In-game chat is a common occurrence in today's games through both text and verbal communication online.

Utopia Analytics CEO and co-founder Dr. Mari-Sanna Paukkeriin spoke about how to combat negative communication in her talk 'Ethics of Chat Moderation – How AI Enables Fair & Toxic-free Communities' as part of Pocket Gamer Connects Digital.

Toxicity within games communities has become a more prominent problem in recent years.

Toxic behaviour

Unfortunately, many people are subjected to abuse online when they play games.

"It might have something to do with anonymity," said Paukkeriin.

There are multiple forms of poor behaviour such as violence, cyber-bullying and repeated impoliteness and hate speech – vile comments and abuse based on an individual's demographic.

Further poor behaviour includes grooming – targeting children – sexual harassment and defamation. All of which can be defined as a crime.

To combat toxic behaviour define your own rules and community guidelines, be sure to make them known to all players. Furthermore, make sure moderation is used to enforce your chosen guidelines.

"Ethics is moral philosophy on what is right and wrong," said Paukkeriin

"Moderation is not just about ethics, it's also about tools."

The tools for moderation need to be in real-time with high accuracy and should be easy to use. If all guidelines are followed, and the community remains toxic-free, it will create a better experience for all players.

PG Connects Digital #1 is the best of our Pocket Gamer Connects conference in an online form, with an entire week of talks, meetings, and pitch events taking place from April 6th to the 10th. You can read up on all the tracks taking place through the week here.