me going.
2 Eulogy 33 // May 9, 2008 at 10:16 am
I love fridays haha.
On a serious note I’m sick of the racism on Live, so I decided to try to do something about it. I posted this up yesterday.
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=238
3 the 6th degree // May 9, 2008 at 10:22 am
Go Kristi Taladino, you show those turds who’s boss!
4 andyg // May 9, 2008 at 10:26 am
very nice…. very nice…
and on the serious note, yes, racism/sexism on XBL is annoying, but so are forum trolls, keyboard warriors and all the other people you have to deal with on a daily basis… People do it because they can… You cant prove it, and you cant stop it…
So, do as I do, if you don’t like the room you are in, rate the jerks in the room, and find another one… Theres a butt load of matches in COD4, RB6, and Halo to play to be worried about one room of tools… I rarely hit a 2nd room thats a complete toolbox…
5 JakubK666 // May 9, 2008 at 10:27 am
Well, it’s a bit too harsh but overall, way to go MS!
6 Dreaded_Porridge // May 9, 2008 at 11:50 am
is an african-american gentleman saying the n word racist? (i’m not)
i know its fake, but it would be funny to have someone call you up and ask about your race in regards to your live comments
7 VinDali // May 9, 2008 at 1:27 pm
“Any gamer who would like their case reviewed can log on to Xbox.com and fill out form 99112222004433256567-A in triplicate”
That’s still better than dealing with Max - LOL.
“I rarely hit a 2nd room thats a complete toolbox…”
LOL, I played in a room last week where the other team all had different names of tools for their Gamer Tags.
8 Turian209 // May 9, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Man oh man you got me good this time Doc. I’ve been here 2 months and completely forgot about fiction Friday. You really had me going until I read the part about it erasing your machine in an instance. Man way to get my hopes up Doc, I hate you!
9 Doc // May 9, 2008 at 1:58 pm
hah]
10 GAM // May 9, 2008 at 2:02 pm
@andyg
“People do it because they can… You cant prove it, and you cant stop it…”
Thats bollox, the only reason microsoft doesn’t do anything about it is because it would effect sales, they could easily stop it by just listening in on somebodys conversation after they get reported.
11 CrashTestGreg // May 10, 2008 at 6:33 am
You had me going right up to the form number lol, nice one
12 haydenkayne // May 10, 2008 at 9:05 am
does chris know hes now kristi????? thats one ugly chick
13 Tyler // May 10, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Had me going there for a while. The entire time I was like ,” What? they can do that?”. Nice story
14 Dozer // May 12, 2008 at 3:45 am
Haha I was thinking “wow that’s hardcore” and then ohhhh… Shoot you had me going.
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