Have you ever logged onto an online game, only to immediately regret your decision? Online gaming is a marvel of modern technology, where you can play with someone halfway around the world without latency or difficulty. No matter what your preferences are, you can find a game that fits your taste. Do you like small scale strategy and working with a team? Check out the MOBA games League of Legends and DOTA 2. What about a larger scale operation where you manage units, resources, and other parts of industry? Download Starcraft 2 and it’s sequel, Heart of the Swarm, to get your fix. If you’re more of a peaceful sort and you like to conquer a new territory, then you may prefer a game like Terraria or Minecraft. Being able to meet people from around the world and join up with them to tackle challenges is fantastic, and it almost sounds too good to be true. So, what’s the catch? Unfortunately, not everyone you play with is a good natured person looking to help you out. Online games are rife with griefers, trolls, and other never do wells who are looking to spoil your fun. This has been a problem since the inception of the Internet, and it shows no signs of going away on its own. Game developers have decided to face the problem head on by using science. Next time you log on your Mumble server to play some games with your chums, you may notice their results. Science is doing a great job at taming the ‘Wild West’ of online gaming. Read on to learn how they’re succeeding.
What Does Toxic Behavior in a Video Game Look Like?
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, or so goes the children’s rhyme. Some people are skeptical that behaviour in a videogame can have a big impact. After all, it’s just a digital playground, right? What’s the worst that can happen? In reality, the Internet gives people many tools to bother other players, and online games suffer greatly from their antics. There are different ‘subgroups’ of toxic players. One type is the ‘troll’, who relishes getting a negative reaction out of their teammates. The troll makes their own game out of infuriating other players. Whether it’s selling all of their items to buy six boots, pretending like they don’t know the basics of the game, or riling up other players with taunts and jokes, the troll casts a negative pall over the rest of the game. The troll’s cousin is the griefer, who exploits game mechanics to harass other players. The griefer makes alts on a server to yell at a player they dislike, takes advantage of a player displacement spell to throw allies off a cliff to their death, or summons allies to the bottom of a lake where they’ll inevitably drown. Finally, there’s the verbal abuser, who doesn’t use gameplay to harass other players, but just insults them over text or voice chat with the rudest insults they can muster. All of these players make the other people in the game miserable.
How Have Scientists and Social Experts Been Addressing These Problems?
Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends, is notable for dedicating an entire department to improving player behaviour. One of the first things that the game established was ‘The Tribunal‘. The Tribunal is a system that punishes players that have garnered many reports for negative behaviours. Players volunteer to judge Tribunal cases, where they are presented with the chat logs and information about the game, and then vote ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’. The Tribunal took the load off of Riot’s support staff and gave players a tool to curate the community. Secondly, Riot instituted an Honor initiative. Players can reward each other with Honor after a game, which offer aesthetic rewards on your profile. When this positive reinforcement fails, Riot steps in and gives players warnings, temporary bans, and finally permanent bans. These initiatives have proven incredibly successful: 47 million votes have been cast in the Tribunal, with 51% of offenders being found guilty. A shocking 94% of players who are found guilty and are punished never re-offend.
Create Your Own Tribunal System With Clever Use of a Mumble Server
A Mumble server allows you to make your own system of checks, balances, and accountability. Do you have a friend who rages & yells at every provocation? Does your teammate love to taunt the enemy team every time they make a minor mistake? Chide them for these errors and let them know that you won’t stand for such behaviour. Social conditioning from peers is an effective way to curb bad behaviour and get your team back on track. Friendly jabs and silly jokes are all well and good, but you shouldn’t have to tolerate trolling, griefing, and all around bad behaviour. Having immediate, latency free feedback allows you to step in when things get out of line and your teammates are creating a negative environment. You can take a note from the Tribunal and improve the behaviour of your friends and allies with one Mumble conversation at a time!
Online games should be about friendly fun and fierce competition, not raging and blaming other people. If you’re tired of a negative environment, take heart in the fact that science is on the job. Initiatives like the Social Behaviour Team and the Tribunal at Riot Games are a great way to reform rude players and reform them into useful teammates and kind players. A system of checks, balances, and positively reinforced behaviour has been proven to work when things get out of hand. Harness this power for yourself by using a Mumble server with your friends. You’ll have more fun and cut down on the things you hate about online gaming. Best of luck on the digital battlefields!
