Sony came up with a guide to report harassment in PS5 voice chat, and there were OPIOINS on the internet. The official AskPlayStation account tweeted step-by-step instructions on how to report toxic behavior, assuring people that the cases shall be reviewed by the moderation team, and actions shall be taken accordingly. Instead of appreciative responses, they had sarcastic to outright outraged ones.
Context: That is precisely how far extreme measures will go to once online safety becomes a priority at Sony after voice chat recording was allowed last year. The very intention? To nab the words of toxic players in the act of uttering the offense, so to speak, and ban the offenders. Sounds good on paper, no? But the gaming community? Nah, they’re not buying it.”
Hundreds of responses flooded the section of the tweet, with some users calling it “Fed ass shit” (@rrcdo_ was one of the responders), while others were ridiculing the whole “reporting trash talk” concept. @GrittyGamingGG replied with a cringe: “Back in my day you took that shit like a man and cried in ur pillow at night.” Others trailed the glory days of unfiltered COD lobbies with: “@TheGamingOnlyGuy: The original Modern Warfare 2 was peak online. People who use this would not survive 🤣.”
Not everyone was really against it. Some said one could already block or leave a party (@ZaZa29011164: “There’s a feature called ‘block’ and ‘leave party’…”). Then there really was @castian77, probably laying down scorched-earth labeling the moderation teams as “talentless hacks” and just eating up a part of Sony’s budget.
Then the pure conspiracy theorists came out to clash. @SMRI94 scrapped his PS Plus subscription over “stupid policies” and accused Sony of overreach: “You should not be recording conversations from customers.” @WorthlessGaming, meanwhile, dragged the costs of console gaming just to get “censored” in chat.
And here’s the actual kicker—some players are here just for chaos! @ALG956 wanted a “trash talk” profile setting to opt into unhinged banter. And honestly? Mood.
Sony is in a very weird position. They’re trying to clean up the online spaces (go Sony!) but a good chunk of their player base sees this as censorship (boo!). With Discord fast becoming the core of private chats, it’s abundantly clear how many gamers would rather skirt around any form of moderation.
So where does this leave us? The messiness aside, now one thing is obvious: Online gaming culture is split. Some want accountability; others still reminisce about the untamed glory of 2009 Xbox Live days. Either way, Sony is never backing down. Whether that’s a win or a loss will be a matter of perspective opposed to opinion.
And hey-if you actually get harassed, that toolset is indeed there for you. But you might want to put a helmet on for all that Twitter drama.
