Xbox Updates Their Community Standards for Xbox Live

There's plenty of jokes out there about how the Xbox Live voice chat is the best place to go if you want to hear children calling you racial slurs and speaking poorly of your mother. Xbox isn't having any of it. The game company has announced a new set of community standards that all Xbox Live users will be subjected to.

Xbox wants to cultivate a healthier, more friendly environment online. They believed that gaming is something everyone can enjoy and that players should be working together to make this happen.
 

"Some parts of the internet don't have rules and the Xbox online community isn't one of them. Yes, Xbox Live is, in a meaningful sense, your gaming network. But it belongs to millions of others, too. You deserve a place to be yourself with confidence, free from bullying, hatred, and harassment and so does every other player. So it's important to treat others as they would like to be treated."

To facilitate this development, Xbox has made their own 10 rules that everyone should follow when participating in the online nature of Xbox Live:

• Keep it legal
• Do your part to keep everyone safe
• Turn that spam into substance
• Keep your content clean
• Fraud benefits no one
• When there are limits, there's a reason
• Harmful behavior has no place on Xbox
• Respect the rights of others
• Always respect the privacy of others
• Be a force for good, even when others aren't

Each section explains what that means in greater depth. They even include a "Do Not Do" list for each section. For example, under "no harmful behavior," they explicitly state not to intentionally team kill teammates, used cheating software, or take advantage of exploits that give you a benefit over another player online.

Honestly, the entire world would benefit from following these 10 rules in their daily lives. It's good to hear them taking such a positive stance on their online presence. The only question now is "how well will they enforce these rules?"