Harassment - Why Gaming Struggles to Escape Toxicity - Extra Credits

[Music] this episode has been a long time incoming and it's been one of the hardest for us to write there's been incident after incident that has made us want to put this out there and at least make a statement but each time we've come to the conclusion that we're not a topical show we aren't here to capitalize on news or leap Into The Fray if outrage is all we've got if we don't have something productive to say or at least some new light to shed on an issue it's better that we wait until we do plenty of other people will Express the outrage plenty of other people will get the word out but outrage without Direction just plain anger no matter how Justified doesn't lead to a solution so here we go but just a heads up in advance this episode's going to be pretty graphic we're going to be dealing with the base crass and cruel side of our culture and we won't be pulling any punches or censoring anything so you know today we'll be looking at harassment this stuff represents the worst in our community it's antithetical to everything games are about games grew up as a medium about joy and yet people

have made it an outlet for misdirected hate I've heard people say that this is harmless it's not go back and if you can stomach it watch the cross assault video again watch that girl's Love of the Game be crushed out of her watch something that was good in her life be turned into something hurtful I've heard it said that this is just boys being boys that's no excuse raise your kids better if this is what your 13-year-old writes to a woman he's never met but it's really not just young boys wrestling with their sexuality or trying to figure out their place in the world the people over at fat ugly or [ __ ] have provided us with hours of audio recordings that have shown us these these are grown men who should know better I've heard people say that it's a part of our culture and games wouldn't be games without it that is the argument of cowards and trolls this behavior is not us this isn't the expression of the average player this is the work of a small but very vocal minority shouting like children wherever they can to get attention but too often this discussion devolves into simply how distasteful this behavior is we all know it's out there and we all know it's the worst side of our community but we can't just leave off the discussion there we have to fix this we've gotten mail from a lot of you especially after the cross assault debacle asking what you could do

or talking about how even though you stood up to bullies online you felt it wasn't enough first off thanks for standing up it's a tough uncomfortable thing to do and it absolutely is the first step to changing this second you're right there is more that can be done but it's going to take all of us consumers and developers alike to do it we've been thinking about this problem a great deal it's weighed on us long before cross assault this is an episode James has been trying to write literally since we began the show from the outset it was clear that the solution to this would have to be something simple and practical things that could be implemented today it'll have to be flexible too to meet the differing needs of various cultures and communities and their effectiveness has to be assured the solutions I have here aren't Solutions we came up with on our own Grace from fat uglier [ __ ] Morgan rain from Red five Alisa Melendez from the University of Florida and Chris Peters a professor at digipen and former Microsoft engineer we all instrumental in shaping these ideas after discussions with them and many more here are the conclusions that we've come to the first idea is the simplest but perhaps the most effective solution what do most of us do when we hear someone spitting off racist or misogynist remarks when we're playing we hit hit the mute button well

pretty much everyone who offers integrated voice chat be it a service like Xbox Live or a specific game already takes metrics on how often a player is muted we can use those metrics to help prevent harassment if a player is muted more than 10% above the norm simply start them as Auto muted this wouldn't prevent them from talking and it wouldn't prevent anyone who wants to hear them from unmuting them but it would take away their megaphone and keep them from easily degrading those around them it would also attach a stigma to bad behavior as soon as you jump into a game and you see that someone's been autom muted you have an idea of what to expect from them the same system could be applied to messaging in game Services each game and service Works differently so adjustments would have to be made to fit each system but fundamentally if 80% of the messages that someone sends out aren't getting a response you can limit them to only sending messages to people on their friends list they can still send friend requests to whoever they want but it prevents people from easily sending this kind of crap to anyone at any time or here's another possibility what if some of these communication tools have to be earned rather than just being immediately given to anyone and everyone who creates an account it would prevent people from Simply creating a new account in order to continue their

deplorable Behavior whenever they find themselves muted or unable to send messages if you had to reach a certain gamer score or achieve a certain ranking in a game before voice chat was enabled it would make it much more difficult for people to hide behind these throwaway identities to send out their hate speech of course this unfortunately negatively impacts the vast majority of people who are creating an incredible and positive Community simply to limit the power of those who aren't which is something we should avoid if at all possible nonetheless it is an option if it proves to be necessary lastly sometimes peers are the strongest force of all for any game that relies on social play We Should incorporate the value of respect directly into the community if guilds and clans had a shared Guild wide reputation rating so that bad behavior on the part of any individual lessened to the efficacy of the clan as a whole you would see social pressure create a change in Behavior because this sort of Despicable bullying hurts everyone's experience not just those they attack directly and sometimes we need that made clear this harassment discrimination and misogyny has to stop it's not who we are and I know I don't want it to be what our medium is known for right now we're denying our community the most effective tools for dealing with bullies the ability to as a group choose to ignore

them people who do this the people who spew out torrent of unmitigated hate don't want dialogue and they don't do it out of ignorance either they want attention somewhere something has gone so wrong in their lives that they desperately need people to pay attention to them they need to feel important and Powerful because they lack that in their real lives and they found that they can get that by hurting people in an environment where there are literally no consequences for them right now it's as if we gave the school bully access to the intercom system and told him that everyone would hear whatever he wanted to say it's time we take away that megaphone these are simple ideas things that we can easily do right now with the technology we already have changes as minuscule as Auto muting players who have a history of harassment radically Alters the dynamic of online gaming it brings the power back to where it should be the community as a whole we can fix this we will naturally create a safe environment for everyone to play if given the tools so I'd like to ask you all to write to your software companies and see if they're willing to give us those tools to implement a muting system or something like it let's start with Microsoft they're the most visible and the service that's most often referenced when harassment in our community comes

up and I believe they'll do it they're a big company so they move slowly but they aren't evil and they've got to want this change too month after month whenever James goes somewhere to give a talk he hears women say that they've stopped paying for gold accounts because the environment is that hostile we can't let this continue it's not good for us as a community and Microsoft has to recognize it's not good for them as a business so ask them ask them to give us the tools we need to make the online community as open and accepting a place as game culture at large because this this isn't us for years we have been the culture that took in the people that no one else would when someone didn't fit in when they didn't meet society's standard of cool The Gaming Community would embrace them that's how the world should know us and that's what we should think of ourselves we aren't this and in our community you shouldn't have to hide your voice online see you next week [Music]