Xbox announced Monday at E3 that it is adding a new feature to Xbox Live, allowing users to form “clubs” for people with similar interests as part of their “Gaming for Everyone” initiative. These clubs would have their own rules and the ability to police behavior and revoke membership. This feature can be useful to everyone, but it is being marketed as a way to make gaming more inclusive for women and minorities. A “safe and supportive environment,” as the announcement put it.
All of this is a little odd, as Xbox already has “parties,” to which users can invite their friends to talk and play privately. These parties already serve the purpose of keeping players out of the cesspool of public chats. Public chats for most console games have been dying out anyway, as most players are either in parties or remove their headsets. (Even a cis-white-male such as myself got a little tired of having my sexuality questioned by anonymous 12-year-olds.) Now it’s hard to find a lively public chat on most games.
So why the virtue signaling by Microsoft? Clubs of like-minded people seem like a decent idea, why make it about “safety”?
It may be because Microsoft has received a fair amount of flack in the past for misogyny and bungled attempts at diversity. In 2013 during an Xbox One presentation at E3, one of Microsoft’s presenters made what many interpreted as a rape joke and got crucified on social media. And in March, Microsoft was heavily criticized for having a party with scantily-clad go-go dancers the same day as a networking luncheon for women in gaming.
Maybe adding a new tool to Xbox Live is a good way of covering up a perception of the company as an noninclusive boys club. But do we really need to act like Xbox finally made console multiplayer gaming safe, when we’ve already had this option for years?
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