What do the people on Techlore think ?
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Seems pretty silly to be honest.
Article for my anti-video peeps out there:
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I donât really have a big problem with it. I donât see it any differently, as if I started writing hate speech on this forum, or shouted it in the street. Maybe this could be a good thing. How many gamers turn off voice chat, because of a toxic community. I know this is bad for privacy, but so is shouting in the street. If youâre affected by this too much, itâs not like you canât have your own (potentially self hosted) VOIP, with friends.
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If I play a video game online in a public session I usually mute other players because of insults, hate speech and animal noises. The only times I unmute other players is when I play online with real life friends in a private game session. I would love to be able to normally communicate with other unknown players online but unfortunately people generally start behaving like dumb idiots once they are in a space where they feel âanonymousâ. Itâs a shame.
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Great : I just wrote a normal message about my experience playing online and why I usually mute other players and⌠itâs immediately flagged and hidden by techlore. I guess some automated bot decided I was promoting hatespeech when I was actually complaining about it. Lol the irony 
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Good in theory, but this will probably be executed poorly - not working when it needs to and working when it doesnât need to. Roblox for instance also has had very big issues with moderation, and even shut down their forums because they couldnât handle it. (See People Make Gamesâ videos on them: Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.)
âIf you arenât doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry aboutâ is a mindset I typically disagree with, but letâs be honest: people who do get super pissed about the idea of moderating game chats are usually people who are just mad they arenât allowed to call people slurs over voice chat like they were able to in 2009 and cope on Reddit about how âNiger is a real country and I totally wasnât using it to substitute a racial slur! Why was I banned?!â
I dont expect any privacy or confidentiality for in-game chats. They are notoriously toxic cesspools, moderating them makes total sense and I do not see as an âattack on free speech.â
I generally just disable them all anyway to avoid any trouble though.
The real privacy/security concern for me is potential IP leak risks if the voice chats use WebRTC or something similar. I know GTA Online would have a big issue with losers DDOSing and booting players because the game would keep leaking playersâ IP addresses. I donât know if itâs the case now, but I doubt Rockstar has bothered to fix it.
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Does anyone even use voice chat?
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Hate speech is quite common with MMOs, and while I donât love this push for censorship, blatant vulgarity could use some checks and balances for those of us who play less/donât play at all to avoid such toxicity.
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In my humble opinion, believe that server admins and parents/guardians should exercise careful vigilance and avoid excessive reliance on artificial intelligence when monitoring hate speech.
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Not sure if anybody has mentioned this yet, but Epic Games just rolled out a similar update today for voice chat surveillance.
The report button sends the last five minutes of audio to Epic servers for review.
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Companies trying to censor speech under the claim of fighting âhate speechâ (a term that being used way to loosly this days.) its an absolute danger to free speech.
and the fact t hat you can just mute people if you dont to hear them is alone a testament for how unneeded it is.
with this said. they are only monitoring the in game chat right? then how is this a privacy issue?
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I read this YouTube comment somewhere once.
As someone who occasionally plays MMOs, I donât think the term âhate speechâ could ever be used too loosely.
I have experienced this firsthand. People, of all ages, have gotten too comfortable with casually dropping âJewâ, âfaggotâ, âretardâ, and âniggerâ âand an entire assortment of other, nonsensical generational insultsâinto their gameplay conversation. All in the same sentence even⌠Plus, for whatever reason, people love to make inappropriate, often times sexist or bigoted comments. They will call you a pedophile simply because you enjoy gaming as an adult and had the audacity to randomly match with someone still in school. Itâs madness.
You keep your mic off, people leave the match (but not before arrogantly assuming you donât have one at all and calling you broke). You turn it on, and you get made fun of for the way you speak or the things you have to say. Muting people, in my opinion, is a bandaid solution. Communication is a key part of surviving in games like COD, Apex, Among Us, FortniteâŚ
I donât like censorship, but perhaps this is the wake up call some people need to think before they speak.
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just becuse some people like to throw insults at one another does not mean the terms cannot be used loosly. not to mention that is very context dependant. if i am playing with friends for example. and this is just part of a banter for example is it still a hate speech?
here is a real life example: i was playing with a dude from Germany (im jewish) and 90% of our convo was humor Holocaust jokes. many of them were given by myself.
is this something either of us should be banned for?
if someone is bullying you on a video game by all means you can just mute him or block him and be done with that. why does toxic behavior necessitates surveillance?
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And this is the part where we can agree to disagree. I was just expressing an opinion, I wasnât trying to brand it as fact.
You might not take offense to it being used for levity (or whatever) in the context of you and your friend from Germany because you guys find it amusing. That is you.
Holocaust jokes, by definition, are rooted in hate. The Holocaust was a period in time fueled by genocidal hatred. Personally, I would still consider it hate speech. Thatâs me.
As I said, muting someone for their toxic behavior just cuts off communication. I donât believe that solves the problem. Reprimanding someone (i.e. a temporary ban) for repeated, recorded toxicity could very well lead to behavioral change. That is the point I was trying to express.
Apologies if that wasnât obvious.
You might not take offense to it being used for levity (or whatever) in the context of you and your friend from Germany because you guys find it amusing. That is you.
Holocaust jokes, by definition, are rooted in hate. The Holocaust was a period in time fueled by genocidal hatred. Personally, I would still consider it hate speech. Thatâs me.
that statment alone is implying that that what is hate speech or not is heavily dependent on personal opinion. so tell me. should i not be allow to make jokes i find amusing becuse you think its or some else think its wrong?
As I said, muting someone for their toxic behavior just cuts off communication. I donât believe that solves the problem. Reprimanding someone (i.e. a temporary ban) for repeated, recorded toxicity could very well lead to behavioral change. That is the point I was trying to express.
Apologies if that wasnât obvious.
ok, so in this case i have to ask how far would you be really to go to ensure this behavioral change. have another question then, would you be ok with the government eavesdropping and arresting people for âhate speechâ
which can be whatever they define it as such.
would you be willing as to personally use physical force against someone for expressing what you are defining as hate speech. to create that behavioral change?
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https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=3q0y5dFBdvg
I recently came across this thought-provoking video that highlighted the potential for misunderstandings in online gaming comments. It made me contemplate the impact of incorporating AI technology in such interactions. Considering the absence of AI oversight, I couldnât help but wonder if there is a risk of negatively affecting individualsâ personal and private lives.
Did I say that? I donât recall ever saying thatâŚ
Do what you want. Just know that not everyone will be comfortable with your personal brand of comedy.
I have no interest in further debate, nor outlandish hypotheticals.
The burden of âensuring behavioral changeâ does not fall on my shoulders, but the shoulders of the company.
If someone doesnât agree with how a gaming company enforces their Terms of Service (i.e. including brief audio recordings in reports), they can simply choose to play something else.
It is that simple.
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To answer the original question, nothing really. Anyone saying that oo they are gonna collect user data destroy privacy etcâŚActivision already does violate your privacy and collect a shit to of user data indefinitely, with links to CCP. I donât play video games for this exact reason as industries tend to not be happy with the money I paid to buy a copy of the game, instead want some more. If the company feels like moderating racists and other degenrates with this shit ton of data they already do collect, Itâs a ok move I guess?
Personally I could care less. Iâll rather play chess than find escapism than shooting zombies, slowly destroying my mental health in the process.
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not to mention that if you buy digital copy. you dont actually buy a copy of the game but you buy an acess to the game. this is why i buy most of my games from gog.
or⌠through other means
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Some form of moderation on social platforms is always necessary. However, that doesnât need it needs to come at the expense of privacy. These systems should be implemented in ways that protect user privacy and only hold on to user recordings if they are flagged or reported and delete them once moderation decisions are made. These companies should also work to make sure any Artificial Intelligence implemented produces accurate results with little error, without compromising user privacy.
As for MW2, as someone who has been playing the game for many years, I have to say that the COD lobby stereotype isnât just a meme. Almost (maybe 70%) every game I have been, somewhat less in the newest versions of the game, have contained at least one person who was overtly using slurs in derogatory and purposefully offensive ways. Activision been notoriously bad at moderation for many years, with to little bans going to the players who deserve it and false bans still occurring at a pretty high rate. Without getting into politics, it is pretty objective to say that players who purposefully verbally harass or abuse other players, especially with derogatory or offensive language deserve to have some form of moderation action against them. (Such as a temporary mute, which encourages players to stop.)
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