Activision Blizzard’s Johanna Faries highlights the company’s emerging ‘anti-tox’ strategy • TechCrunch
At today’s TechCrunch Disrupt, Joanna Faris, Activision Blizzard’s general manager, spoke about the company’s plans to clean up some of the worst behavior in the franchise community, even with new lawsuits and allegations about Its culture continues to emerge.
Last month, Activision Blizzard released a file Official Code of Conduct For the Call of Duty community, which includes a broad consumer base and competitive landscape. While the policy is very basic – no harassment, hate or cheating – it is something the company can point to when it enforces the rules.
“I’m happy to say, especially since you know your time in the chair, we’ve really raised the bar in terms of attention to ‘What should a detox strategy look like?'” What is it like to create fair play environments, safe play environments? “We just launched – for example – and started in beta – our first franchise-level code of conduct, which I know might sound like table stakes, and in many ways it probably is – but it’s here now.
Faries noted that Activision Blizzard has teams that “are 24/7 focused” on combating toxicity, bringing together automated machine learning solutions with human moderation. The goal is to make it easier for players to report bad behavior quickly but also to motivate the kind of good behavior that should be a model for society.
According to Faries, the crackdown on toxic behavior – which often disproportionately affects marginal gamers who still struggle for representation in live broadcasts and games – goes hand in hand with the exclusion of players who cheat.
“So there is more to come, but I was really proud to see him as well as Ricochet [anti-cheating tech] And a lot of our anti-piracy anti-cheat initiatives we’ve also rolled out…Our focus on combating toxicity is one of the headlines in this upcoming launch and for years to come,” said Farris. , to continue to raise the bar for what it means to play fair while respecting everyone to play with integrity. “
Over the weekend, Activision seemed to be putting its money where it was, Allegedly banning top rival Doug “Sergeant” Martin from competing in the Fortune’s Keep tournament, citing his interactions with Call of Duty streamer Nadia Amin. Martin previously filmed a joking marriage proposal to the player, who faced a storm of sexism and unfounded accusations She cheats somehow in the game.
In a tweet, Martin said Activision “banned him from competing” in the tournament due to Amin’s harassment, although Activision Blizzard has yet to confirm that claim. If the company already has an event ban on bringing unwanted attention to a fellow player, it will follow up with its new focus on cleaning up behavior in the toxic Call of Duty scene.
