Activision is looking to curb the toxic cesspool that is Call of Duty multiplayer with a few features coming in its upcoming game Black Ops 6.
While the development team released its voice and moderation system into Modern Warfare 3 at launch, Black Ops 6 will have a more robust version onday one. Voice moderation will be available in five languages — it already supports English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and will have French and German when Black Ops 6 launches. Text tools can monitor even more, with the ability to work with 20 languages, including Japanese, Turkish, and Romanian.
The voice moderation system, called ToxMod, was developed by Modulate.ai and uses machine learning to monitor voice and text chats for bad behavior and potential toxicity in real time. It doesn’t outright ban players, nor can it make decisions, but it can flag possible code of conduct violations to a team of real people who can issue bans or suspensions. Call of Duty uses Community Sift, a Microsoft-developed community AI moderation tool, to monitor text chat.
“We built ToxMod to help sift through the proverbial haystack and identify the worst, most urgent harms,” Modulate CEO Mike Pappas told GamesIndustry.biz. “This allows moderators to prioritize where they can have the most impact.”
Activision says in a new blog post that since rolling out improved voice chat in June, there’s been a “67% reduction in repeat offenders of voice-chat based offenses in Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone,” along with exposure to voice toxicity dropping 43%. It also says that it’s blocked over 45 million messages in text since last November.
While Call of Duty is arguably the most popular multiplayer shooter series in the world, it’s known for community toxicity problems, which has led Activision to release a code of conduct and tools, like ToxMod, to help punish bad actors. The code of conduct says that the studio does not “tolerate bullying or harassment,” condemns cheating, and encourages players to report any incidents.
Related Posts
Your charging cable might get a workout if you try ‘Charchery’
The concept is as simple as it is destructive: you plug your charger into the phone to nock an arrow, and you physically yank it out to fire. It is undeniably clever, bizarre, and almost certainly a terrible idea for the longevity of your hardware.
Your Fable reboot preview is here, open world Albion looks gloriously chaotic
The hook is familiar, your choices matter, people notice, and consequences linger. The difference is scale. This is a fully open world take, with townsfolk on routines who respond to what you do, even when you think no one’s watching. It’s still chasing that mix of heroics, petty crime, and dry British humor, only with modern action RPG muscle.
Nintendo’s latest product wants to cheer you up with random quips
Nintendo first teased the Talking Flower during a Nintendo Direct showcase last September. The company has now shared more details about the product, and confirmed when it will officially go on sale. Based on the flowers in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game, the Talking Flower is exactly what its name suggests: a potted flower that speaks around twice per hour, delivering lines like "Sometimes it's nice to space out" or "Bowser and his buds can't get us here, right?"