A hot potato: Even if you are not one to read a company's terms of service agreement, it should go without saying that unless it's a porn site, uploading NSFW content is not a good idea. But what if that content was not uploaded directly by you?
That's what many Xbox owners are facing now after Microsoft banned their accounts when spicy video clips from mega-hit Balder's Gate 3 were automatically uploaded publicly. Xbox Series consoles can upload saved video clips to Xbox servers as an easy way to share content with other users.
Unfortunately, many account holders were unaware that this clip sharing is on by default. So their, ahem, "saved-for-later" Baldur's Gate 3 clips were going straight to the cloud for everyone to see. Of course, this breaks Xbox's rules about uploading NSFW content, so many users woke up to find their accounts banned last week.
Balder's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios got wind of the situation earlier this week. The company felt slightly responsible for the foul-up since the risqué content was from its game. So Larian contacted Microsoft requesting it lift the bans since the users were not directly at fault for breaking the rules.
ð® Xbox Players ð®
– Larian Studios (@larianstudios) January 5, 2024
Players whose capture clips have been flagged on Xbox should now see their bans begin to lift.
Work is ongoing, and the Microsoft team is aware of the issue!
If you're wanting to upload any clips in the meantime, make sure to turn off mature content �'�
Larian posted an update on the situation this morning, letting players know that they should begin seeing their bans lifted. It also warned them to be careful about what they share and, if they want to continue auto uploading, to "turn off mature content" in Balder's Gate 3 settings.
Larian should be commended for its action because many studios would have left players to battle it out with Xbox customer support. The fact that it lent a hand means that the issue can be dealt with on a global level rather than on an individual basis. Plus, it was just a nice thing to do.
Meanwhile, Microsoft might want to set the Xbox auto-sharing feature default to "disabled" in the next system update. While it is ultimately users' responsibility to ensure they are not uploading racy content, it doesn't help when the hardware does it automatically without as much as a confirmation dialog.
It's one thing to strive for a seamless experience, but safeguards are necessary when that seamlessness could lead to a ban or other complicated user issues.