Activision weighs in on Call of Duty toxicity ahead of Black Ops 6

By Carli Velocci Published October 10, 2024

A squad stands together in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. — Activision

Activision is looking to curb the toxic cesspool that is Call of Duty multiplayer with a few features coming in its upcoming game Black Ops 6.

While the development team released its voice and moderation system into Modern Warfare 3 at launch, Black Ops 6 will have a more robust version onday one. Voice moderation will be available in five languages — it already supports English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and will have French and German when Black Ops 6 launches. Text tools can monitor even more, with the ability to work with 20 languages, including Japanese, Turkish, and Romanian.

Recommended Videos

The voice moderation system, called ToxMod, was developed by Modulate.ai and uses machine learning to monitor voice and text chats for bad behavior and potential toxicity in real time. It doesn’t outright ban players, nor can it make decisions, but it can flag possible code of conduct violations to a team of real people who can issue bans or suspensions. Call of Duty uses Community Sift, a Microsoft-developed community AI moderation tool, to monitor text chat.

“We built ToxMod to help sift through the proverbial haystack and identify the worst, most urgent harms,” Modulate CEO Mike Pappas told GamesIndustry.biz. “This allows moderators to prioritize where they can have the most impact.”

Activision says in a new blog post that since rolling out improved voice chat in June, there’s been a “67% reduction in repeat offenders of voice-chat based offenses in Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone,” along with exposure to voice toxicity dropping 43%. It also says that it’s blocked over 45 million messages in text since last November.

While Call of Duty is arguably the most popular multiplayer shooter series in the world, it’s known for community toxicity problems, which has led Activision to release a code of conduct and tools, like ToxMod, to help punish bad actors. The code of conduct says that the studio does not “tolerate bullying or harassment,” condemns cheating, and encourages players to report any incidents.

Former Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Topics

Gaming

Epic is improving its game launcher with a long overdue speed boost and plenty of new features

Epic Games Store Launcher V2 could finally address years of user complaints

Epic Games has spent years trying to make the Epic Games Store a serious rival to Steam. It has given away free games, signed exclusivity deals, and kept major PC releases such as Borderlands 3, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria away from Valve’s storefront at launch. Those moves have helped Epic build an audience, but they have not been enough to seriously threaten Steam’s position as the default PC gaming platform.

One problem has been the launcher itself. Earlier this year, an Epic executive admitted to Eurogamer that the launcher “sucks,” and the company now appears to be working on a much bigger fix. According to slides from an Unreal Fest presentation shared by LuKaOnIndeed on X, Epic is developing Launcher V2, a ground-up rebuild of the Epic Games Store launcher that is supposed to be much faster and easier to use.

Gaming

Forget RTX filters. BenQ’s gaming monitor does the pretty stuff itself

BenQ’s AI game filters are what I wanted RTX filters to be

BenQ AI Gaming Monitor Filters

I’ve spent years messing with in-game brightness sliders, GPU filters, HDR modes, and monitor presets to tinker with my experience on my favorite games. Of course, I'd always go with the original artists' intent first, but replaying these titles with new filters does freshen up the atmosphere.

This is why I was particularly impressed by BenQ’s new MOBIUZ gaming monitors. During a recent visit to BenQ’s Taiwan HQ, I got a hands-on look at the company’s latest AI-powered game filter tech, and it immediately made more sense than I expected. The company isn't just slapping on the "AI" sticker onto a gaming display. What you are getting here is custom touches to change up your experience by pulling from BenQ’s game art database that automatically tunes brightness, contrast, and color balance to match the game’s visual style. The fun part is that your performance doesn't take a hit.

Gaming

Sony’s wild PSN login patent could turn the DualSense into a security gatekeeper

A newly published filing outlines controller-based sign-ins for PlayStation users, aiming to make stolen accounts harder to exploit.

Geoff Keighley holding DualSense.

Sony has filed a PSN login patent, first spotted by RespawnFirst, that would pull the DualSense controller into the sign-in process. A PlayStation console would start the request, then the controller would help confirm that the account holder is close enough to approve access.

For players, the appeal is easy to see. PSN account abuse can lead to unauthorized purchases, lost access, and attempts to resell established accounts. Sony already offers 2-step verification and passkeys, but this idea adds a hardware check to the login chain.