Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s lead developer Michael Condrey told Newsbeat that while he wouldn’t describe the gaming community at large as “toxic or misogynistic”, he’s aware that there are fringe elements in any subculture that behave poorly.
Condrey claims that he and the team at Sledgehammer have “a low tolerance for toxic behaviour”, and will work to punish abusive actions in-game.
Toxic online interactions are obviously a hot button right now, with developer Zoe Quinn, amongst others, vocally condemning major gaming companies for not taking a stand on misogynistic threats and online abuse.
“I certainly wouldn’t characterise the community of fans I know and had the pleasure to engage with as toxic or misogynistic,” Condrey told Newsbeat. “The community as a whole is very healthy, engaged and thoughtful and probably like anything anywhere well outside of gaming. In the fringes of a lot of areas of society there are examples of people behaving poorly.”
Condrey doesn’t want Advanced Warfare’s online community to be a place where harassment and abuse are accepted. Which is an admirable, if optimistic, stance to take.
“Come to the game to have fun, come to be social, come to enjoy and build a community and have a positive energy. Toxic behaviours, abusive language, inappropriate emblems, I don’t want that around. So for our community, Sledgehammer Games and Advanced Warfare we have pretty low tolerance for toxic behaviour.”
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is out now.
