In this day and age, playing a game ‘online’ is typically synonymous with engaging (or being engaged with) lots and lots of trash talk. Regardless of the stance you typically have when it comes to verbal jousting, Microsoft has apparently deemed it OK to make some back and forth banter, as long as it’s within reason. That said, the company has officially updated its Xbox guidelines to reflect what is and isn’t okay when it comes to trash talking.

Microsoft published the updates over on its Community Standards page, wherein other topics such as spam, fraud, and other harmful behavior subjects are located. Helpful as the company is, Microsoft actually listed out some examples of the kinds of trash talking that’s benign, versus the kind that takes it too far. “Trash talk includes any lighthearted banter or bragging that focuses on the game at hand and encourages healthy competition,” the guidelines read.

Harassment includes any negative behavior that’s personalized, disruptive, or likely to make someone feel unwelcome or unsafe. To qualify as harassment, the behavior doesn’t have to be drawn-out or persistent. Even a single abusive message could harm someone’s experience. Know when to draw the line, when to back off. Know and respect the other player.”

Acceptable trash talk includes:

• Get destroyed. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• That was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. Try again, kid.
• Cheap win. Come at me when you can actually drive without running cars off the road.
• That sucked. Get good and then come back when your k/d’s over 1.

Going too far looks like:

• Get <sexual threat>. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• Hey <profanity>, that was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked, trash.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. KYS, kid.
• Cheap win. Totally expected from a <racial slur>.
• You suck. Get out of my country—maybe they’ll let you back in when your k/d’s over 1.

So, now that Microsoft has drawn up some ground rules, there shouldn’t be any confusion as to the types of trash talk that are acceptable versus the kind that takes it too far. Thanks, Microsoft.

So, thoughts on the updated guidelines? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!