PlayStation had exerted more effort to bring some kind of civil decorum to online exchanges, and the gaming community seem unappreciative of it. Finally, Sony said on Twitter that users should remain respectful in voice chats and warned that instances of harassment or inappropriate behavior might be reported to the PlayStation Safety team for review. It linked to the guidelines; however, the responses to that were somewhat interesting.
Well, it started straightforward, with Sony stating, “Please be respectful when using in-party voice chats on PS5 consoles. If you encounter harassment or inappropriate behavior, you can report it & the PlayStation Safety team will review & respond accordingly.” Seems fair enough. However, the flood of responses from some gamers suggested otherwise.
The responses ranged from sarcastic to outright hostile. One user, @HadiganMatter, had responded, “@AskPlayStation Stop playing parent. Good god.” Another user, @MANN0900_PSN, responded with full rage: “If you encounter harassment in a party, leave. You aren’t supposed to be there. Don’t be a f@g.” Oof.
Started with the classic melancholy: @Being_X_ nostalgically tweeted, “Back in my day that’s what voice chat was all about,” whereas @FLGreenShirtGuy called the whole thing a “Soft ass generation.” Ah yes, the golden era of unfiltered Xbox Live lobbies—truly a time of cultural enlightenment.
However, some supported the whole idea. A few gamers expressed support for the measures, one of them being @Rateiosu, who said, “Better to mute all other players if they start swearing and badmouthing like a bunch of fools,” while @knightsof20 answered to those who were criticizing the initiative, “Waah we’re rightfully being punished for being extremely toxic clowns and we wanna cry about it.”
Predictably, the conversation derailed even further into unrelated issues. @v3ditata took over the conversation to complain, “Be respectful with PS Plus sub prices, it’s unbearable.” Meanwhile, @fer4less9 kept the thread going by wondering why they hadn’t gotten PlayStation Rewards points since last year. Classic Twitter.
The real question here is whether or not the Sony reporting system even works. Some players say that they were punished wrongly, while some like, “@dustinbriggs91: Yeah, when they started talking doing crap towards you or anyone else as griefing, try to report them and then later you get suspended or banned for it. Come on, Sony. Get your sht together.” Others, like @mrRoman_UA, recommend going stealthy: “Always silently send report on offender, this is the only way to by-pass this system by punishing the offender without harming yourself.”
Basically, the whole subject really boils down to one thing: online gaming culture still exists as a wild, lawless frontier. Sony is trying to push for order there, while a loud and proud group of players want to recreate those glory days of unfiltered thrashing. Whichever side you’re on, it is one thing that is not going away anytime soon.
So, what can be done? Mute for that. If it doesn’t work, maybe play single-player titles.
