For most gamers, spamming is one of the least favorite features in any given game. The character or message repeatedly saying or doing something annoying or completely unrelated to the game itself can drive gamers crazy, especially when it’s intentional and not done by accident or with player-created mods (on PC games).
As highlighted by Phonato Studios’ Director Raghib Khan, for game developers, however, spamming isn’t just an annoyance—it’s also a huge problem that can get in the way of a potentially great game being played and enjoyed by as many people as possible.
Why Chat Spamming Is Such A Problem
Chat spamming is a major headache for game developers because it floods the chat with useless or irrelevant messages. This makes it difficult for players to communicate with each other and can ruin the game experience. In addition, chat spamming can be used to exploit vulnerabilities in the game, or to scam other players. It’s very difficult to track down these spammers with multiple accounts, says Raghib Khan.
One of the best ways he recommends that developers combat this is by leveraging machine learning algorithms and creating anti-spam filters. These filters learn what kind of content users typically want to see when they open up their chats and only allow that content through while blocking out any additional spammy posts.
Another tactic is detecting whether certain posts are coming from a friend as opposed to an automated bot – if they’re coming from someone who isn’t on your friend list, then there’s a good chance they’re spamming you!
How Chat Spam Is Created
As Raghib Khan pointed out, chat spam is created when someone sends a message to a chat room or forum with the sole purpose of advertising a product or service. This can be done by posting links to websites, posting repetitive messages, or sending unsolicited messages.
Chat spam is a huge problem for game developers because it interrupts the flow of conversation and can ruin the experience for other players. Furthermore, moderators are tasked with constantly deleting spam posts, which takes time away from moderating content. There’s also a high chance that spammers will get banned, so they usually have multiple accounts in order to continue their campaign. In this situation, moderation becomes more about dealing with spammers than anything else.
If a moderator reviews every message before it goes live, then any inappropriate content can be removed before other players see it. But this is time-consuming. Moderation won’t stop people from posting, but at least conversations would stay focused on gameplay and not ads.
The Real Cost Of Chat Spam, According To Raghib Khan
Chat spamming not only clogs up the chat channels, but it also ruins the game experience for other players. In fact, one study found that 98% of respondents reported they had left games because of chat spam in the past. That’s why new social features are being created to combat this issue, such as multiple channels and filters.
There are companies that have built their entire business around developing tools to help with these issues. Raghib Khan, Director of Phonato Studios, talked about how these companies partner with game development agencies and use technology such as machine learning and natural language processing to filter through millions of messages per day. It has been a large factor in increasing player churn, he said.
So if you’re a developer, you might be lucky if you have 100 or 500 players online at any given time. With fewer spammers in the channel, more voices will be heard by those trying to communicate with each other. And with more effective communication comes better coordination and gameplay, which means increased engagement. Ultimately, as Raghib Khan pointed out, chat spam may soon become just another obstacle developers must overcome to create compelling games.
Why It’s Important To Be Transparent With Your Community About Chat Spamming
It’s important to be transparent with your community about chat spamming so they can help you report it and keep the game clean. Raghib Khan believes that if you’re not being proactive about chat spam, you’re doing a disservice to your community.
Being proactive about chat spam means being open and honest with your community about it. You should also have a plan in place to deal with it. This way, your community can help you keep the game free of spam.
Often times these spammers won’t get reported right away, which gives them time to make multiple offers or take advantage of other players. Such type of spamming is particularly bad for games that offer microtransactions. It can lead to people losing money because there are no safeguards in place on the backend against such activity. Mr. Khan says he has seen many examples of what happens when these safeguards aren’t in place, as well as examples of when safeguards were put into place after rampant abuse occurred within a specific game title.
What You Can Do If You’re Being Spammed By Another Player
If you’re being spammed by another player, the best thing you can do is report them to the game developers, points out Raghib Khan. Include as much information as possible, such as their username and a screenshot of the chat logs. The developers will then be able to take appropriate action.
In the meantime, try to ignore the spammer and don’t engage with them. You might find that they get bored after a while and stop. If they continue, blocking the player in-game should work too! Keep in mind that these are general guidelines and different games have different policies on what they allow players to do when it comes to blocking other players or muting them.
Final Words
In conclusion, chat spamming is a huge problem for game developers. It affects not only the quality of the game but also the player’s experience. With the right tools and strategies in place, however, it can be prevented. One can use these tips by Raghib Khan to avoid spammers: (1) blocking specific words or phrases, (2) turning off messages entirely during certain periods of time or under certain conditions, and (3) limiting posts to friends-only chats. The key is recognizing the different types of spamming that exist so that appropriate measures can be taken to stop it from happening altogether.
