Activision provided a report on the work done to combat toxicity in Call of Duty, highlighting that it has already made a huge impact ahead of Black Ops 6’s launch.
Call of Duty has been associated with toxic player behavior over the years, both in voice chat and via text messages. However, Activision has made efforts to reverse the brand’s bad reputation by releasing Modern Warfare 3 in 2023 with AI-powered in-game voice chat moderation.
Activision uses Modulate’s ToxMod, which uses artificial intelligence to identify and enforce counter toxic speech in real time, including hate speech, discriminatory language and harassment.
Addressing privacy concerns from the Call of Duty community, Activision insisted that voice chat would only be monitored and recorded “for the express purpose of moderation” and “focused on detecting harm in voice chat versus specific keywords.”
“The Disruptive Behavior team knows that buzz and passion are part of Call of Duty’s DNA,” Activision said in a modern progress update. “Call of Duty’s voice and text moderation tools do not target our competitive spirit – they enforce behaviors outlined in the Call of Duty Franchise Code of Conduct that target harassment and offensive language.
“Similar to Modern Warfare 3, the Call of Duty Code of Conduct will be visible early in the game when players first launch the core multiplayer modes in Black Ops 6, asking players to familiarize themselves with the pillars of the Code of Conduct.”
Activision added that since implementing improvements to voice chat enforcement in Call of Duty in June, there has been a combined 67% reduction in voice chat offenders in Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone. As of July 2024, 80% of players ordered to enforce voice chat policies since launch have not re-violated. Activision says overall exposure to disruptive voice chat continues to decline, down 43% since January. At launch, Black Ops 6 will expand voice moderation to French and German, as well as English, Spanish and Portuguese.
It’s good timing considering there’s one modern feature in Black Ops 6 that’s sure to test Call of Duty’s AI voice chat moderation to its limits. Black Ops 6 has a modern Body Shield feature in multiplayer, which allows you to grab an enemy and hold them in front of you to absorb bullets while firing off a few shots of your own. But that’s not all: it also enables voice chat between attacker and victim, something players certainly had fun with during the game’s beta weekends.
Meanwhile, Call of Duty’s text moderation technology, which analyzes text chat traffic “nearly” in real time, has blocked more than 45 million text messages since November 2023 in violation of the Call of Duty Code of Conduct. Activision says Call of Duty has also implemented a modern username reporting analysis system “to improve efficiency and accuracy by forwarding critical reports to our moderation team for investigation and action.”
Activision used research from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to refine its approach and worked with researchers at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business to develop ways to better identify and address disruptive behavior. Activision said it is “actively engaged” in research on destructive behavior and pro-social activities in games.
Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wy100@proton.me.
