In 2025, we will embark on a new era of safety by design for our digital playgrounds.
Online games bring billions of people together to play, network, and unwind. However, they are also places where harassment, hate speech, and grooming for violence and sexual exploitation are common. Today, the majority of online game players report being directly targeted or seeing one or more of these activities. According to a 2024 survey, 82 percent of players claim being direct victims, while 88 percent report witnessing some type of so-called “toxic” behavior. Sexual harassment and hate speech are prevalent, with more than 70% of gamers reporting encountering these behaviors while gaming.
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In the most extreme circumstances, players’ privacy and right to life are violated, such as when their private personal information is maliciously released online for the goal of intimidation—a practice known as doxxing. In early 2024, for example, an orchestrated hate campaign was launched against the small story design business Sweet Baby Inc. Their staff got several rape and death threats after being accused of pursuing a “woke agenda” through their consulting.
There are several reasons why games have become associated with hatred and intolerance. The most critical factor, however, is the absence of industry-wide innovation. For example, video games are frequently overlooked in regulatory discussions concerning internet safety. Proprietary data is proprietary, and (unsurprisingly), no corporation wants to be the first to publicly discuss internet problems and safety concerns. Games are ultimately businesses. Talking about one’s inadequacies is unlikely to win over shareholders.
However, by 2025, we will begin to see industry-wide measures that prioritize safety. Some of these changes will be the result of government directives. While video games have always been removed from regulatory discussions, they are now subject to some of the new measures that have lately been implemented. For example, the European Union’s Digital Services Act mandates gaming companies to publish public transparency reports about online harms in their spaces and the effectiveness of their methods to prevent them. For the first time, this will provide industry-wide information regarding initiatives and their efficacy across the gaming ecosystem.
In 2025, we will also see the results of the game industry’s self-regulation efforts. Over the last many years, the game industry has championed numerous trust and safety measures at the ecosystem and industry levels. For example, in 2024, the Thriving in Games Group, Riot Games, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop released the Digital Thriving Playbook, which provides educational materials and step-by-step guides for game developers on how to create more resilient communities, as well as approaches to trust and safety issues in games. It also provides recommendations on content moderation and community management tactics, as well as how to develop teamwork, trust, and prosocial conduct in gaming communities.
Another breakthrough occurred last year, when Epic Games and the International Age Rating Coalition formed a collaboration to produce internationally recognized ratings for all user-generated Fortnite content. Historically, player-created material has been unrated, leaving consumers to make their best judgment about age appropriateness based on the experience name, image, and description. The addition of a ratings system to user-generated content will enable gamers (and parents) to make better judgments about what and how they will play. Other game developers will follow suit by 2025, allowing players to make informed decisions about which (among the billions of pieces of) user-generated content is safe and appropriate for them to interact with.
To be clear, a safe community does not imply zero risk. Hatred, harassment, and other types of social harm will continue to exist online. However, by 2025, the video game industry will have implemented more integrated safety procedures to better safeguard gamers from societal harm. As the world’s largest media sector, the video game business has been long overdue for this innovation, as well as a focus on player safety and well-being. As I see it, 2025 has the potential to be a watershed moment in digital playground safety.
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