Tackling Toxicity

Here at Omeda Studios we’re always listening closely to what our community is saying. Your feedback is crucial to the development of Predecessor; guiding many essential tweaks and changes which we believe will benefit the game for years to come.

There’s a lot to do during Early Access, and we recognize that addressing player toxicity continues to be a big point on our to-do list.

Fundamentally, any game is only as enjoyable as its community, and a healthy community experience is the backbone of the type of MOBA we want to build. We want to make Predecessor a fun, inviting and sustainable place for everyone who might come to play it. To achieve this however we need to make a few changes. 

AI-powered chat moderation, featuring Auto-Muting!

So far the vast majority of moderation in Predecessor has been done manually, which as you can imagine is not only time-consuming, but also highly unsustainable in the long run.

We’ve spent some time testing various different anti-toxicity solutions and have landed on an AI-based, industry-leading solution that we’ve been quietly training for a number of weeks now. And with the V0.9 Game Update, we’ll finally be switching it on!

So how does it work?

The AI tool is trained to recognize a huge list of words and phrases that we don’t consider welcome in our game, including a wide range of threats, insults, slurs, and more. Each time the tool detects this kind of language, it’ll automatically flag, log and even take action based on the severity of the message. 

If the offense justifies a penalty, it will be applied automatically and immediately, without the need for manual review. This does mean that some messages might be inappropriately or accidentally flagged, but the system will account for your chat history when deciding whether any action is needed.

If you believe you have been flagged and penalized inappropriately, please get in touch with members of the Community Team on our Discord server.

On the lighter end of the spectrum, toxic messages will simply be removed. If a player continues their toxic messaging, they may also then receive a temporary chat ban. And if they still insist on their chat tirade after the penalty lifts, their next punishment will be longer - eventually scaling to a complete inability to use chat features again. Ever.

Obviously, no automated tool is perfect and this is just the first iteration of how this will work. Luckily this new AI is highly adaptive and customizable, meaning we can tweak parameters on the fly to fine-tune its performance as our community and player base develops, grows and changes. And, as with everything else we're doing during Early Access, we'll be constantly monitoring its impact to ensure the system is robust and performing correctly.

We also understand that although we don’t expect them to be common, false positives can sometimes occur during automated moderation processes. Rest assured we can and will lift any sanctions a player might have received should a manual investigation show that a player was unjustly muted or banned from chat.

Hopefully, all of that means that you’ll see a strong improvement in the health of our in-game chat experience, that you’ll have more fun playing Predecessor, and that you’ll continue to as our player base increases! This is just the first step on a very long journey, this system will continue to evolve and expand.

Our vision for a healthy community.
Introducing the Predecessor Community Charter.

Today also marks the launch of the Community Charter (also known in some parts of the internet as a Code of Conduct), a brand new section of our website that lists what we’re doing to support and protect our players, what kinds of behaviour we expect to see from you, and of course, what kind of things are not welcome in our communities.  

We’d love it if you could have a read through it.

We know this might seem a little intimidating, but please rest assured that we’ve made it as simple as possible, protecting what is already so great about our communities while honing in on the more negative traits we’re keen to curb. 

Ultimately if you’re a good human being who puts their focus on enjoyment, teamwork, and healthy competition, these new rules and automatic systems won’t affect you even slightly.

We hope you see the benefits the new automated system brings in tomorrow’s V0.9 Game Update and that you champion the new Community Charter throughout your Predecessor adventure. Speaking of which, did you know that a Code Of Conduct is actually a requirement for the console submission of a new video game? How interesting…

Thanks so much for reading this far. We’re always happy to hear your feedback and answer any questions - tell us on our Discord server, Twitter and Subreddit!

- Zuzu, Community Experience Manager