Microsoft: the games should be for everyone, no toxic stew

Microsoft's Xbox leader Phil Spencer has written a book about video games, calling games a unifying force that everyone can appreciate. He is excited about the game's ability to support communities, build friendships and even reduce stress and depression. He also describes the team game. the games are not only the preserve of teenagers but they have grown far beyond: most of the players are adults and nearly half are women.

But against these positive elements, Spencer recognizes the many flaws in the community of players. Online life as a whole includes a "growing toxic stew of hate speech, fanaticism and misogyny," he writes, but games can be part of the solution. Spencer says that games have a unique ability to bring people together – we are just names on a screen, which greatly reduces class, race, gender, and other differences. – and thus offers an environment that can help eliminate prejudices.

The purpose of his essay is to ask the video game industry to work together to make the game a safe space, where the positive features of the game can be celebrated without being stuck in the same toxicity as the rest of the online world. To this end, he sets out three principles that he wants the video game industry to follow.

First, he calls the application of rules to be "vigilant, proactive and fast", using both human resources and technology to keep the game fun. This includes identifying the characteristics of games and platforms that are subject to abuse and seeking a quick fix to these issues. He also winks at the diversity within these enforcement teams, saying that "broad perspectives can help us identify future security issues and solutions."

Secondly, it calls for the development of functionalities that make it easier for parents to control the type of content their children are exposed to. Microsoft's kids and teens accounts offer a variety of parental controls, and the company has made it easy to find "all" games, a category that not only covers content, but also games with accessibility and security features. . Spencer writes that the goal is to make sure that, to the greatest extent possible, players (or their parents) master their experiences.

Finally, he clearly explains that it should be a cross-sectoral effort, focusing on elements such as Microsoft's PhotoDNA technology, used by various companies to try to detect child pornography.

It ends with references to new gaming services such as Google Stadia, the advertising giant's streaming service. These will further expand the reach of the game and offer a range of games to a new audience; this makes the need for security even more acute.