Technology
Call of Duty has banned 350,000 players for ‘racist and toxic names and behaviour’
CALL of Duty has kicked hundreds of thousands of players to the curb as part of a months-long crackdown on toxic behaviour.
In a report released this week, publisher Activision detailed how it was stamping out hate speech and harassment on the first-person shooter.
More than 350,000 Call of Duty fans have been booted from battle royale mode Warzone[/caption]
The big news is the banning of 350,000 accounts for “racist names or toxic behaviour” over the past 12 months.
Players were booted from Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Mobile.
The mass-blocking was driven by player-submitted reports and an extensive review of Call of Duty’s player-name database, Activision said.
“We are committed to delivering a fun gameplay experience for all of our players,” the company wrote in its report on Wednesday.
Activision is stamping out hate speech and harassment on Call of Duty[/caption]
“There’s no place for toxic behaviour, hate speech or harassment of any kind in our games or our society.
“We are focused on making positive steps forward, and together celebrating the best fans in the world.”
Additional measures deployed by Activision include new in-game filters to catch potentially offensive user-names, clan tags or profiles.
The company said it had also implemented new technology to filter out potentially offensive text chat.
Call of Duty cheating – what will get you banned?
Here’s what you need to know…
- There are plenty of ways to cheat on Call of Duty
- Perhaps the most common hack is an aimbot – a piece of software that aims and targets enemies automatically for you
- Activision also explicitly forbids the use of wallhacks, which modifies the properties of walls
- For instance, wallhacking software could allow you to see enemies through walls
- Typically using glitches to escape outside the normal bounds of the map is also considered to be cheating
- Generally it’s a case of using common sense: don’t do anything that gives you an advantage that wouldn’t have been intended by developers
- Also, cheating on a sophisticated game like Call of Duty can be difficult – so if you’re cheating, it’s unlikely to have been an accident
“There’s much more to be done, including increasing player reporting capabilities and moderation, as well as addressing voice chat to help combat toxicity,” Activision said.
“Our goal is to give players the tools needed to manage their own gameplay experience, combined with an enforcement approach that addresses hate speech, racism, sexism and harassment.”
The Call of Duty series is notorious for having one of the most toxic communities around.
Activision has begun to take proactive measures to combat rampant cheating, as well as the shocking abuse traded between players.
Players were booted from Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Mobile[/caption]
It comes after a further 30,000 players were kicked off of Warzone by Call of Duty developer Raven Software earlier this month.
That took the total number of banned players to more than half a million, according to the US company.
It was part of a growing crackdown on Warzone cheaters, who cause chaos for legitimate gamers.
The situation is so bad at times that one pro gamer recently quit Call of Duty Warzone.
Gaming tips and tricks
Looking for tips and tricks across your favourite consoles and games? We have you covered…
- Can you play PS4 games on PS5?
- PS5 vs Xbox Series X – which is better?
- Everything you need to know about Roblox
- Most popular Roblox games
- Best video games for 2021
- How to tame a boar in Fortnite
- Top 100 rated players in FIFA 21
- Best FM21 wonderkids
- How many people play Fortnite?
- Full weapon tier list from Valheim
Most read in Gaming
In other news, The Sun’s favourite alternative to a games console is the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
Check out the wildly impressive Panasonic 65HZ1000 TV, which makes most tellies look rubbish.
Read our complete guide to Call of Duty 2021.
And Dell’s Alienware R10 Ryzen Edition is a gaming PC powerhouse that crushes both the new consoles.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk
