XboxOne: "Enhanced Reputation And Enforcement"

During my routine browsing of majornelson.com today I ran across an article about the XboxOne's "Enhanced Reputation and Enforcement". Basically this article tries to confuse the gamer by throwing in a few glamorized sentences, and some fancy words while practically stating that the reporting system will be handled exactly the same way it already is. This same old "judgement by peers" system will still take in account how you negatively, or positively affect other gamers, just as it always has. The only significant difference this time around (According to what I can interpret from Microsoft's play on words) is that instead of simply allowing other gamers to be the final judge on your behalf your own in-game actions will also be monitored, and you will judged accordingly.

When I read this I thought to myself "How the f*ck is that supposed to work!?". Perhaps with Microsoft's/XboxOne's all seeing eye, otherwise known as the next-gen Kinect? Anyways, the article on Major Nelson's site states that such things as grieving, and even the joining of certain higher ranked lobbies with the intention of disrupting them will result in reputation demotions. What the hell!? What if I wanted to join a veteran lobby without the intention of disrupting it? How's Microsoft going to know my intentions? It's this type of uneducated nonsense, and half-assed solutions that have me worried about the future of gaming altogether.

I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again. Online gaming security, and matchmaking can only be improved upon by a collective effort from Microsoft's "Enforcement Team (which have done a piss poor job with the Xbox 360)", and the game developers who create the online experiences. Putting into place replay record/upload capabilities would have definitely been a smart way to go. Not only that, but if said in-game replay capabilities could be directly sent to Microsoft's "Enforcement Team" then things would have probably worked out for the better with the XboxOne. As it stands though all Microsoft has done is spit shined, and polished the existing features that have ultimately failed in the past.

Below the "Enhanced Reputation and Enforcement" paragraph on Major Nelson's homepage article you'll find an in-game picture showing two different check boxes ("Not Offensive" & "Offensive"). The addition of these simple peer based judgement options only helps to further prove my point that Microsoft is merely glossing over the current reputation system. The fact that these reporting options seem more simplified than they are now makes me even more concerned for the future of online gaming. You have to have been born yesterday to believe this BS folks. This article, and it's word play does nothing in the way of adding hope, or shedding light on the future of Microsoft's next-gen gaming console.

With everything considered thus far I have decided that I'm going to pass on an initial release purchase of the XboxOne, and await the gamers' reactions once they have spent some quality time playing the console. I have little faith in this next generation of consoles (including the PS4), and honestly feel that the gaming giants who created consoles for our enjoyment in the past have decided to put an end to the industry as we know it. Whether it was by greed, or by poor design decisions we may never know. One thing's for certain though. If this next generation of consoles does not meet the gamers' expectations the industry as a whole will eventually collapse on itself.