Activision is addressing the toxic environment in Call of Duty multiplayer with new features set to debut in the upcoming game Black Ops 6.
Unlike previous releases, Black Ops 6 will have an enhanced voice and moderation system from day one. Voice moderation will support five languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. Additionally, text tools will be able to monitor 20 languages, such as Japanese, Turkish, and Romanian.
The voice moderation system, known as ToxMod, was developed by Modulate.ai and leverages machine learning to monitor voice and text chats for inappropriate behavior and toxicity in real-time. While it cannot issue bans, it can flag potential code of conduct violations for manual review and action by human moderators. Text chat monitoring is powered by Community Sift, a community AI moderation tool developed by Microsoft.
According to Modulate CEO Mike Pappas in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, “We built ToxMod to help sift through the proverbial haystack and identify the worst, most urgent harms. This allows moderators to prioritize where they can have the most impact.”
In a recent blog post, Activision reported a 67% reduction in repeat voice-chat offenders and a 43% decrease in exposure to voice toxicity in Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone since implementing improved voice chat in June. They also disclosed blocking over 45 million text messages since November.
Given the history of community toxicity issues in the Call of Duty franchise, Activision has introduced a code of conduct and tools like ToxMod to combat bad behavior. The code of conduct emphasizes zero tolerance for bullying or harassment, condemns cheating, and encourages players to report incidents.
