Call of Duty continues its commitment to creating welcoming player communities by combating toxicity / disruptive behavior through technology and human moderation. As part of this work, we’re making an update to the Call of Duty Code of Conduct and sharing our findings from the voice moderation beta.

Code of Conduct Update

The Call of Duty Code of Conduct “Treat Everyone with Respect” pillar has been updated to better reflect our commitment to combating the use of our games to promote discrimination or violence.

The update is below:

Treat Everyone with Respect

We do not tolerate bullying or harassment, including derogatory comments based on race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, culture, faith, mental or physical abilities, or country of origin, or the amplification of any person, agenda, or movement that promotes discrimination or violence based on the above.

All members of our community should be treated with dignity and respect.

Communication with others, whether using text or voice chat, must be free of offensive or harmful language. Hate speech and discriminatory language is offensive and unacceptable, as is harassment and threatening another player.

The updated Code of Conduct language can be found at CallofDuty.com/Values. This change will also be reflected in-game, though truncated due to character limitations, after a title update at a later date.

Moderation Findings

Prior to the launch of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III, we introduced a new voice moderation system in North America (English only) as part of a rolling beta. When Modern Warfare III launched, our voice moderation system expanded globally (excluding Asia) and added Spanish and Portuguese moderation. English, Spanish, and Portuguese voice moderation is active worldwide, excluding Asia. Voice moderation is online in Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II, Modern Warfare III, and Call of Duty®: Warzone™.

We were able to identify several trends that have helped evolve our approach and methodology on moderation during the voice moderation beta period in North America – beginning August 30, 2023 – and into the global launch of Modern Warfare III.

• Voice Moderation Enforcement: More than 2 million accounts have seen in-game enforcement for disruptive voice chat, based on the Call of Duty Code of Conduct.

For disruptive behavior found by our voice moderation, only 1 in 5 users reported the behavior, showing an unfortunate trend that players often do not report in-game instances to our Disruptive Behavior team. In cases that go unreported, our voice moderation system allows us to take action against players that violate the Code of Conduct. Active reporting is still critical so that players can raise any negative situation they encounter.

To encourage more reporting, we’ve rolled out messages that thank players for reporting and in the future, we're looking to provide additional feedback to players when we act on their reports.

Our voice moderation and reporting, combined with username and text chat moderation, provide our players with both proactive and reactive protection against disruptive behavior.

• Reduction in Repeat Offenders: Examining month-over-month data, Call of Duty saw an 8% reduction of repeat offenders since the rollout of in-game voice chat moderation.

Anyone detected to have violated the Code of Conduct will receive actions such as globally muting from voice and text chat and/or restricting other social features. Repeat offenders are restricted further, muting them from communication in both voice and text channels within Call of Duty HQ.

• Reduction to Toxic Voice Chat Exposure: Call of Duty saw a ~50% reduction in players exposed to severe instances of disruptive voice chat since Modern Warfare III’s launch.

When our voice moderation system detects a violation of the Call of Duty Code of Conduct which results in global voice chat restrictions, players are muted globally. 

Our tools will continue to evolve and expand over time, including the addition of new languages to our voice moderation system in future updates.

Call of Duty is dedicated to combating toxicity within our games and will empower our teams to deploy and evolve our moderation technology to fight disruptive behavior, whether it be via voice or text chat. We understand this is ongoing work, but we are committed to working with our community to make sure Call of Duty is fair and fun for all.

© 2024 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE, and MODERN WARFARE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owner. 

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