Statement from EA Sports Outlines Plan to Combat Toxicity

This weekend, EA Sports issued a statement on Twitter tackling the toxic behavior infamously alleged among its games and communities. Whether driven by current events or the company’s desire to improve its reputation, the intention of the announcement (if not the application) may seem overdue.

The statement begins sharply: “EA Sports will not tolerate racism of any kind.” It goes on to note that EA Sports will begin monitoring player activity for racism and other types of hate speech or abuse and taking swift action in such circumstances.

Below is their strategy outlined “to bring change to our games and communities in the fight against racism” (although these actions may apply to other types of hate speech as well):

• “Actively reviewing our term list to ensure our filter set is comprehensive and accounts for various languages, dialects and slang. This is something we will review and expand upon regularly.”
• “Adding more tools in-game to increase the reporting functionality to make it easier and more seamless for players to report toxic behavior as it occurs and for our teams to remove the content and offenders.”
• “Increased the frequency of reviewing offenses with the goal of acting more quickly to remove [toxic behavior] from our games. We are also looking to add more fully dedicated resources to our teams to tackle this issue.”

The statement ends with a vow by EA Sports to continue listening to their communities, reviewing their policies, and evolving their approach.

Parent company Electronic Arts has posted similar messages of support regarding the worldwide protests, joining EA Sports in delivering an action plan for their own “turf.”

Source: gamesindustry.biz