Six ways to create safer spaces to play
Rovio's chief sustainability officer Heini Kaihu shares the basics to combat bullying and harassment in games
Everyone should be able to enjoy games without fear of discrimination, harassment, or bullying. Yet, new reporting by Deloitte shows that progress on this front has remained elusive, for women for instance.
The survey finds that women avoid multiplayer and live service games in part due to bullying and harassment: 69% of women surveyed favor simple mobile games over multiplayer titles, 48% believe there is too much bullying or harassment, and 44% say they are more likely to play a multiplayer game if they know there is moderation in place to limit bad behavior.
And although there are roughly as many women playing video games as men in the US, some women say they even hide their gender to avoid harassment online.
Gaming companies can and should do better. I believe that we have everything it takes to make virtual spaces not only entertaining and engaging, but also safe for all. Here are six steps that all studios should follow to combat bullying and harassment in their games.
1) Set clear community guidelines and follow them
First things first: develop a comprehensive code of conduct that explicitly prohibits harassment, discrimination, and hate speech.
Make your stance on player safety clear, strong, and unambiguous to build trust and respect. Clearly define acceptable behavior and what is prohibited, and use examples from your games' context as much as possible to make it concrete and relevant.
List and explain what happens when guidelines are not followed, such as warnings, temporary suspensions, or permanent bans.
When writing the guidelines, use concise and clear language to ensure they are understood by all players, regardless of age and language proficiency. If you do have a large player community in a certain language area, consider localizing the guidelines.
Make sure guidelines are easily accessible at all times. Consider "gating" some social features so that players need to first read and commit to guidelines – or even pass a quiz – before playing.
Take Supercell's Safe and Fair Play Policy as an example – its games have clear guidelines that are shared and easily accessible via its website. By promoting respectful communication and enforcing strict consequences for misconduct, the company is protecting players from scams and bullying.
Once you have guidelines in place that can be easily understood by your players, ensure fairness and build trust by applying those guidelines consistently to all players.
2) Design the game to encourage positive player interaction
When crafted thoughtfully, games become powerful tools for teaching us right from wrong. This idea should be at the very core of game design and live ops campaigns.
You can build and foster a supportive atmosphere by organizing events that facilitate teamwork and incentivize fair play, rewarding players who exhibit good spirit, or launching campaigns that emphasize positivity and inclusion.
For example, you can design your campaigns to reward the best individual players or teams, or even the whole active player community if they reach common goals and shared objectives. You can have elements that encourage resource sharing or reciprocity when donating an item to another player. Likewise, you can add common treasury boosts to the game for all, as has been done for Minecraft, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Hay Day.
In many games, players can revive or heal their fallen teammates, encouraging players to look out for each other. Some games have reward systems where players can commend each other, and get rewarded for being helpful, friendly, or a great leader.
Some games have mentorship programs, where experienced players are rewarded for helping newcomers learn the game. These types of social gameplay mechanics are most developed in social multiplayer games, such as World of Warcraft or Overwatch, and they contribute to a more collaborative, positive, and inclusive gaming environment.
3) Make reporting easy for players, and moderation easy for moderators
Introduce user-friendly tools that allow players to easily report harassment or harmful behavior. Ensure reports are promptly investigated and addressed, and assure players that their reports will be handled confidentially. Design the reporting system to be accessible from chats, player profiles, and other relevant areas, so it automatically gathers enough data to assist players and enable informed decisions by moderators.
While keeping the reporting process simple, include categories that allow for prioritizing moderation based on the issue reported. Also, provide players with self-moderation tools that they can use to mute or block players with whom they don't want to interact. These features are very common in games where you have large player communities, such as Fortnite.
"If you have a highly social game with user-generated content, invest in robust moderation tools"
Consider providing team or clan leaders with these tools so that they can support moderators in ensuring friendly and positive team interaction and environment. Such practices are already prevalent in highly social team-based games, such as Clash of Clans.
If you have a highly social game with user-generated content, invest in robust moderation tools so that moderators are well-equipped to do their work. This should include efficient management dashboards, intelligent prioritization, detailed reports with context, comprehensive investigation tools with cross-referencing capabilities, and action frameworks with intelligent prompts based on the evidence.
4) Monitor proactively
Monitor game chats, forums, and social media channels regularly to detect and address harassment or toxic behavior. Understand which specific topics or events that may have historically attracted malicious or harmful users and activity.
Prepare for this by educating and equipping moderators to respond, reminding the community of the guidelines, and making sure there are sufficient resources to manage the temporarily heightened moderation load. These can be political topics (such as elections) or events (such as Pride).
Make sure you are providing personal support for your moderation staff to cope with difficult situations. For example, at Rovio we developed specific guidelines and information packages for our community-facing staff about our Pride campaign to help them manage community interactions during the campaign.
5) Maintain transparency
Be open about your commitment and efforts to maintain a safe gaming environment. Regularly update the community on measures taken against violations and enforce consequences openly. Address issues openly, and outline which changes were implemented to make the community safer.
To create trust, make sure your moderation process has a feedback loop to inform the player who reported the issue. Conduct internal audits to ensure monitoring systems and moderation practices are effective and unbiased. This is critical when using AI-aided and automated processes, while also preventing human biases from creeping in.
To build trust and demonstrate your commitment to a safe environment, consider publishing regular reports on the state of the community, including actions taken against offenders while maintaining anonymity.
6) Collaborate with the player community
Engage in ongoing dialogue with your players, listen to their feedback, and involve them in shaping community rules and safety strategies. This will make them feel valued and heard, and more likely to continue supporting and listening even during difficult situations.
Their feedback can provide insights into specific issues, whether community management or game-related, making it easier for you to address real concerns.
"Regularly update the community on measures taken against violations and enforce consequences openly"
Players are often the first ones to notice issues in the game or the community, and if you have an open and trust-based dialogue with them, they will proactively inform you on any issues. Collaborating with the community also means that the most active members will help amplify your voice, especially when introducing changes to the game.
The best reward for the player community is to see that their opinions matter or even to see their ideas come to life. Rovio illustrates this concept with an annual hat design event in Angry Birds 2 for players. Allowing the community to leave their mark in the game is a great step towards a more inclusive gaming environment.
While these six steps provide a solid foundation for safer gaming environments and communities, this is by no means a complete list. Improving safety in gaming requires ongoing effort, ambition, and dedication from all game companies. As you develop your next game, challenge the team: how can this game promote empathy, respect, and inclusivity among players? Let's continue striving for safer and more welcoming and inclusive gaming experiences for all.