Alongside hacking, griefing, and other problems that persist in today’s world of multiplayer gaming, trolling and abuse is still a major issue faced by anyone hopping into even a casual match of their favorite game. Major platform owners have been working to remove toxicity and trolling from online games, with Xbox Head Phil Spencer declaring thatXbox Live is a place where speech has its limits. However, monitoring these online interactions has proved incredibly time-consuming, with cases of verbal abuse and trolling having to be investigated.
The major platform owners then have been working on an automated way to keep toxicity at a minimum. InDecember last year PlayStation patented an automated systemto detect trolling and disruptive play during online play, though so far that hasn’t been implemented for users. Now, it seems that an evolution of that patent is arriving, as Sony has a patent for a system that will modify game content to reduce the interactions between a user and a troll.
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This patent will allow users to have content filters, essentially letting them block certain words and abuse from other users. This then involves a selective content transformation that can see the identity of a user hidden. Without an abuser being able to see a user’s data, the idea is that the abuser will then have a reduced level of interaction with the person they’re trying to abuse. With data falling into the wrong hands being a concern of many in the modern digital age, it seems as thoughSonyis at least doing something to protect its users' data.
This patent won’t block out data without user input though, leading the user to likely have control of what they want blocked. With PlayStation holding a priority on live-service games and multiplayer, it’s clear the company wishes to make those online experiences as safe and enjoyable as possible for all.Gaming has often been criticized for its toxicity, and so to bring in new fans onto the PlayStation systems, patents that block out abusers could prove incredibly useful.
It’s not just in multiplayer lobbies where gamers can find toxicity in the industry though. While plenty of people do face harassment in multiplayer games, there also appears to be a problem existing within game studios of workplace harassment and toxic behavior. Activision Blizzard, Bungie, and recently thestudio behindState of Decay 3have all faced reports of sexismand an enabling of a toxic workplace culture. For now, it seems PlayStation are only working on removing the toxicity within multiplayer games though.
