Call of Duty Devs Offer Toxicity Moderation Progress

There is no shortage of toxicity in online matchmaking. You’ll likely hear some unfortunate comments in the heat of the moment or plain frustration. It’s been a constant battle to end the ongoing toxicity from chats online, and while developers have typically relied on players to report issues, there has been more focus on AI lately. A new tool, for instance, was enabled for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, which is all about listening to your conversations with others in-game. 

This AI tool was highlighted in the past as the developers went over the goal with this tool. The tool would allow the system to listen in for specific phrases and comments. Those comments would automatically streamline the report system. Essentially, if your account were triggered for toxicity, you would be kicked from being able to interact in chat systems in the game. Typically, these restrictions are only for a set amount of time unless the account is still troublesome. 

Today, we’re getting a new report from the developers about the progress made when it came to fighting back against disruptive behavior. Since rolling out this voice moderation enforcement tool, over two million accounts have been hit. However, unfortunately, the developers are finding out that about one in five users were typically only reported by other players. The developers are still asking players to continue reporting as this is helpful for the team to ensure they are keeping online matchmaking welcoming to everyone and free from harmful comments. 

Furthermore, there has reportedly been an 8% reduction in repeat offenders since the team rolled out the new moderation system. Likewise, overall, there seems to be a 50% reduction in players exposed to disruptive voice chat since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III launched. It might not be a perfect system, but it looks like there has been some success with implementing the new anti-toxicity tools. It’s all based on the Code of Conduct, where the goal is to treat everyone with respect. This Code of Conduct has also been updated, and you can find the updated version in full right here. 

As for what’s next for the Call of Duty franchise, we’re still waiting to see the official reveal of the next game. But before then, we might finally see some of the past installments land on Xbox Game Pass since Microsoft had acquired Activision Blizzard. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much news since then, as even Microsoft wasn’t keen on bringing the company up during their Xbox Developer Direct stream that happened earlier this month.