Most of the time the only two options are to put up with the trolls or quit playing altogether, but Halo development studio Bungie has had enough of such behavior and is pushing to make the online multiplayer environment for their new IP Destiny a nicer place to be, by trying to nudge players towards treating each other well.
Speaking to Edge, technical director Chris Butcher explained that Bungie is “sloping the floor” in Destiny: implementing design decisions that reward or encourage friendly, positive and co-operative play, and prevent trolling and harassment from spoiling the gameplay experience for those who just want to have fun.
How exactly Bungie has gone about implementing this design is the more interesting question, which remains mostly unanswered at the moment. The developers have included in-game gestures such as a waving, dancing and saluting - all mapped to the D-pad - to encourage positive interaction between players, but discouraging trolling or ensuring that it doesn’t spoil gaming sessions is apt to be a little trickier.
That’s not to say it would be impossible, of course. For example, an episode of Extra Credits outlined a method of dealing with players who send harassing or abusive messages to others, wherein those who are consistently blocked or muted because of insults and over-the-top trash-talking become automatically muted. It’s in the developer’s interests to find ways to discourage trolling and harassment as much as possible, since a multiplayer environment that becomes too toxic can lead to players avoiding the game entirely.
What Bungie wants, says Butcher, is an image change:
It’s a difficult balance to strike, because for some gamers trash-talking and tea-bagging are all part of the fun of multiplayer games, while others find such behavior immature and irritating. Butcher accepts the difficulty of what Bungie has set out to do, saying, “I don’t think you can ever design toxic behavior out,” but adds that “what you can do is prevent them being able to ruin other players’ experiences.” Perhaps Destiny will be divided up like a restaurant, with trolling and non-trolling sections.
Tell us in the comments if you think Bungie is right to combat abuse and trolling, or if you think it’s something that should just be accepted when playing with other people. If you’d like to see an example of (scripted) co-operative play in Destiny, check out the multiplayer gameplay video that was shown at E3 this year.
Destiny is targeting a 2014 release on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: Edge
