Rocket League just crossed the 34 million player mark, making it one of the biggest games out there. Any group of people this large inevitably has some bad apples in it. So far the Rocket League community has remained somewhat decent, but recently it seems like the influx of players has turned things toward the bad side of the gaming populace. Psyonix is fighting back though, updating their ban policy to be a bit more proactive.
“As our community grows larger still, so too does the need to ensure that Rocket League is a consistently-safe, harassment-free place where players of all ages and backgrounds can come together and execute the sweetest of aerial goals and backflip saves,” explains Psyonix. “The cornerstone of addressing in-game harassment is our ‘Player Mute’ and ‘Report’ systems, which can be accessed from the in-game menu mid-match.”
“This week, we’re building on our Player Report system by adding a new layer of automation to the report-ban process. This automation, simply called the ‘Language Ban’ system, will automatically ban players from online matches when certain words — racial slurs, for example — are seen in reports filed by our players.”
They’re starting off with a list of 20 words that are deemed so bad that players will be auto-banned if a report includes them in numbers beyond the unknown threshold. Even the words will be unknown, with Psyonix saying that it will grow, evolve, and change as necessary.
Players won’t just be restricted from the game for using these words, it seems. Instead other players need to report the harassment, then the system will dig in to determine if a ban is required. If so the player will be blocked for 24 hours the first time, 72 hours later, and a permanent ban can arise if the harassment continues.
