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Xbox One promises to eliminate all the “cheats and jerks” which threaten to ruin your online experience thanks to a new community-powered reputation system.
Micheal Dunn, program manager on Xbox Live, detailed how the system works in a new blog post.
“So, how are we doing this? We are simplifying the mechanism for Xbox One – moving from a survey option to more direct feedback, including things like “block” or “mute player” actions into the feedback model,” explained Dunn. “The new model will take all of the feedback from a player’s online flow, put it in the system with a crazy algorithm we created and validated with an MSR PhD to make sure things are fair for everyone.”
Players will be assigned one of three reputation scores:
Green = Good Player
Yellow = Needs Improvement
Red = Avoid Me
“Looking at someone’s gamer card you’ll be able to quickly see their reputation. And, your reputation score is ultimately up to you,” says Dunn. “The more hours you play online without being a jerk, the better your reputation will be; similar to the more hours you drive without an accident, the better your driving record and insurance rates will be.
“Most players will have good reputations and be seen as a “Good Player.” The algorithm is looking to identify players that are repeatedly disruptive on Xbox Live. We’ll identify those players with a lower reputation score and in the worse cases they will earn the “Avoid Me” reputation. Before a player ends up with the “Avoid Me” reputation level we will have sent many different alerts to the “Needs Improvement” player reminding them how their social gaming conduct is affecting lots of other gamers.”
Dunn adds: “The algorithm is sophisticated and won’t penalise you for a few bad reports. Even good players might receive a few player feedback reports each month and that is OK. The algorithm weighs the data collected so if a dozen people suddenly reporting a single user, the system will look at a variety of factors before docking their reputation. We’ll verify if those people actually played in an online game with the person reported – if not, all of those player’s feedback won’t matter as much as a single person who spent 15 minutes playing with the reported person. The system also looks at the reputation of the person reporting and the alleged offender, frequency of reports from a single user and a number of other factors.”
Expect the reputation system to continue to evolve, says Dunn.
“The system will be as good as you make it, so all you need to do is report the players that are abusive, cheating or causing mayhem and their reputation will reflect that. Thank you for helping us continue to make Xbox Live a place we all love. Our team and I built this for all of you and we hope you like it!”
Xbox One will launch in November.
How often has a annoying player ruined an otherwise great multiplayer session? It’s features like the reputation system which although don’t wow, will ultimately lead to a more enjoyable time.
Source: Xbox.com
