Game moderation to improve player experience and avoid in-game toxicity

Companies must focus on developing effective game moderation to improve player experience and avoid in-game toxicity. In this article, we take a look at the best practices for game moderation. 

Arnaud

Arnaud

The increase in toxic behaviour in the gaming community

Gaming is now bigger than ever. The gaming industry is a behemoth with an estimated market size in 2022 of $184.4 billion which is expected to grow to $211.2 billion in the next decade according to the Newzoo survey. More people than ever before are joining online communities to play video games. It has been said that there are approximately 3.24 billion gamers of all ages worldwide.

With this many people involved, it’s no wonder that toxicity in gaming culture is a problem. What is toxicity in gaming? Offensive behaviour such as the use of profanity, racist, sexist, and threatening comments are commonplace. Other negative behaviours include trash-talking and insults as well as non-verbal anti-game behaviour in which a player actively disrupts other players’ enjoyment. There is the other side of the coin which is SPAM messages and elaborate scams which are there to deceive genuine players from losing access to their accounts or fraudulently selling in-game currency. 

The roles of game moderators

Game moderators are expected to oversee the online community and ensure that a modicum of civility and respect is maintained. They must make certain that players abide by the terms of service of the platform. The aim of game moderation is to eliminate or reduce toxicity in the gaming community and to work on a better player experience, a safer place for all. Female gamers should feel comfortable interacting with the community and not be afraid of saying they are girls, for instance. There is also the importance of game retention, as studios work to find new ways of growing and maintaining their player base one thing they need to tick off is reliable moderation practices. 

Limit of game moderators

In-game content moderation is increasingly difficult for human moderators to manage on their own due to the high number of comments. Staying on top of the constant stream of comments is hard enough, however, non-verbal actions and the context of comments make measuring toxicity in gaming highly complicated. Human video game moderation on its own is insufficient to deal with the issues of game toxicity. There is also the mental health of human moderators to take into consideration. When moderation is put in place, it is mostly keyword moderation, which can under-moderate or over-moderate content which may fall into censorship which is a big problem in itself.

Toxic content detected too late

One drawback of human moderators is that they often cannot detect toxic content before it appears online. By the time the offensive content is noticed, other users have already been exposed to it. 

Toxicity in chats is difficult to identify

It can also be difficult for human moderators to make decisions on whether or not chat content is offensive. Some users may use slang, emojis or emoticons (we call it algospeak) to make comments that are not detected and overcome the moderation rules. Keyword moderation does not detect this. Bodyguard.ai, however, can.

How automatic game moderation can solve toxicity in gaming

To maintain best practices in game moderation, a combination of human moderation and AI game moderation services is needed. Bodyguard.ai blends human intelligence and advanced automated technology to detect and remove toxic comments and behaviour in real-time before it impacts other players. 

Bodyguard.ai can automatically identify and block 90% of toxic content in real-time. Contextual analysis helps to moderate emojis, spam, and emotes-only chats which protects both players and free speech. Our tech knows the linguistic subtleties of gaming, such as gaming slang, bots, scams and more. Combining the power of Bodyguard.ai with dedicated human moderators is the best way to ensure effective content moderation in-game and improve player experience.

As well as game moderation practices, a change of thinking is required in the gaming community. Toxicity and negative behaviours must be replaced with a more positive and accepting mindset. Providing moderators and gaming platforms with examples of what is driving negativity can help them to develop better communication strategies that can foster a more positive community.  

The team behind Bodyguard.ai are focused on encouraging positive behaviour in the gaming community and becoming a trusted brand within the space. As a moderation solution built by and for gamers, Bodyguard is committed to helping build a safe and secure space for all gamers, everywhere. 

FAQs

What is game moderation?

Game moderation is when human operators and AI programs act together to stop toxic behaviour in an online community. Game moderation aims to stop behaviours such as offensive, abusive, racist or sexist comments as well as non-verbal anti-social or abusive behaviours. 

How is game moderation done?

When used in accordance with best practices, game moderation combines human moderators with powerful AI tools to stop toxic behaviour before it impacts other players.

Why is game moderation important?

Game moderation is the best tool to combat toxicity in gaming. With effective moderation techniques, gaming communities can protect players from abuse while also upholding the values of free speech.