The present and future of online toxicity management

gamesindustry.biz:

At Reboot Develop Blue 2024, Unity's Micaela Hayes appeared on stage to tackle the subject of online toxicity, how to fight it and how important it is to confront it not only from an ethical point of view but, frankly, as a business decision.

Between 2021 and 2023, she explained, the number of people experiencing some form of toxicity has gone from 68% to 76%, and roughly 49% of players have stated that they avoid specific games for this reason. When, later in the day, we had a chance to interview her on these topics, we asked her why she thinks the numbers have been rising.

"I think it's gotten worse because during COVID and 2020, a lot of people were inside playing games," she said, "The gaming community grew and we've kind of plateaued since then, because a lot of people have gone back to school, back to work. They're not at home as much."

The lockdown obviously had a huge impact on mental health and Hayes thinks that "people's empathy changed", suggesting that players became more self-focused and didn't have the same experiences as face-to-face interactions. That is particularly relevant for young people, students who missed two or three years of human interactions during a very delicate phase of their emotional development.

"It very much siloed people's environments and took away the humanity of it," Hayes explained. "And I think that translates in all aspects of the world, especially gaming. Particularly because you're hidden behind a computer screen. You don't have a camera. There's no identifiable information coming from your profile or whatever. So people feel safety in that."

"Moderation sees one of the highest turnovers in the industry because they face obscene language and terrible threats on a daily basis. The human psyche can only take so much before asking if it's worth it"

Data also shows how toxic behaviour doesn't necessarily come from a small group of angry people. "There's a generalized increase in toxicity," Hayes said.

But the current situation could