In an effort to make gaming more inclusive and safer for everyone who plays, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo announced a shared commitment to safer gaming experiences with a unified set of principles adopted by the big three. The three companies posted identical articles reaffirming this commitment. While they stop short of specific changes to policies in things like online interactions, the posts outline three key areas that the companies will focus on.
The goal of this alignment of ideals is to enable mutual respect and safety in online social interactions between players, with an acknowledgement that it will take a multidisciplinary approach in order to most fully protect players. Part of that is ensuring that the gaming industry is aligned in the work it’s doing to create consistent safety measures for interactions no matter where you play. “We can accomplish more when we work toward the same goal, and so we will each continue investing in, evolving, and amplifying our approaches to user safety.”
The three key areas focused on are Prevention, Partnership, and Responsibility.
Prevention is centered on information and empowerment. It’s about allowing players to utilize easy to use safety tools, supporting parents with information to protect children, and harnessing technological solutions to “thwart improper conduct and content before a player is subject to harm.”
Partnership focuses on aligning ideals between would-be competitors for a unified safety experience across all platforms. But more than that, it’s about broader partnerships with “industry trade organizations, industry members, regulators, law enforcement, and experts” to evolve online gaming safety standards and practices. It’s also about a partnership with the community in order to root out misconduct and bad actors who would threaten the goals of safer online gaming experiences.
Finally, responsibility is about taking accountability for the interactions that occur on their platforms, including enforcement against violators and education to those who have been reported so they more fully and completely understand the safety rules of the platform.
The post concludes acknowledging that making gaming safer is increasingly difficult in a connected world where players can connect near instantaneously. The partnership and alignment of values is in recognition that no one single company can solve these problems alone, and that setting aside competitive differences to work together will result in a better and safer online gaming experience for all.
It’s not clear what the next specific steps are in this plan, though it’s an excellent foundation that puts the safety of players first above all else, even the squabbles that might occur between these competitors and their respective player bases. The post concludes inviting other companies to “make and share similar commitments.” In the past, specific developers and publishers have committed to more positive and safe experiences in their individual games, such as Activision and Blizzard, and a broader set of shared principles around the industry can help them all achieve those goals.
[Source: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo]
