How to make online games less toxic? GDC devs debate moderation
Enlarge / How can online gamemakers adapt both existing and new titles with systems that make guys like this less angry? Three presenters at the 2022 Game Developers Conference offer their own suggestions. (None include the obvious tip that this stock-photo guy should upgrade his old Xbox 360.) (credit: Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO—As long as popular video games depend on online services like matchmaking and chat, those games will suffer from toxicity, harassment, and bullying. Or at least that's the assumption that some panelists at this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC) are eager to either soften or nullify altogether.
Ahead of the conference's show floor opening on Wednesday morning, we listened to a few participants offer their hopes for more positive social gaming environments—and three perspectives stood out as a combined pitch for a brighter future. The proof isn't yet in these pitches' pudding, but each points to different, seemingly smarter steps toward a better online-gaming ecosystem.
Turning the temperature down on “heat maps”
The first pitch, from game-moderation startup Good Game Well Played (GGWP), suggests aiming an AI-powered laser at the problem. Co-founded by pro gamer and entrepreneur Dennis "Thresh" Fong, GGWP is designed to slot into existing games' moderation systems to make report-based moderation stronger by coupling it with two types of real-time data: voice chat and gameplay "heat maps."