The Case for In-Game Moderation

Having covered Engage! Expo, released our whitepaper ‘How to Encourage Participation and Player Loyalty in Virtual Worlds' and especially in light of the latest children’s peer-to-peer corruption scandal of ‘sexting’ (sending indecent images of yourself or peers via phone message) , we thought it was time for a talk to one of our most experienced virtual world moderators, JanB, about her views on moderation of children’s virtual worlds.

JanB has been with eModeration since June 2007, and forms part of our core team of virtual world specialists. These are moderators who (to paraphrase Dr Who) 'don’t look away, don’t take their eyes off the screen and DON’T BLINK!' during a shift, in case they miss anything in the fast-flowing stream of text and symbols going by them. Sophisticated automated filters such as Keibi http://www.keibitech.com/ and intelligent grooming detection systems like CrispThinking http://www.crispthinking.com/ have made the moderator’s job easier (more about these in another post sometime), but they augment, rather than replace, the moderator’s experience, discretion, communication skills and intuition.

Interview:

You’re a big fan of ‘visible’ moderation (having the moderators as part of the virtual world characters, clearly visible to children and openly interacting with them). Why?

“I have always believed that there can be a very positive result from having moderators visible and interacting on children’s sites. Leading by example is an ideal way to imprint good behaviour, and rather than wielding an invisible 'big stick', the users seem to have more respect if you are prepared to meet them in-game.”

Doesn’t that mean they argue with you about your decisions?

“Not, not really. A good moderator will be able to convey to them the reason for having the rules and also why society needs to have people following these rules for the benefit of everyone within the community. I have always found that once you have a reasoned conversation with them, they will often not re-offend. Of course, not every situation would be suitable for this, but I have found from experience it usually stops the retaliatory bad behaviour. Being in-game is also extremely useful for defusing arguments and fights either by arbitrating or by using distraction methods.”

Do you think that the children respect the moderators more when they are visible?

“It may sound simplistic, but I have found a physical presence is often enough for children to recognize the boundaries of good behaviour and they self-police, eager to please and to be seen as ‘being good’ - rather than running amok in what they see as an ‘adult free zone’ with just slaps on the wrist from faceless ‘invisible’ moderators (which can be seen as a challenge).

“Users naturally gravitate to ‘officials of the site’ such as moderators, as this gives them kudos with their peers. We can turn this to our advantage by reinforcing a positive use of the site. They simply love to interact with characters and although this might mean the moderator has to become a bit of a showman ... well, to be honest, it’s good fun.”

A recent report from Symantec found that parents have little idea what their children do online. From your experience, do you think that parents are aware of their children’s activities?

“Some are, some aren’t. We would always recommend to a parent that they spend time with their children looking at a site before the child registers, and monitor their use of it as closely as they can. We regard it as good policy to subtly try to find out from the user how much their parents are involved with their activities on the site – getting them to invite the parent to a fun site event has usually been successful but it must be remembered that some users are ‘cyber latchkey kids’ so some sensitivity is important.”

How can moderators help to engage children?

“Once the in-game moderators become known, it’s important to maintain a friendly, professional but approachable relationship with the users. We can encourage users to take part in the activities of the client’s site whilst at the same time deterring any negative behaviour. This all leads to the enhancement of a user experience of the site and the knock-on effect of them encouraging their friends to join too, which is all good for the client.”

Are children generally quite well-behaved?

“I have found that the age groups targeted by these types of sites love the feeling of belonging and being part of a club with well-run activities. However, if they are left to their own devices then that is where trouble creeps in and also it allows the users to be influenced by less desirable types. While this can mean adults grooming and befriending the users, I have also witnessed another more widespread and dangerous trend, of peer-to-peer corruption. This can have just as devastating an effect on a child’s development as the more well known adult predators.

“Just as in the offline world, children in virtual worlds are easily influenced by each other, and naturally ape each other’s behaviour in an attempt to be part of a ‘gang’, or to avoid online bullying. For example, under the influence of another user, young children may pretend to be sexually active, or use indecent terms that others are using without necessarily being aware of their meaning. They do learn though, and innocence is quickly lost. Now with knowledge and attitudes inappropriate for their age or maturity, they can be lost and confused about their sexuality, and may go on to try to influence others in the way that they have been influenced. All this also leads to them being more vulnerable, in real life as well as online, to being abused by inappropriate adults/peers looking to take advantage of children who‘ve had their sense of right and wrong skewed.

“A good moderator can really help them to stand up for themselves and resist another’s corrupting influence. When there is an in-game moderator it seems to diffuse some of this, as the users have someone with no hidden agenda to share their concerns with. We are not talking about in-depth counselling, just an impartial voice they can talk things over with. More often than not, just the presence of a visible moderator is a deterrent to corruption and bullying.

“When you have an adult presence, but one that the user recognizes has some understanding of the virtual world they inhabit, then the users tend to feel safer. Making moderators visible in-game is a very sound policy that we would recommend to any virtual world.”