Sony’s new update for the PlayStation 4 is unnecessary and an invasion of privacy. The new update is something that might even turn players away from purchasing the newly launched PlayStation 5.
PS4 users now have to worry about their conversations held in party chat being recorded and sent to Sony for moderation purposes.
Party chat is a voice channel where users can invite friends and other players to chat. It differs from regular in-game chats where anyone can talk, not just those in your group.
Video game console users who downloaded an Oct. 14 update for their PS4 systems noticed a new feature: the conversations held in party chat could now be recorded for moderation purposes.
The decision was made to reign in toxic behavior and bullying which can be prevalent in online gaming culture.
“There won’t be an option to opt-out of this Voice Chat recording function because we want all users to feel safe when playing with others online, not just those who choose to enable it,” said Catherine Jensen, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s vice president for global consumer experience in an Oct. 16 article by Polygon, an American video game website.
However, many players weren’t happy with the new feature, and with good reason.
Recording conversations in party chat, which differs from regular in-game chats, is something that is unnecessary.
On both Xbox One and PS4 you have the option to start a party, which is a voice channel where you choose who to invite, usually from your list of friends.
This isn’t an area of gaming where toxicity and bullying take place because conversations had in party chat are often between friends and anything said isn’t serious or meant to cause harm.
Additionally, if bullying or harassment occurs in a party chat, users have the option to mute other players or leave the chat at any time.
Recording and attempting to moderate this is a waste of time and effort by Sony, which should focus on cracking down on communication between random players who might send hateful messages or voice messages to each other.
Resources should be put into moderating other versions of online interactions outside of party chat, like in-game chat where bullying is more likely to happen.
In general, the practice of recording and moderating conversations between friends who play video games together is a first of its kind for gamers in the U.S.
People who use Xbox One or Discord, a social app used by PC gamers to talk while gaming, don’t have to deal with party chat moderation.
Sony had more explanations about the decision to implement the recording system in an Oct. 14 blog post on PlayStation’s website.
The post explained that users who downloaded the update would be notified that party chats may be recorded and submitted for review.
In the same post, Sony added, “Voice chat recording for moderation is a feature that will be available on PS5 when it launches, and will enable users to record their voice chats on PS5 and submit them for moderation review.”
Essentially, if users want Sony to listen to voice recordings in the party chat, they can choose to have the conversations reviewed for moderation.
When PS4 users participate in party chats with PS5 users, those conversations may be recorded and sent to Sony by either party, according to the blog post.
Additionally, users don’t have control over whether or not their comments will be recorded and submitted for review by other users, which is very concerning.
It’s easy to understand why Sony wants to crack down on prevalent toxic behavior within gaming culture.
A June 30 post on stopbullying.gov, a government website about bullying, explained how cyberbullying can be a part of online gaming.
According to the post, bullying can happen when a player isn’t performing well, causing other players to curse at them or make negative comments.
Cracking down on bullying is a positive idea from Sony, however, the way it is being implemented poses serious problems.
In addition to being unnecessary, the new feature invades the privacy of players who might not want everything they say to their friends to be recorded.
It’s entirely possible that comments made between friends could be taken out of context and seen as bullying rather than playful banter to a moderator.
Sony making the decision to crack down on toxic behavior online is a step in the right direction. However, recording users’ conversations isn’t the way to go about it and Sony should rework the feature entirely.
