toxicity
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."
GDC 2021: Navigating player behaviors and cheating in online video games
GDC 2021 has now offered several panels on player behavior and cheating that are aimed at devs but still provide some good information for...
Discord scoops up harassment-detection AI startup Sentropy
Happy Thursday: Here's your weekly argument over toxicity, moderation, and AI, courtesy of Discord, which has apparently purchased a company you've probably heard of...
Lawful Neutral: Defining toxicity in the MMO industry
One of my earliest memories from World of Warcraft isn't really a positive one. It was in back in the Wrath days. My guild...
Elite Dangerous threatens to ban players over toxic behavior toward devs
Elite Dangerous has drawn a line in the sand on toxicity - toxicity against its staff, that is.
Frontier's lead community manager, Arthur Tolmie, posted...
The Soapbox: Abusing MMO community reps over design decisions is not only toxic but futile
Recently, an online video game community rep was run off Twitter by "fans." The CM's fellow game dev shared how upset she was that...
DC Universe Online asks players to help it fight toxicity… by sending emails
Daybreak is apparently cracking down on toxicity in DC Universe Online. Senior Community Manager Mepps penned a letter to the community this week asking...
