toxicity
Guild Wars 2 team vows ‘better context’ for controversial class changes following death threats
Ideally, an MMO patch day should be filled with delight and exploration. Sometimes, however, there's a sense of dread, especially when the developers start...
Valorant’s voice recording features arrive to NA on July 13 but won’t be used to fight toxicity – for now
Last May, Riot Games confirmed that Valorant would begin recording portions of in-game voice comms for the purposes of fighting back against toxic behavior....
Discord introduces new moderation tools for chat channels
The MOP community has been discussing moderation in MMORPGs quite a bit this week, and now here comes Discord to add another angle to...
The Daily Grind: Do you expect MMO studios to moderate in-game chat?
Last week, a reader emailed us in frustration over in-game harassment going on in Elder Scrolls Online during Pride month. The reader's guild is...
World of Warcraft hopes modern reporting tools, social contract will improve community behavior
Is trying to fix World of Warcraft's sometimes toxic community a case of too little, too late -- or is it a worthwhile endeavor...
Destiny 2’s Bungie says it won’t be ‘muzzled’ by Sony when it comes to ‘standing up for what’s right’
For the last week, we've been covering a WAPO story on the games industry's tepid response for reproductive health rights, which led to a...
Working As Intended: LFD, community accountability, and the balance of power in classic MMOs
At the heart of the WoW Classic argument over the dungeon finder tool is the professed belief that LFD ruined socializing in part by...
An esports pro is developing an AI system to help game devs track and address in-game toxicity
You'd be forgiven for believing that reporting someone's behavior through in-game tools simply sends that report directly into some unseen void that devs don't...
Angry Halo Infinite players prompt tempory closure of the Halo subreddit as devs outline and address updates
There are apparently enough players angry about the state of Halo Infinite's multiplayer open beta that it has caused the entire Halo subreddit to...
Roblox sues toxic player for $1.6M over ‘terrorist threats’ and ‘targeted harassment’ of employees and players
Benjamin Robert Simon, otherwise known as Ruben Sim online, is being taken to court by the devs of Roblox. A suit was filed against...
Massively on the Go: A guide to staying safe in MMOARG Pikmin Bloom
When we first covered the global release of MMOARG Pikmin Bloom, we noted that because of Niantic's poor history when it comes to "safety,"...
Lawful Neutral: Managing toxicity in the MMO industry
When I'm playing games, I make a lot of use of the reporting function. If I see a moonkin zerg farming a spot in...
Massively on the Go: Dealing with virtual harassment and stalking in MMOARGs
Gamers have been discussing the real-world issues that arise in augmented reality games, especially Pokemon Go, for years. In fact, Raph Koster himself addressed...
Not So Massively Roundup: LoL’s chat test, Overwatch Halloween, and Fortnite acknowledges Among Us
Our not-particularly-massively-multiplayer news has started to pile up, which means it's time for a quick run-down of games in the MMORPG genre's orbit. We've...
Vague Patch Notes: Anonymity is not why people are awful online
One of the intentions of the Vague Patch Notes column is to have a place to share things that we're going to need to...
Twitch adds a phone-verified chat option in an attempt to combat harassment campaigns
We've been covering the problem of harassment and hate raiding of marginalized casters on Twitch for a while now, from the #TwitchDoBetter awareness campaign...
MMO Business Roundup: Discord’s funding, Bungie’s lawsuit, and harassment in online gaming
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent business news.
Discord: Investors love dumping money into Discord, and they're continuing the trend, as the...
LittleBigPlanet’s PS3 and Vita servers will remain offline permanently thanks to a toxic hacker
This past May we reported on the woes of the original LittleBigPlanet, a cutesy 2.5-D platformer that is a primarily single-player experience but also...
Conan Exiles is cracking down on toxicity and sploits on official servers
Funcom appears to be cleaning up the Conan Exiles official servers, as this week it announced a change to its terms of conduct. It specifically...
J Allen Brack addresses Blizzard staff over sexism scandal, Activision doubles down on deflection
Faced with a massive sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit, Blizzard addressed the studio workers in a memo leaked last night. President J. Allen Brack doesn't admit fault or comment on the specifics of the case, but he vows no retaliation for victims, namedrops Gloria Steinem, and blasts "bro culture."