October Industry Roundup
Recapping the latest happenings in safety tech, gaming and esports
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Safety Tech Industry Roundup
Monthly updates from the safety tech, gaming, and esports industries
Hate is No Game: ADL Releases Annual Online Gaming Report
The ADL, a leading anti-hate organization, released its third annual report on online games titled Hate is No Game: Harassment and Positive Social Experiences in Online Games 2021. The organization surveyed a representative sample of gamers in the United States, including young gamers aged 13-17. Alarmingly, identity-based harassment increased significantly among women, Black/African Americans, and Asian Americans.
What’s more, 71% of adult gamers surveyed experienced “severe abuse,” including “physical threats, stalking, and sustained harassment.” After three consecutive years of increased harassment found in its annual survey, the ADL recommends that the gaming industry act urgently. Among other things, the ADL recommends that companies “…assess the efficacy of their current efforts to combat hate and harassment among users, [and] increase their investments in staff and products.” GamerSafer is proud of the role it plays in preventing harassment in online multiplayer games through its state of the art proactive content governance, player insights, age assurance, and other features.
Safety Spotlight
Twitch Releases Phone & Enhanced Email Verification to Prevent Hate Raids
Twitch recently released added user verification features in an attempt to curb the growing trend in “hate raids” during stream chats. Hate raids, or the use of bots to flood a streamer’s chat with hateful comments, is a severe form of harassment typically targeting marginalized creators. Creators can now add phone/email verifications before viewers are allowed to participate in chat. GamerSafer’s software stack offers state-of-the-art identity verification to prevent harassment and manage bad actors effectively.
Roblox Launches ID and Age Verification
Roblox has announced ID verification in advance of its forthcoming voice chat feature, Spacial Voice. Roblox will rely upon ID upload and liveness verification to identify the ages of users which wish to enable Spacial Voice. The voice feature will initially be available to players which verify their ages as over 13. Critics question the long term feasibility, given that over 50% of the Roblox user base is under 13. Additional concerns around regional variations in ID card access remain. GamerSafer’s Multiplayer solution offers liveness verification and age assurance tools to assist the gaming industry in scaling safety and fair play in MMOs.
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