Xbox chief Phil Spencer says video games are for 'everyone,' commits to fighting 'toxic'...

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In context: If you've played an online multiplayer game in your lifetime -- particularly a competitive multiplayer game -- you've probably heard plenty of insults. Whether they're racial slurs, "homophobic" comments, or generic "your momma"-style insults, playful and not-so-playful jabs are the bread and butter of the competitive gaming industry.

For better or worse, though, this "culture" of "toxicity," despite being relatively common in the past, has come under much more intense scrutiny in recent years. Now, that scrutiny is coming from none other than the Xbox chief himself: Phil Spencer.

In a new blog post published today (dubbed "Video games: A unifying force for the world"), Spencer discusses two "fundamental truths" about gaming. First, he says, no one group "owns" the industry or the hobby; it's home to a wide variety of people with a wide variety of tastes. "...whether you’re new to gaming or are a diehard e-sports fan, you are welcome to play and welcome to all the fun and skill-building that comes with gaming," he states. "In this way, when everyone can play, the entire world wins."

"...whether you’re new to gaming or are a diehard e-sports fan, you are welcome to play and welcome to all the fun and skill-building that comes with gaming,"

Spencer's second fundamental truth is that gaming "must promote and protect the safety of all," regardless of their political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity." He claims that as gaming has grown in popularity, it's started to become a "toxic stew of hate speech, bigotry, and misogyny."

Moving forward, Spencer says Microsoft as a whole commits to being "vigilant, proactive, and swift" to ensure gamers of all stripes can have fun without being targeted with "hate and harassment."

Furthermore, the company will work "across the industry" to create comprehensive, modernized safety measures to expand upon existing Community Standards throughout the gaming sphere -- whatever that might mean.

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The day that I can’t say what I feel like saying on Xbox is the day that Xbox live stops getting checks from me.
 
Just put in the ability to mute a player. If it's just a bunch of trash talk and won't stop game play.
 
Just put in the ability to mute a player. If it's just a bunch of trash talk and won't stop game play.
Mute is already in multiplayer games, people just don't want to use it but instead demand everyone to behave in such a way to accomodate them.

From my experience the whole "toxicity" thing is blown way out of proportions. For some reason devs keep pushing that **** while the actual game gets ignored.
 
From my experience the whole "toxicity" thing is blown way out of proportions. For some reason devs keep pushing that **** while the actual game gets ignored.
Game developers (and corporations in general) use this "inclusivity" and "fighting toxicity" narrative simply as marketing, and to divert attention from their product's flaws.
It's retarded and isn't even that effective, but the industry seems to be full of progressive activists..
 
So... will they remove all the guns from first-person-shooters? Because, you know, it may remind people of all those school shootings. And there are millions of people who hate weapons. So... they should really remove all the lethal weaponry from games, and turn them all into pillow-fights.

Or maybe they should stop fooling and focus more on satisfying their most loyal audience. They can't please everyone, so why not please those that bring them most of the money?
 
Or maybe they should stop fooling and focus more on satisfying their most loyal audience. They can't please everyone, so why not please those that bring them most of the money?
This
 
Game developers (and corporations in general) use this "inclusivity" and "fighting toxicity" narrative simply as marketing, and to divert attention from their product's flaws.
It's retarded and isn't even that effective, but the industry seems to be full of progressive activists..
It's interesting how many companies side with the pc culture and lose money and fans over it yet they still push it. Also what's great is when people find out those companies work their employees to death while yapping about how virtuous they are. Truth is they have zero concern about human life as long as it makes them money.
 
Game developers (and corporations in general) use this "inclusivity" and "fighting toxicity" narrative simply as marketing, and to divert attention from their product's flaws.
It's retarded and isn't even that effective, but the industry seems to be full of progressive activists..
It's interesting how many companies side with the pc culture and lose money and fans over it yet they still push it. Also what's great is when people find out those companies work their employees to death while yapping about how virtuous they are. Truth is they have zero concern about human life as long as it makes them money.

Some of them are cruel and heartless. But in general, it's the optimization problem. If you give too much money and free time to your employees, the company incurs extra expenses, which makes its products more expensive. That enables the less sensitive opponent to win. The honest company bankrupts, the bad one buys it cheaply, and hence, the employees get low salary and less free time again, but under a worse management.

They can switch the company, but the optimization problem hits everyone, so eventually all the corporations will start optimizing, at the expense of employees of course. At least until the machines replace us completely. Then we'll have lots of free time. And no money. Because money corrupts, right?

Nature is cruel and we can only protect ourselves from that cruelty to a certain degree. Can't beat the laws of physics.
 
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