Microsoft has announced today that Xbox is implementing a brand-new "Strike" system for handling account bans / suspensions, with the goal of "educating players about enforcement severity, cumulative effect of multiple enforcements, and the total impact on their standing".
Basically, you can now receive up to eight strikes for violations of the Xbox Community Standards, and each strike has a penalty assigned to it. These range from a suspension for a day, to a suspension for an entire year. Some violations receive more strikes than others, such as hate speech, bullying and harassment.
You can see more details about all of this in the image above, and here's a quick rundown of the suspension times:
| Strike | Suspension |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 day |
| 2 | 1 day |
| 3 | 3 days |
| 4 | 7 days |
| 5 | 14 days |
| 6 | 21 days |
| 7 | 60 days |
| 8 | 365 days |
Importantly, those who are suspended on Xbox — even those who have reached all eight strikes — will still retain access to single-player experiences and all purchased content on their account, although Microsoft has reiterated that it reserves the right to "permanently suspend all functionality of an account" for the most serious violations.
As of today, players can view how many strikes they've received (everyone is starting from a blank slate though!) in the "enforcement history" section of their account on the Xbox website, and strikes will stay on record for six months.
So, there you go! Here's a bit more information on the new "Strike" system from Team Xbox:
"This revised system gives players a better understanding of enforcement severity and the cumulative effect of multiple enforcements. Enforcement transparency is about giving players clarity into how their behavior impacts their experience. Our content moderation efforts are not changing as a result of the new enforcement strike system."
"In 2022, fewer than 1% of all players received a temporary suspension, and only 1/3 of those received a second. Our data shows us that players typically stop inappropriate behavior after one enforcement, quickly learning what is and is not acceptable based on the Xbox Community Standards and how to better engage on our platform. The strike system is designed to further empower players to engage positively and appropriately on Xbox and with the community."