Call Of Duty Has Banned An Insane Number Of Toxic Players
There are often signs players have become toxic, but unfortunately, some gamers just need to be told when to go. "Call of Duty" developers recently released a blog post detailing efforts to battle toxicity in the game franchise's community. This anti-toxicity progress report detailed both what the team has implemented so far and what they aim to accomplish in the future. The post also let another detail slip, though: As of now, "Call of Duty" has banned over 350,000 accounts from its servers.
The "Call of Duty" team explained that they wanted to "deliv[er] a fun gameplay experience for all of our players. There's no place for toxic behavior, hate speech or harassment of any kind in our games or our society." The 350,000 accounts targeted by the anti-toxicity campaign were banned for "racist names or toxic behavior based on player-submitted reports and an extensive review of our player-name database." Considering how bold it is to include hate speech in one's name, the decision to ban players with inappropriate names seems a logical first step for the anti-toxicity team.
The team also programmed filters to search for hate speech in 11 different languages, so even the most far-off players will still be subject to the same guidelines as everyone else. In addition to filtering out names that include hate speech, the new systems will also observe text chat and scan for any potential problems.
Big dreams and fan reactions
Even though the "Call of Duty" anti-toxicity team has done good work already, they have lofty goals for the future. The team stated that their "goal is to give players the tools needed to manage their own gameplay experience, combined with an enforcement approach that addresses hate speech, racism, sexism and harassment." In order to reach those goals, the team plans to improve players' abilities to report offensive behavior, in addition to continued improvement of filtering software and automated tracking of offensive materials. Most importantly, the team wants to communicate with the "Call of Duty" community more clearly to explain new standards and ensure that no one gets wrongfully banned.
Fans responded with mixed emotions. One player commented that "Call of Duty" was "unplayable as a black person or anyone of visible minority. Hacking is definitely annoying but I can quit and requeue. N word spamming is at an all time high." Other gamers suggested that hacking is a bigger issue than racism in the "Call of Duty" community and that the team should focus on banning hackers before tackling hate speech.
Players have already begun to stand up for themselves but need professional backup. Music artist T-Pain recently had to destroy a group of toxic players while enjoying a game of "Call of Duty," giving many non-gaming viewers a look at how hostile the community can be. Recent tournament disqualifications based on "unsportsmanlike behavior" have also infuriated the Twitter community, sending fans into arguments over how involved the "Call of Duty" devs should be in dictating player actions.