Racism – MMO Fallout

How do you end your eSports career in less than the time it takes to order a Little Caesar’s Pizza? If you want the answer to this question, imagine the video above as something of a tutorial. Matt “Dellor” Vaughn, formerly of Toronto eSports, has left the scene after a mid-game tirade in Overwatch in which he shouts a racist slur for around 30 seconds straight after being killed by the other team’s Widowmaker, following a short exchange with his team.

Vaughn denies being racist in a subsequent message on Twitter, blaming everything from lack of sleep, frustration over internet problems, and the other player cheating.

The only thing I can say is that despite me using that word, I am not a racist. I was extremely upset, and I was trying to make the person I was angry with upset as well, and so I said the most offensive thing that came to mind.

Toronto eSports has posted a message that Vaughn has been removed from their organization.

Toronto Esports has today announced the release of Matt “Dellor” Vaughn from their organization, citing breach of contract. The circumstances of the dismissal relate to an incident where Dellor used abusive and discriminatory racial language while streaming. “Toronto Esports is an organization built on inclusivity, and we have always had a zero- tolerance policy for any forms of discrimination.” Said President Ryan Pallett. “Immediately upon learning of the incident, the player was interviewed, admitted to the offence, and was notified that his contract with the organization was being terminated”

This isn’t Vaughn’s first recorded incident of using racist language, another example can be found here.

(Source: Toronto eSports)

[NM] Stellaris, Racism, And The Mod Community

690928807_preview_20160511003538_1

The latest internet controversy, as numerous as those are, surrounds Paradox and the recent removal and reinstatement of a mod to the Steam Workshop called “European Phenotypes and Names Only.” The mod is pretty simple, it allows the user to play as a race of only European (white) characters. There are additional mods on the Steam Workshop that split the phenotypes into separate races that were not removed.

So why was the mod removed? Paradox has issued a statement that the mod was not removed for the content itself, but due to a combination of the description, the mod creator, and the community being fostered in the comments section. The mod creator has been accused of being a white nationalist and using the mod to push a political agenda.

Originally, the mod was tagged with the line “no multiculturalism here,” cited as being part of why the mod was removed.

The mod creator, who goes by the name Lord Xel, hosts a Youtube channel called Progeny of Europe. The page hosts a number of videos on topics including “an argument for the continued existence of Europeans,” complains numerous times about “blacks and leftists,” with the creator making comments like:

“you have this unholy union of dissatisfied black people who are angry and rampaging and rioting, and you have these weak, pathetic lefitsts who come out and support them and they sit there with their gay little signs saying ‘oh Trump is Hitler, Trump is racist. Well right next to them is a black person who wants to shut someone down because they’re white.”

The mod page, upon its return, has seen a number of racist posts attacking Paradox, “blacks,” and Swedes, with all of them being deleted so as to not incur the same punishment that befell the mod the last time around. Despite the creator’s determination, one or two have fallen through the cracks.

idea

As of this publishing, the mod has returned under the agreement that the creator does not link to his Youtube channel. There are other mods that perform a similar function that were not punished by Paradox.

Snapshots: Unsurprising Racism Edition

P6PzlHZ

If you caught our coverage of RuneScape’s latest ban controversy, you probably made a mental note of Jagex’s statement that a player was permanently banned for dressing up as a KKK member. Some of you may have wondered how it is possible to dress up like a klan member on RuneScape. Well, here’s your answer.

The outfit is apparently a combination of desert robes, a gnome hat, and a noose wand. Why does RuneScape have an equippable noose? For catching Kebbits, a part of the game’s hunter skill. Jagex, for their part, are generally quick to ban players for wearing such attire.

Less surprising is that players actively seek out these outfits, look in any corner of the internet and you’ll find a legion of desperate attention-seekers acting out and being as edgy as possible to get their fifteen minutes, with the genuinely racist members sprinkled somewhere in the crowd. Even less so the people who brazenly, and unconvincingly, attempt to play the ignorant card like they don’t understand why such conduct is looked down on.

(Credit for the image: NPC_2006 on Reddit)

Top 5: Ideas Twitch Can Adopt To Curb Racism

Overwatch 2016-05-06 05-39-24-40

Today must be a day ending in ‘day,’ because Dreamhack has come and gone and the internet has once again shown itself to be a cesspool of racism and harassment. In the wake of people piling on to the Hearthstone stream to throw racist comments at finalist Terrance Miller, both Blizzard and Twitch have committed to reducing problematic behavior on the platform.

Is there ultimately any difference between someone who posts racist remarks with the goal of trolling/harassment and someone who posts them because they are genuinely racist? Probably not, both are equally disruptive and in need of being stamped down. Because MMO Fallout’s modus operandi is to help solve problems rather than just point them out, I’ve decided to compile a list of ways Twitch can curb harmful behavior.

5. Prevent New Accounts From Using Chat

This one is simple and links in with one or two other suggestions on this list. Many MMOs already do this to curb gold farming, where accounts are not allowed to use chat or access certain trade/communication features until after they’ve hit a certain level. It doesn’t stop the problem completely, but it does lower the ability of people to mass produce burner accounts.

How would this system work with Twitch? You could theoretically introduce a minimum waiting period anywhere from a day to a week or more before an account can access chat. Said waiting period could be removed with the inclusion of two-factor authentication.

4. New Chat Mode: Authenticated

Right now there are only a few chat modes available to Twitch streamers, from subscriber only to off completely. Since Twitch already has two-factor authentication, it wouldn’t be that difficult to implement a chat mode allowing subscribers and non-subscribers that have been authenticated to chat.

Two-factor authentication also means that you have an outside identity tied to the account, be it a phone number or the hardware ID of the mobile device. This would give Twitch the ability to ban all accounts associated with that phone number/device and prevent it from being used to sign up for a new account for a period of time.

Valve already does this with Counter Strike: GO, where a ban will blacklist that person’s phone number for three months and ban all accounts associated with it.

3. Turn Off Chat For Big Events

This is a copout and not suggestion that actually fixes the problem, but right now it seems to be one of the easiest conclusions. Look at it this way, with tens of thousands of people watching these events, is having them all in one central chat room really logical? Imagine packing an entire stadium worth of people into one room letting them drown each other out. Then have a team of ten people try and keep the conversation in line. Impossible, right?

As much as I’m sure event organizers don’t want to use them, there are already systems in place on Twitch to aleviate these problems. Slow chat, subscriber-only, turning chat off, all of these are useful tools. The moderators of Dreamhack even admitted that they made mistakes, with moderators overwriting each other’s decisions.

2. Shadow Bans

Simple, efficient, and taking a card from Reddit’s book. If you aren’t familiar with a shadow ban, it is a special type of punishment where the poster can see his own messages but no one else can. The problem on Reddit is that it becomes readily apparent rather quickly that you’ve been shadow banned, as all of a sudden your posts stop receiving up-votes and replies.

The program works more effectively when the user can’t gauge reactions or isn’t paying attention to them, which is why it is a good idea for Twitch. When someone is shouting into the void (or in this case wall of text moving at 100mph), odds are they aren’t looking for a response. Banning outright tells the player to create a new account, by shadow banning they can go on for hours without realizing that no one is listening.

1. Unify Bans

I like to think of this method as the nuclear option, it is probably the most effective method while simultaneously capable of causing untold destruction with widespread nuclear fallout. It requires a collaboration by a group of people whose opinions and judgement can be trusted.

In short, a recipe for disaster.

How far you want to go with this depends on how much you really want to stomp down bad behavior. For instance, should Dreamhack share bans across all of its streams? Should Dreamhack partner with other associations to share bans? Would regular streamers have access to the ban list? Who decides who is added to the list?

It’s certainly a question, one that requires a lot of thought and planning, but one that could work.

Can toxic behavior be controlled on Twitch? Let us know in the comments below.

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It: