How Xbox Live Enforcement stops hackers cheaters game code modifiers
source: http://www.videogamepride.com/index.php?/topic/1067-a-close-look-at-xbox-live-enforcement/
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Xbox LIVE Enforcement “Unicorn Ninja” Keeps Service Safe and Fun for Everyone
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuses – the Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team polices it all, even sometimes actual crimes, says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE enforcement unicorn ninja (yes, that is his actual job title). Redmond, Wash. Aug. 2, 2011.
At Microsoft, a small, tight-knit team works long hours – often sorting through downright offensive content – to help ensure that the company’s booming Xbox LIVE service is safe, non-offensive and fun for all.
Microsoft PR issued a story about a special team of employees that few gamers have heard about, nor do they ever want to run into them. The text is presented here in an unabridged format.
In an otherwise typical Microsoft hallway, a black curtain stretches across the doorway to a large room. The whiteboard next to it offers this ambiguous, if not curiosity-inducing, explanation: “Please do not disturb. Sensitive material behind curtain.”
Resized to 47% (was 1500 x 2250) - Click image to enlargePosted Image
Behind the black curtain is a unique team of Microsoft employees. Their existence is not widely known, and probably for good reason – if you have a close encounter with a member of Xbox LIVE’s Policy and Enforcement team, chances are you’re on the wrong end of right.
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuser – they help police it all, including actual crimes in some rare instances. The team is there to help make sure Xbox LIVE is safe, non-offensive and fun for all users.
“If you’re playing a game on Xbox LIVE, and somebody snipes you from across the map and you drop the F-bomb, we’re not going to ban you – not for the occasional slip. We focus on the really bad stuff,” says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE Enforcement Unicorn Ninja. Yes, that is his actual job title.
Adds Erickson: “We are not here to be the arbiters of all speech. But there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox LIVE that crosses a line – racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities, and more.”
Day in and day out, the inboxes of Erickson and his fellow enforcers are piled high with stacks of complaints about offensive behavior, speech, and materials. They dutifully sort through it all and decide what’s next. That could be requiring a user to remove an offensive word or phrase from their profile to – in the more egregious cases – outright banning users.
“Or, as we like to say, inviting them to not be our customer,” Erickson says. “These are paid subscriptions we’re taking away, so we want to make sure we’re doing exactly the right thing.”
All Xbox LIVE users agree to a code of conduct when subscribing to the entertainment service. But, as Xbox LIVE tops 35 million users – and, as it incorporates an ever-widening range of entertainment, gaming, and communication features – it’s a given that there will be opportunists and rule-breakers, Erickson says.
But the team’s director, Stephen Toulouse (known widely by his Microsoft e-mail alias, Stepto), says despite Xbox LIVE’s explosive growth over the last several years, the number of complaints his team handles has remained tiny in proportion to the growing number of people who use the service.
“Looking at the stats, the cross-section of bad apples we deal with every day is small – typically less than one percent of the overall population,” Toulouse says. “The user complaint volume has tended to stay relatively flat compared to the line of new users. What that says to me is that our efforts are having an impact, and also that we’re broadening our audience. We’re bringing in different people that want to experience different things on Xbox LIVE, not just gaming, and at the end of the day that’s going to improve everything.”
The Explosion of Xbox LIVE
When Toulouse joined Xbox LIVE in 2007, the entertainment service had not yet reached one million users online at the same time.
“Enforcement was literally done by one guy with a spreadsheet who would go through the complaints once a week,” Toulouse says.
Though it took years to hit the one million user mark, it took one year to hit two million concurrent users.
“We knew Xbox LIVE was going to explode,” Toulouse says. “We knew we were on the cusp of something huge, especially when we saw how many people came into the service with the launch of Halo 3.”
The folks at Xbox LIVE, including Toulouse, wanted to stay ahead of the game. He slowly started assembling a team, and they started designing a tool to help the team effectively police the growing community of users. The result was a software program called Vulcan to help enforcers handle and escalate complaints.
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuses – the Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team polices it all, even sometimes actual crimes, says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE enforcement unicorn ninja (yes, that is his actual job title). Redmond, Wash. Aug. 2, 2011.
At Microsoft, a small, tight-knit team works long hours – often sorting through downright offensive content – to help ensure that the company’s booming Xbox LIVE service is safe, non-offensive and fun for all.
Microsoft PR issued a story about a special team of employees that few gamers have heard about, nor do they ever want to run into them. The text is presented here in an unabridged format.
In an otherwise typical Microsoft hallway, a black curtain stretches across the doorway to a large room. The whiteboard next to it offers this ambiguous, if not curiosity-inducing, explanation: “Please do not disturb. Sensitive material behind curtain.”
Resized to 47% (was 1500 x 2250) - Click image to enlargePosted Image
Behind the black curtain is a unique team of Microsoft employees. Their existence is not widely known, and probably for good reason – if you have a close encounter with a member of Xbox LIVE’s Policy and Enforcement team, chances are you’re on the wrong end of right.
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuser – they help police it all, including actual crimes in some rare instances. The team is there to help make sure Xbox LIVE is safe, non-offensive and fun for all users.
“If you’re playing a game on Xbox LIVE, and somebody snipes you from across the map and you drop the F-bomb, we’re not going to ban you – not for the occasional slip. We focus on the really bad stuff,” says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE Enforcement Unicorn Ninja. Yes, that is his actual job title.
Adds Erickson: “We are not here to be the arbiters of all speech. But there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox LIVE that crosses a line – racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities, and more.”
Day in and day out, the inboxes of Erickson and his fellow enforcers are piled high with stacks of complaints about offensive behavior, speech, and materials. They dutifully sort through it all and decide what’s next. That could be requiring a user to remove an offensive word or phrase from their profile to – in the more egregious cases – outright banning users.
“Or, as we like to say, inviting them to not be our customer,” Erickson says. “These are paid subscriptions we’re taking away, so we want to make sure we’re doing exactly the right thing.”
All Xbox LIVE users agree to a code of conduct when subscribing to the entertainment service. But, as Xbox LIVE tops 35 million users – and, as it incorporates an ever-widening range of entertainment, gaming, and communication features – it’s a given that there will be opportunists and rule-breakers, Erickson says.
But the team’s director, Stephen Toulouse (known widely by his Microsoft e-mail alias, Stepto), says despite Xbox LIVE’s explosive growth over the last several years, the number of complaints his team handles has remained tiny in proportion to the growing number of people who use the service.
“Looking at the stats, the cross-section of bad apples we deal with every day is small – typically less than one percent of the overall population,” Toulouse says. “The user complaint volume has tended to stay relatively flat compared to the line of new users. What that says to me is that our efforts are having an impact, and also that we’re broadening our audience. We’re bringing in different people that want to experience different things on Xbox LIVE, not just gaming, and at the end of the day that’s going to improve everything.”
The Explosion of Xbox LIVE
When Toulouse joined Xbox LIVE in 2007, the entertainment service had not yet reached one million users online at the same time.
“Enforcement was literally done by one guy with a spreadsheet who would go through the complaints once a week,” Toulouse says.
Though it took years to hit the one million user mark, it took one year to hit two million concurrent users.
“We knew Xbox LIVE was going to explode,” Toulouse says. “We knew we were on the cusp of something huge, especially when we saw how many people came into the service with the launch of Halo 3.”
The folks at Xbox LIVE, including Toulouse, wanted to stay ahead of the game. He slowly started assembling a team, and they started designing a tool to help the team effectively police the growing community of users. The result was a software program called Vulcan to help enforcers handle and escalate complaints.
