Combating Toxicity With The Good Game Playbook

news.ubisoft.com:

Ubisoft is continuing its efforts to create safer spaces in online games with its brand-new Good Game Playbook, a guide created in partnership with Safe In Our World, a mental health charity chaired by mental health experts and gaming veterans focused on promoting positive mental health and educating players and developers alike to support and encourage better mental health practices. The playbook aims to inform and support both those experiencing toxicity online, as well as those perpetrating it, to recognize warning signs, cope with anger and negativity, and practice self-care. The handbook will be provided to any Ubisoft player reporting others for toxicity, as well as players who are reported.

The playbook builds upon Ubisoft's efforts to create safer and more inclusive spaces in their games, having previously launched the Fair Play Program, an interactive guide to the causes of and solutions to negative behavior in online games. Last year, they also teamed up with Riot Games for the Zero Harm in Comms research project, which seeks to study toxic communications to better identify negative behaviors and train automated systems to better catch and handle them. Rainbow Six Siege has also introduced a reputation system, which scores players based on both positive and negative behaviors and provides sanctions or boosts based on their reputation, as well as adding a reputational standing to the player profile to promote positive interactions and give players a chance to consider their behavior.

Ubisoft partnered with Safe In Our World due to their mental health expertise and focus on the video game industry, with the charity's founders being veterans in both spaces. Providing tools and training for developers and players