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When you have a banned Xbox many people think that the Xbox is now worthless. I have even seen people go out and destroy their Xbox that has been banned! Just because your Xbox is banned doesn’t mean that its useful life is over, but what can you do with a banned Xbox?
The question itself may be obvious for some gamers to whom gaming is something they have done all of their life but to most people they will have no idea what to do with it.
There are some basic things that you can still do with your Xbox even if it has been banned. They are:
- Use it offline to play local games (old school style)
- Sell it
- Use it as a LAN system
- Destroy it for a Youtube video
Ok that last one is mostly in jest but there are tons of people who intentionally destroy electronics and they have millions of people that watch their videos!
In all seriousness even when you get an Xbox that is banned that doesn’t mean you should just throw the console away. There are still plenty of things that you can do with the console and it is far from done being useful! In the rest of this article we will discuss each of those ways to use your banned console as well as some other important things to know about banned Xbox consoles.
The first thing that is important to know is that once an Xbox console has been banned there is no way to unban it! A console ban stays with the console forever so even if you buy the console from someone, if it has been banned in the past it will stay that way no matter who owns it.
So since it is permanently banned what can you do with it? You can read on to learn more or check out this video below if you prefer.
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What can be done with a banned Xbox?
Of course, most users will try and take careful precautions to avoid a ban but what if they still do suffer one? Well firstly, the user will receive an email stating that his or her account was suspended.
The very next thing you should do is to contact the Microsoft or Xbox support team regarding what the issues were and ask them if there is any way for them to lift the ban. A temporary ban is usually one, seven or fourteen days and those are often just communication bans so if this is the type of ban that you received then contacting Microsoft about it probably isn’t worth your time.
However, if you got an account ban or a device ban then contacting Microsoft is well worth it. An account ban will cause you to lose all of your subscriptions and progress in the games while a console ban will mean you can never use Xbox Live on that console ever again!
If Microsoft refuses to lift the ban and the ban you received is a console ban then there are really only a few options that you have left to you that you can do with the console. They are:
Use it offline to play local games
Once your console has been permanently banned then you will not be able to play online again. One thing that you can do is just use your device for local gaming. Of course this isn’t very popular anymore as everyone loves playing with friends or people from all over the world but once your console is banned it will be restricted to only be able to be used where you are at.
It will essentially be like gaming used to be in the 80s and 90s where to play against your friends they came over to your house or you went over to theirs. This is the main way that Xboxes are used once they get a permaban.
Treat it as a LAN only system
Even if you are banned from Xbox Live there are still ways to play against your friends with your Xbox although it isn’t nearly as convenient as playing on Xbox Live. You have to set up a LAN party and then connect the systems together. This is quite a complicated process if you don’t have a lot of technical know how so this certainly isn’t ideal.
Sell the console
This is the most popular thing to do with a console once it has been banned, get rid of it. When selling online be sure and tell the buyer that it is banned and exactly what that means to them so that they understand it.
There is still a demand for banned consoles as some people only play offline so you can certainly sell your Xbox although it will definately be for less than what a console that isn’t banned will sell for.
Destroy it
Ok, yes, I kind of mentioned this as a joke but seriously this is an option. There are all sorts of videos on Youtube and Facebook of people destroying electronics on purpose or simply just testing them to see how durable they are. I have even seen some people who’s entire channel is all about destroying items!
This could be the beginning of you making some solid money online by breaking stuff! What could be better than that?
How to prevent your Xbox from being banned
No matter how many positive sides of a scenario we try to look at, the fact that the device does not do its original job will always be there in the background. The best thing to do is to simply prevent the console from ever being banned in the first place. Prevention is always better than figuring out what to do with a banned console now so that is why we are mentioning it here.
The best way to prevent your Xbox from being banned is to first understand what you should and should not do during a gaming session.
Microsoft has quite a strict set of rules and regulations regarding their online platform and all of these are mentioned in the terms of service and code of conduct that you agree to when you first sign up for Xbox Live. Some of the most important rules to note are:
- Cheating is strictly prohibited as it ruins the fun of the game. If the user cheats via some type of mods and it can be proven they are cheating they will normally get a game ban.
- Tampering with an account, one’s own or hacking into someone else’s is an act against which your account will be banned. This is similar to any other kind of cybercrime.
- Tampering with an account’s achievements or the game scores. This also involves hacking into someone else’s account which again is an offense that is punishable by having your account or console banned.
- Other issues for suspension of an account may be marketplace theft, impersonation, harassment of any sort, phishing, solicitation and so on.
- Also, if you are using any abusive or offensive user name or a gamer tag or maybe say club names or even real names (yes not even that) some companies take those things quite seriously. Normally an issue with usernames or gamertags will only result in a ban of that user and not an account or console ban.
- Uploading offensive or abusive images or DVR contents is also a category by which they may suspend or ban a user’s account.
- Repeated violations of the code of conduct or terms of service. Microsoft is quite careful and allows people many chances to fix what they are doing wrong but at some point even they run out of patience and ban an account. Normally you will receive 3 strikes before you get an account ban and then 3 account bans before your device is banned entirely.
There are however different types of bans. The most common bans handed out consists of a temporary ban; gamer tag bans and then lastly permanent bans of accounts or consoles. These all are dependent on the severity of the violation you commit and which of the rules and regulations of the company you violated.
A temporary ban just ensures that you are banned from using some features of live gaming for a period of time while gamer tag bans are even given chances to change them before the gamertag is banned. Also, there is an investigating team that researches extensively whether you are indeed supposed to be banned or not. So there is no need to panic if someone submits a false report as Xbox carefully looks at each case (or is supposed to anyway).
Sometimes Microsoft will lift a suspension or ban if they feel like the ban was unjust or too severe for the action committed. This happens quite rarely as they will normally uphold all of the bans that they issue but it has happened in the past. It is important to note that even if you weren’t the one who originally got the ban that the ban follows the device around so even if you buy a banned console Microsoft likely will not lift the ban for you.
This is why it is so important to check for a banned console before you buy it if you are buying a used one.
Conclusion
Once an Xbox has been banned there are only a few things that you can still do with it with the main one being playing it offline. As many people love playing online and the excitement that it brings only using a console offline is a less than an ideal solution.
For most people selling the console and buying a new one is really the only good answer when you get your Xbox banned!