While online gaming is an everyday part of players lives, it’s still not as safe as it could be. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, the three gaming console giants, announced today via Xbox Wire that the teams are working together on shared safety standards across gaming. These standards are focused on three principles: prevention, partnership and responsibility.
Prevention is aimed at not only providing safety features but making them easy to use and publicly known, while also investing in new technology that makes playing safely easier. Partnership focuses on having huge swathes of the industry work together, sharing research and encouraging the use of reporting tools. Finally, Responsibility is meant to ensure reporting is easy while making online rules and codes of conduct easy to follow and well understood.
To start, the three promise to offer prevention tools like customization, easy-to-use safety tools, codes of conduct and systems that prevent abuse before it happens. The companies also vow to work with government, law enforcement and industry partners (such as ratings boards) to foster safety. They believe hate, harassment and exploitation of young players have “no place in gaming.”
They also want to make it easy to report abuse based on clearly outlined rules, and say they’ll respond to all “lawful requests” from law enforcement.
This won’t necessarily lead to any significant changes in strategy at any of the companies. It’s no secret that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all have varying forms of parental controls, anti-abuse policies and other measures to keep online gaming pleasant.
