Challenges in Moderating Disruptive Player Behavior

This original research article examines the challenges associated with moderating disruptive player behavior in online competitive action games. The study focuses on the popular game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and combines a comprehensive analysis of a large dataset with insights from stakeholders involved in moderation. The authors identify six universal challenges that arise when addressing disruptive behaviors such as cheating and hate speech. These challenges include managing high-volume imbalanced data, ensuring the comfort of human moderators, and the impact of moderation delays on player engagement. The research highlights the limitations of previous studies that have only addressed specific aspects of this issue and presents a holistic view of the socio-technical challenges faced in moderating player behavior. Additionally, the paper discusses potential technical, design, and policy approaches to mitigate these challenges, setting an agenda for future research in the gaming domain.