A few days ago, Ubisoft kicked into gear its intolerance for toxicity in the form of racial, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted slurs. Rainbow Six: Siege has now addressed the problem with instant bans as Daily Esports has already covered. To summarize, players have been receiving bans of varying degrees for the vulgar language used in chatboxes within the game. This disciplinary action is part of a months-long plan by Ubisoft to clean up the community.
Rainbow Six: Siege’s Plan
The developer’s blog from April, “Toxicity”, would start by saying:
Toxicity management is a priority we will be focusing on as a team over the next few years, and we have a few different ways we plan on dealing with it. Our end goal is to track negative player behavior, manage those that behave poorly, and eventually implement features that will encourage players to improve their behavior.
We have been working on some short-term changes that will quickly have an impact, such as chat improvements, and team kill tracking.
However, as the banhammer is in full swing, players are finding themselves divided into opposing sides over the measure. As some players have found, uttering (or typing) a single word that is deemed hateful results in swift action by the game’s anti-toxicity system. To many players, this action can sometimes outweigh the crime. While Ubisoft warned that a system would be put into place, the developer’s blog that the company issued in April alluded to implementing censorship for hate speech. However, the new anti-toxicity system is far more swift and severe than the initial posted outline would suggest.
What’s at stake?
VGR noted that first offenders will find themselves locked out of all game modes for 30 minutes. Second offenders will be on the receiving end of a two hour ban. Further misbehavior can escalate to a permanent ban. However, “all game modes” include Terrorist Hunt which is a mode that users can play cooperatively or as a single player venture. Even the first time offenders will find themselves locked out of offline play in this mode. Here are a couple of reactions from the Rainbow Six: Siege community that echo feelings from both sides of the issue.
https://twitter.com/PlatnumHampster/status/1018544045235191809
https://twitter.com/iblinko/status/1018515350621769729
Still, there are many players who are praising the measures. Whatever anyone thinks of the newly implemented system, hate speech is virtually absent from the online atmosphere as a result. This joins Ubisoft’s other effort in eliminating cheating from the Rainbow Six: Siege servers as well. The developer’s goal is to maximize the enjoyment of its players. This helps keep games around for the long-term. At the core, that’s what we all want. No one wants to be harassed or bullied with hate speech. We want to play our favorite games for days, months, and even years to come.
What are your thoughts on Ubisoft’s effort to curtail racial and homophobic slurs? Let us know in the comments below! And for more on Rainbow Six: Siege, be sure to keep it locked to Daily Esports for the latest.
