Last week, a story began doing the rounds about a Baldur's Gate 3 player who had been banned for accidentally uploading X-rated content from the game to the Xbox Network, and this resulted in developer Larian Studios calling the situation "annoying and uncool", telling fans that Microsoft would lift bans like these in the near future.
However, in an update last night, Xbox Support insisted that the bans were manually applied - suggesting they were "found in violation of our safety and content policies" - and advised turning off the auto upload feature when choosing to capture "sensitive" content from a game such as Baldur's Gate 3. Here's the full message:
"To provide clarity on Baldur's Gate 3 mature content enforcement actions, Xbox account suspensions are not automatic. Each clip is reviewed by a moderator and, if found in violation of our safety and content policies, actioned accordingly.
"Our team evaluates appeals and can reverse suspensions if action was taken in error. If this was a first offense, for example, we will remove the suspension and let players know why it happened and how to avoid future issues (e.g. how to turn off auto-upload when sensitive content is being captured).
As you might expect, this has drawn criticism from Xbox fans, with many questioning why they can't upload content like this with an "Adult" filter, for example. An even bigger point of contention is the decision to make automatic uploads a default setting, meaning your screenshots and clips can be shared on the Xbox Network accidentally.
Jez Corden on Twitter: "Such a stupid policy. They'll ban you for recording footage of games that exist on their own platform? Why aren't the game devs banned for creating the pixels you recorded in the first place? Lol. Make it make sense."
@PeterP_85 on Twitter: "Every console should come with Auto Upload OFF, and a warning should a user turn it on that it may result in suspension. Insane that a shot from a game on Xbox, uploaded to the Xbox Network can result in a ban to an Xbox user."
Despite the many critical replies, we've also seen plenty that are in favour of Xbox Support's stance. Some believe that adult content simply shouldn't be allowed to be uploaded in the first place, and therefore the policy makes sense - although again, it would seem as though turning off automatic uploads by default is a popular suggestion.
Obviously the good news here is that any suspensions over the past week for Baldur's Gate 3 clips and/or screenshots should be reversed now, most likely with a warning about why that content was flagged at the time. The key thing is to make sure you turn off automatic uploads if you want to share any kind of adult content from the game.
In related news, Xbox also appears to be working hard at a solution for the Baldur's Gate 3 save issue, with a new Insider update containing various fixes to try and address the problem. Hopefully it'll be a thing of the past very soon!
What are your thoughts on this? Where do you stand? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 41
Wow, just wow. Good job team green, maybe use a rocket launcher next time you are shooting yourself in the foot to make an even bigger splash.
They will fix it and apologize but you can count on Xbox taking a few weird black eyes a year.
I've always had automatic uploads off, but I don't understand why they can't attach age ratings to uploaded/shared captures. That seems like the most straight forward solution.
I can see why unapologetically hardline policies like these bothers some people, especially when there's more practical ways to go about it.
Like I said before when you first buy the console this feature should be switched off by default.
Then the user should have to turn on the auto upload, then it becomes the users responsibility once they have turned it on.
If Microsoft ship the console with the auto upload setting set to on, then it should be Microsoft’s responsibility.
Microsoft are being so dump lately with lots of things and this is just another one of many if auto upload default is on when you first get the console.
Anyway the way things are going they will probably be software only not to long in the future and I’m slowly beginning to believe that is the best thing for them and Xbox.
When it comes to this stuff, porn is bad, murder is good. I see a lot of kills and violence from Gears and other games being uploaded almost every day.
@Lup 100% agree (not Xbox specific though, it's society in general).
Completely fine to be a psycho and brutally kill and torture thousands of virtual innocent bystanders in an open world game, just as long as no ni**les have been shown..
6 years of GDPR in the UK might have changed my mindset a bit but from a pure privacy perspective I would expect to have to opt in to auto uploads rather than opt out…especially when it auto uploads to the world and not just your friends. Admittedly it’s been a while since I set up my Series X but I don’t ever remember being given the option or even being notified of this. If they are going to continue throwing out lengthy bans they need to change the default settings or be much much clearer about what happens with your screenshots and clips.
Looks like there is another thing that Microsoft needs to look into.
I think the band-aid fix is to simply roll out an update that changes the default behavior to not auto-upload.
A longer-term fix should be to change the behavior of the online content to both allow people to share what they want, but also to shield minors from inappropriate content.
This is content that is offensive to 99% of Microsoft’s user base. It needs to be banned no matter what.
How they do it can be called into question, but not why they’re doing it. It cannot exist in their public spaces.
@Lup Yeah I don't get this society either where sex is bad and gore is good. On topic, the auto upload feature should be either off by default or age rated. However, didn't it become off by default last year when they started changing the upload menus? I haven't touched that setting and it was on until last year. Now I have to manually upload them. Did Microsoft turn it off?
Automatic upload is something that should always be disabled by default and need to be manually enabled. I class myself as being pretty tech savvy and checking for captures being automatically uploaded is not something I would instantly think to check for when I've bought a new console so I can imagine that there will be a lot of people out there that won't have even been aware it was a thing.
This is such an omnishambles: mixed messaging and idiotic ideas.
It REALLY shouldn't be this hard. Peter had it right. If content played on Xbox can get you banned when uploaded to Xbox Network then Auto-upload should be OFF by default and there should be a massive warning message when you turn it on. Then anyone uploading it only has themselves to blame.
But banning people because of auto-uploads from their own console is a joke. Just take the videos down, tell the users why and make your process better Microsoft.
This makes me hate Phil spencer even more than now I can't stand that man and todd howard as well both are tools of the highest order
@OldGamer999 I believe its obvious they are moving away from hardware. Maybe one more console generation and its Gamepass full steam ahead
I'm going to repeat myself from the last story on this, but there have been plenty of times that I've accidentally hit that little share button on the controller — and knowing doing that can get me banned makes me nervous about playing ANY M-rated games on my Xbox.
I get the need for enforcement for Xbox shares, but if they're this upset about content on M-rated games then maybe these games shouldn't be on Xbox in the first place.
Get rid of the auto uploading and stop placing all the onus on your consumers. This is the crappy, mindless anti-consumer attitude that Microsoft has always been accused of having. You're better than this, team Xbox.
It's pure madness to not apologise and fix this ASAP. I have no idea what Xbox Support/PR is playing at. They have designed a system that by default can take shots without asking, upload them without asking, "share" them (to a store front) without asking, and punish the user. Users can disable auto-upload but it shouldn't be an opt-out at least. Or more sensibly, MS should just fix the system when it comes to mature games and uploading images to a store. But ignoring/blaming users is just awful behaviour.
....and on the flipside, Microsoft don't want MOMS everywhere on the news badmouthing Xbox because Billy & Mary fired up their series S and saw a bear ploughing a young woman 🙊. What's the answer? 🤷♂️
@Savage_Joe Exactly to right buddy
You know what? Xbox should get rid of being able to capture gameplay altogether because it’s such a stupidly convoluted disaster compared to any other platform, let’s just list the issues I can come up with:
I know consoles are no longer the priority for Microsoft but they should have better software for it, with this and the cloud saving issues we’re still having the same issues we had back with the Xbox One, as if they haven’t learned anything at all.
Auto uploads set on from the very start is a dumb idea. Who came up with that. I’m surprised I haven’t got banned for that as many times I hit that share button by mistake.
This situation is too hilarious. "Online interactions are not rated by the ESRB" etc, etc. And yet banning people for using basic console functions in an unrated area.
Steam gets this right and Microsoft really need to look to their example.
What's worse is how antiquated the capture system already is. You can't even set a screen shot resolution so every single one is a massive file if you're playing on a 4k screen.
@Kevw2006 I have owned every xbox console from day one I have no idea how to turn this off and have always found it annoying that it auto uploads especially when the taking a pic is so easy to do by mistake
@InterceptorAlpha its not hilarious its dumb i am a huge xbox guy but this is stupid. Their response is stupid the auto upload turned on auto like at the start is stupid its just dumb!
It's utterly ridiculous, you can't enable auto upload by default and then ban users for playing a game and taking a screenshot of it. Xbox 100% caused this issue, either disable auto upload by default or automatically age restrict screenshots and videos based upon the game they are from but don't ban gamers for normal use of the console
Haha what a farce. Oh no a grown adult uploaded some bewbies onto our servers from a game he played legally on our system. 🤣🤣
Sort your sh*t out Microsoft this is embarrassing.
@VoidPunk personally I don't find nudity or violence in games offensive, nor do any of the other ADULTS I know. Why should we not have access to these things? Just due to you being offended. If YOU don't like it gives you no right to impose a ban on people who have no issue.
I do agree that auto upload should be off by default though.
@NeutronBomb the answer is on the parents. They can't allow their kids to play age rated content and then moan when they see something they shouldn't.
1 step forward 2 steps back as usual.
@VoidPunk source for 99% of Xbox users being offended by this content? I’ll wait.
@VoidPunk I'm sorry. Curb stomping someone or blowing them into kibbles and bits is A-okay, but a little boob, something perfectly natural, is heresy?
I legitimately thought your comment was Puritan satire in the first paragraph. Then saw it was serious in the second. Just wow...
A lot of people saying, porn is bad, murder is good. Make it make sense. It's simple, so you let your five year old watch action movies, including the R rated sex scenes and porn? Great parenting. It's common sense why Xbox doesn't want adult content being shotgunned all over Xbox.
@Aizen82 Huh?! That didn’t make sense. No one is saying five year olds should be allowed to watch porn or action movies. They are saying that they can record a 1 minutes gore fest on Gears, Doom, CoD, Duke Nukem etc but the moment someone takes a screenshot of some boobles they are slapped with a ban….its inconsistent. Also no one is suggesting that kids should have access to this content but really it’s on MS and the parents of the to moderate this in a sensible way, not your average gamer. I am a mid 30s and all my friends on Xbox are a similar sort of age…why should I change my gaming habits because MS designed their system so that some random kid on the other side of the world might see a clip of something I record? It’s madness.
In comparison to PlayStation their default settings are that if you record a clip or screenshot it doesn’t leave your console/cloud storage until you actively choose to share it with friends or the wider community. This is called common sense.
@GeeEssEff what's hard to understand? People are fine letting their children watch action movies, but they don't want the kids watching porn. So all these people complaining about the policy are acting like they don't have common sense.
That's why Xbox has that policy. it's not inconsistent at all. The policy literally outlines what they allow and what they don't. And it's been there for everyone to read for ages. What didn't make sense and lacks common sense, is those who fail to read it and get upset when it's enforced. Xbox has long been family friendly. So they want everyone to be able to look at the content that they allow to be posted. All of these people sound like the same ones who complain about getting a speeding ticket, when they know damn well they were driving over the speed limit when they got caught. This isn't some mysterious rule Xbox slapped them with out of the blue. The rule about adult content has been there. It would be inconsistent if what they do, or don't allow, wasn't defined, but it is and has been for ages. So common sense says read the rules and follow them, then you'll be fine.
I completely agree with the auto upload part however. They could've handled that better. However like this article states, those bans are likely to be overturned and let off with a warning.
But all this nonsense about the rules being inconsistent makes absolutely no sense. Read and follow the rules. That's common sense right there.
@Cikajovazmaj nipple isn't a swear word.
Guys like this Twitter that’s quoted defending this are the worst thing about gaming. Large businesses are always terrible and make decisions that make no sense. It’s why we must call them out. Demand better and more. The constant apologists…. They have no excuse. They get no profits. They just defend defend defend blindly. Never defend a company blindly like you are on a “team” remember you are a customer and not a “fan” demand more and don’t be offended if others want more or better.
The Xbox community used to be my fave. Last few years more and more it’s become toxic. Luckily loads of people here and otherwise are still awesome.
Just don’t take criticism of a company personally. Don’t believe in console wars or culture wars.
If you don’t think it’s a big deal that’s fine but it might be to others.
I love Xbox, but this is an example of one of those things they just don't seem to get. I am not going to sit here and upload anything "mature" because I don't think I want to, but banning people for uploading content from a game they fought so hard to get on their console is perplexing. If you did this on a PC or a Playstation, no one would get banned. That is the perspective they should be taking and that makes Xbox feel like a lesser option in the gaming ecosystem.
I got banned for 4 days in November last year over automatic screenshot uploads containing nudity from Conan Exiles, and even though it was my first (unknowing) offence, they upheld the ban on appeal, and the strike points are still on my account. Where was your leniency then, you lying sacks of s***? Plus I can't even talk to anyone at Xbox to petition them to remove the points in light of recent events - they literally will not permit you to talk to them about it once your appeal has been "settled". So. Effing. Angry. 😡😡😡
@jedinite But don't clips just show up on the network? U don't have to own the game. I just can see how this is a tough one for Microsoft. Certainly not as simple as made out.
@NeutronBomb true yeah. Personally managed to avoid spawning but I can imagine it's quite hard for working parents to continually monitor their kids. I still don't think it's a MS problem though (cept having auto-upload on by default), but yeah it's a tricky one.
As a thought perhaps they could just release parental controls to view uploaded content? So if you wanna upload or view others uploaded content you have to put in a PiN number. They used a similar system on the Wii back in the day.
The uploaded content bans made more sense back when random user clips were automatically added to a games store page, and when the easily accessed community tab still existed. Now that it's not as easy as tapping a bumper accidentally to be assaulted with dozens of random clips, the moderation could really be relaxed.
@jedinite Yes, a rational response. One other than just "Microsoft squash out rights, Microsoft bad."
Better parental controls is an excellent idea that Xbox should be already working on if they are sensible.
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