TL;DR October 2024

A compendium of the comings and goings in research, development, and news about our digital playgrounds from October 2024.

Oct 31, 2024

As the year goes on, it seems there is more and more happening. Let’s dive in to what you may have missed from October 2024.

Research & News

Twitch makes its rules easier to follow

This month, Twitch added “Enforcement Notes” which are described as “clarifications and examples within the Community Guidelines designed to make our rules easier to follow. This comes after another recent announcement from Twitch saying they would be more clear on telling rule breakers why their accounts were suspended (which I talked about in last month’s newsletter).

This is a fantastic step in the right direction as we know that clear, easy to follow rules are more likely to lead to compliance. Telling me to “not be a jerk” means one thing to one person and a completely different thing to another. But if you tell me “hate speech is not allowed”, that is a very clear, operational guideline that is defined in a clear, objective (rather than subjective) way.

Roblox is not a safe space for children (but change is coming?)

This month Hindenburg Research released a report on Roblox, purporting that they have been inflicting key user metrics and highlighting gaps in the safety systems of this popular online gaming platform. The report is not an easy read, but it is important to confront the harsh reality that we have a really long way to go to create safe and equitable online spaces.

This report comes off the heels of the Bloomberg report on Roblox published in July of this year. It is also important to acknowledge that in the wake of these reports Roblox has enacted further child-safety protections, including more parental controls (you can read about those changes here).

New report on mental health from Discord

This month, Discord published a new report examining the mental health of users on their platform. Some highlights:

Players report games are better at supporting their mental health than social media
Playing games is the number one activity users do for their mental health
Users talk about their mental health online as often as they do offline

I found that last point to be particularly poignant as it further supports the notion that online friends are often primary sources of social and emotional support that are as real as so-called “real-world” friends. Online and offline is a false dichotomy, ya’ll. And when I get my TED Talk, the world will hear me say that once again from my soapbox. You can read the full report here.

New anti-toxicity report from Activision

Activision released its latest anti-toxicity/disruptive behavior progress report for Black Ops 6 and the results are encouraging. Some highlights:

They have expanded their text-based moderation up to 20 languages
They have implemented new analysis system for username reports to enhance efficiency and accuracy
Since incorporating voice moderation, Call of Duty has seen a 67% reduction in repeat offenders
Exposure to disruptive voice chat has dropped by 45% since Janurary of this year
Chat is monitored in near real-time blocking over 45 million text-based messages in violation of the Call of Duty Code of Conduct since November 2023.

That last point is significant as this means there have been 45 million instances of hateful, hurtful, and otherwise disallowed messaging that was removed before harm could be inflicted on another player and the community surrounding them.

You can read the full report here.

It is also worth noting that in this report they highlighted the academic collaborations Activision is leading with Caltech. The first research paper from this collaboration can be found here. Kudos to Activision for setting the bar high for what academic/industry collaborations can look like.

Content moderator coping strategies

A new report from Middlesex University explored the ways in which content moderators cope with the stress and trauma of their work by examining the prevalence and effectiveness of various coping strategies. Notably, seeking support from colleagues was the most powerful strategy, and was associated with lower psychological distress and secondary trauma and higher well-being. You can read the full report here.

This paper also reminded me of a show I recently saw on Broadway called Job. It is a two person play that takes place in a therapists office, where a burned out, over worked, content moderator seeks help post psychotic-break initiated by the stress and trauma of her job. I laughed, I cried, and it hit perhaps a ‘little’ too close to home for me but if you are in the area, I highly recommend checking it out.

Female game players prefer playing as highly sexualized characters despite disliking them

New research has found that female participants generally disliked highly sexualized characters but were more likely to choose characters with high femininity traits when given a choice. As discussed by the lead author:

“I wasn’t surprised by the fact that participants in our studies disliked the sexualized female characters. I think, especially among younger generations who have grown up with social media and intuitively understand how media perpetuate impossible beauty standards, there’s increasing scrutiny and critique around sexual objectification.”

“That said, I was surprised to see that in our first study women still selected the most sexualized character when asked which character they would choose to play. It’s important to remember that this character was also rated as the most feminine, so it’s possible that women were just selecting the character they most identified with.”

PsyPost did a great write up of the story which you can find here.

For my academic friends, you can find the full paper here.

Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) releases new online safety survey

FOSI released the results of their first online safety survey and the results are surprising. 4 out of 10 (43%) tweens and teens feel that they bear the responsibility/burden for staying safe in digital spaces. This is despite the fact that 5 in 6 parents (83%) reported they are prepared to teach their children about online safety.

While many parents in this study report they are prepared, many parents still feel that they do not have the resources to bridge the gaps in understanding between the rapidly changing technology and their lack of familiarity with these spaces.

You can read the full FOSI report here

ICYMI: Psychgeist

This month, I took the stage for the first time in my new role at Discord in Washington DC to talk about the State of Gaming in the US. There is still a lot of advocacy work to be done in these spaces to help bring awareness to the rich amount of research we have in this space about the power of games as powerful tools that are making us smarter, happier, kinder, and more legendary (sorry, I couldn’t resist rehashing my talking points from my Serious Play keynote from August).

This month, I also had the honor of attending an event at the United Nations (hosted by Games for Change) about video games and mental health. It was truly incredible to sit in a room surrounded by like-minded advocates and getting to learn about all the global initiatives amplifying the power of games as tools to help make the world a better place for us all. UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, Playing for the Planet, and many other organizations were present to share their work in this space and join this ongoing global conversation.

The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Stranger Things is here! Just in time for spooky season. This book, edited by Anton Roberts, takes us for a deep dive into the upside down and explores all the things you would expect a book on Stranger Things to explore - D&D, the power of friendship, and the nostalgia of a sweet 80s soundtrack. As always the PDF is free but look at that gorgeous paperback. You can download your copy and/or purchase your paperback here.

What I’m watching: Well it is October, so I have been reliving all my favorite Halloween movies this month. Hocus Pocus being the biggest hit in my house.

What I’m reading: There were a lot of new reports this month and I have been making my way through all of them. Between Hindenberg, Discord, and FOSI, I haven’t had time to return to the world of non-fiction reading this month.

What I’m playing: With all my travel (I went to New York three times this month), I have found my way back to loving Subway Surfers. Oldie but goodie. Did you know Subway Surfers is the most played game globally? Something to do with prioritizing backwards compatibility on older devices.

Other places you can find my musings…

Personal Website, for more about my research and upcoming events. Which I recently updated! Take a look if you haven’t been there in a while (#OpenToWork)
Psychgeist, my YouTube channel dedicated to the science of digital games. New videos are released sporadically on Wednesdays and if you aren’t a subscriber yet, please click that link and hit that big red button. Subscribing is FREE and is the easiest way to support my work by increasing engagement and making the algorithm happy.
Twitter, (it will always be Twitter to me!) my digital home away from home.
LinkedIn, if that is more your style
Most Recent Save Podcast, go ahead, give it a like. I promise you’ll love it.