Explore 10 of the best multiplayer games with in-game chat, from Roblox to Rust. Learn how voice, text, and proximity chat shape player experiences.

Talking, Teaming, and Thriving: How In-Game Chats Affect Players’ Experience

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc">On this page&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#introduction">Introduction</a>&nbsp;<a href="#roblox">1. Roblox</a>&nbsp;<a href="#call-of-duty">2. Call of Duty</a>&nbsp;<a href="#dota-2">3. Dota 2</a>&nbsp;<a href="#league-of-legends">4. League of Legends</a>&nbsp;<a href="#apex-legends">5. Apex Legends</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#minecraft">6. Minecraft&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;<a href="#sea-of-thieves">7. Sea of Thieves</a>&nbsp;<a href="#rust">8. Rusts</a>&nbsp;<a href="#fortnite">9. Fortnite</a>&nbsp;<a href="#warframe">10. Warframe</a>&nbsp;</div><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/post/You-Never-Game-Alone-Chats-and-Live-Streaming-to-Make-Gaming-Brighter">In-game community chats have become</a> the lifeblood of multiplayer titles. Beyond the action itself, players bond, joke, strategise, and sometimes clash through the chat windows or voice channels embedded directly in the gameplay. While moderation and design vary, these systems shape how communities grow. Below, we explore ten popular titles where the chat isn’t just a feature; it’s a vital part of the experience.Recently, Nintendo Switch announced and released in-game chat, allowing players to communicate during gameplay with voice or video. The news is stunning: Mario games are becoming even better than they used to be. There is a new chat creation feature, along with a list of chats available. So players can now literally be together on the road. Players can share screens and delete backgrounds from their videos, as in meetings. Let’s explore other game solutions that enable gamers to express emotions directly within the game.<h2 id="roblox">1. Roblox</h2>Roblox has a mix of text chat and console-style voice chat, depending on the game within the platform. Also, players can convert voice into text, which helps them stay on track. Players use the chat feature to coordinate in mini-games, roleplay, or just hang out. However, moderation <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gZ_DsIs4xaM">remains</a> a hot topic: many users note flaws in the system, where inappropriate language sometimes slips through. Despite this, Roblox’s in-game chat is still central to its identity, particularly for younger players experimenting with social play.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1947/978;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/d7094266-b24a-455b-a16b-693cb7a10768.png" alt="The best games with in-game proximity text chat - Roblox" width="1947" height="978"></figure><h2 id="сall-of-duty">2. Call of Duty (Modern Warfare III, Modern Warfare II, and Warzone)</h2>COD’s in-game chat is voice-first, with text channels supplementing lobbies. Recently, Activision integrated AI moderation (ToxMod) to combat harassment and hate speech. Some players welcome the reduction in toxicity, while others <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k9RLIV0B9J8">complain</a> that the filter also discourages free banter (you can find many discussions of this on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/COD/comments/1h6z0h9/down_with_ai_moderation/">Reddit</a>). Still, the immediacy of COD’s voice comms, whether for “smack talk” or tactical updates, remains a hallmark of its multiplayer atmosphere.<h2 id="dota-2">3. Dota 2</h2>Valve’s Dota 2 features team voice chat, party chat, and the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flLahwS4kS4">famous “chat wheel,”</a> which is a radial menu of quick, often sarcastic, preset lines. This design lets players communicate instantly without typing, which is critical during fast matches. The community is divided: some adore the humour, others bemoan the saltiness. Still, the chat wheel has become a cultural touchstone in e-sports broadcasts.<h2 id="league-of-legends">4. League of Legends</h2>Like Dota, League of Legends offers team text chat and pings. Voice chat is limited to premade parties, which reduces random toxicity but also <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWojvzeXyM&amp;t=5s">frustrates</a> players who want whole team comms. The typed chat system, meanwhile, is infamous: memes about “mid or feed” trace back to LoL lobbies. Riot has invested heavily in moderation tools, but the chat remains both loved and loathed.<h2 id="apex-legends">5. Apex Legends</h2>Apex stands out for its ping system, a smart contextual tool allowing players to “chat” non-verbally with markers. Players can press a button on PlayStation, RB on Xbox, or PC to place a contextual ping or send an "enemy here" ping. The game also includes squad voice chat, which fans say enhances immersion during firefights. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/02/12/apex-legends-review">Reviewers</a> and players note the community is more cooperative than in other shooters, largely thanks to Respawn’s clever blend of silent and spoken communication.<h2 id="minecraft">6. Minecraft&nbsp;</h2>The world of little Minecrafters offers a text-based in-game chat system that serves both communication and commands. Players can use the chat box to type messages and run commands. In Bedrock Edition, users enjoy more customisation within the chat screen itself, such as changing font, text colour, and size, as well as options for opacity and delay settings. Of course, Minecraft supports quite<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/360058605852-Understanding-Minecraft-Social-Features-for-Child-Safety-Online"> strict moderation</a>. Still, because of the extremely young audience, the constant <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cybersafetyguy.com/p/minecraft-a-parents-guide-7189228ba96c">argument</a> about the safety of the Minecraft community tools continues.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1920/1080;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/8b6d9018-023c-4fe2-9d15-71f318d59886.png" width="1920" height="1080"></figure><h2 id="sea-of-thieves">7. Sea of Thieves</h2>In Rare’s pirate sandbox, proximity voice chat is as important as the sword or cannon. Crew members coordinate their sailing, but nearby strangers can also be heard, leading to hilarious, tense, or chaotic encounters on the high seas. Many players say these unpredictable voice interactions are the game’s “secret sauce,” creating emergent stories that no script could match. Sea of Thieves &lt;a target=" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gamesradar.com/sea-of-thieves-is-pulling-voice-and-text-chat-between-crews-from-arena-due-to-toxicity/"&gt;faced problems with toxicity, and instead of shutting the chat, aimed to make the “criticism of other ships” constructive and polite. Now chat, voice-to-text, and Pirate Chat wheel are available in the game.<h2 id="rust">8. Rust</h2>Another survival title, Rust, relies heavily <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pcgamer.com/rust-review/">on proximity and party chat</a>. Players can shout warnings, negotiate trades or roleplay, though betrayal is always a risk. Reviews often <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/blog/rust-early-access-review-a-game-i-love-to-hate/#:~:text=But%20at%20its%20best%2C%20Rust,is%20an%20exercise%20in%20masochism.">highlight</a> how a simple “hello” over the voice can spark alliances… or ambushes. Rust’s chat is unfiltered and raw, which many see as part of its charm, but many players’ reviews highlight its connection with high-level toxicity and a potentially frustrating experience.“Everyone’s already playing with their friends, communicating with each other exclusively on party chat. I’ve only ONCE met a couple of friendly people via proximity/game chat. 99.99% of the time, this game just feels like Call of Duty with the addition of base-building elements. I like talking to randoms.” — <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.thexboxhub.com/rust-console-edition-review/#:~:text=The%20animation%20on%20the%20characters,department%20can%20take%20a%20bow">TheBoxHub.</a><h2 id="fortnite">9. Fortnite</h2>Fortnite recently <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://gamerant.com/fortnite-text-chat/">introduced</a> a redesigned chat feature, which now includes three channels: game (all players), party (chatting with squad members), and direct messaging. Also, they improved the filtering system to provide stronger protection of personal data. Fortnite <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350314539_Fortnite_and_New_Kids'_Sociabilities">boasts</a> the largest community, and its internal social features are poised to take it to the next level.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1920/1080;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/bbda4eb7-9480-4b10-bf1c-4eadb0b2c9e7.jpg" alt="The best games with in-game chat feature - Fortnite" width="1920" height="1080"></figure><h2 id="warframe">10. Warframe</h2>Digital Extremes’ Warframe has a reputation for being one of the friendliest online communities. Its chat channels (region, clan, squad, trade, and private whispers) are well-moderated, with staff and players alike encouraging a welcoming tone. For newcomers, chatting in-game often leads to veterans gifting resources or tips. The chat feels less like a battleground, more like a lounge.“[The in-game chat] is a place you can go and say ‘I really have no idea what I’m doing’ or ‘does anyone have advice for this build?’ Warframe is a complex cooperative hard sci-fi world. For us that channel has been a necessity.” — <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/feb/28/in-a-toxic-online-world-warframe-is-a-refuge-for-my-son-and-millions-of-others#:~:text=But%20with%20Warframe%2C%20the%20experience,who%20regularly%20play%20with%20him">Guardian</a>.***From Roblox’s creative chaos to strictly moderated Warframe, in-game chat defines how we experience multiplayer worlds. While moderation, toxicity, and design all affect the mood, the chat window or mic button remains the digital campfire around which communities gather. Whether you’re shouting across the seas in Sea of Thieves or dropping a cheeky “Well Played!” in Dota 2, these interactions are what transform games into living worlds.<p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Inter;font-size:0.9375vw;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.38;margin:0pt 0px;orphans:2;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" dir="ltr"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">***<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Inter;font-size:0.9375vw;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.35417vw;margin:0px 0px 1.30208vw;orphans:2;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border:1pt none windowtext;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:16.1px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0cm;vertical-align:baseline;" lang="EN-GB" dir="ltr">Please <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://calendly.com/watchers-platform/social-tools-for-your?month=2025-08"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border:1pt none windowtext;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:16.1px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0cm;vertical-align:baseline;" lang="EN-GB" dir="ltr">get in touch with us</a><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border:1pt none windowtext;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:16.1px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0cm;vertical-align:baseline;" lang="EN-GB" dir="ltr"> if you'd like to integrate in-app community chats with the high-level moderation system into your website, app, or game. We'll be happy to help you find the best solution.***<h2>Sources</h2><ul><li>In a toxic online world, Warframe is a refuge for my son – and millions of others | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/feb/28/in-a-toxic-online-world-warframe-is-a-refuge-for-my-son-and-millions-of-others#:~:text=But%20with%20Warframe%2C%20the%20experience,who%20regularly%20play%20with%20him">Guardian</a></li><li>Rust Console Edition Review | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.thexboxhub.com/rust-console-edition-review/#:~:text=The%20animation%20on%20the%20characters,department%20can%20take%20a%20bow">TheBoxHub</a></li><li>Rust Reviews | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pcgamer.com/rust-review/">PC Gamer</a></li><li>Early Access Review - A game I love to hate | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/blog/rust-early-access-review-a-game-i-love-to-hate/#:~:text=But%20at%20its%20best%2C%20Rust,is%20an%20exercise%20in%20masochism.">CyberPower PC</a></li><li>Sea of Thieves is pulling voice and text chat between crews from Arena | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gamesradar.com/sea-of-thieves-is-pulling-voice-and-text-chat-between-crews-from-arena-due-to-toxicity/">GamesRadar+</a></li><li>Apex Legend Reviews |<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/02/12/apex-legends-review"> IGN</a></li><li>You Never Game Alone: Live Chats and In-app Live-Streaming to Make Gaming Brighter | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/post/You-Never-Game-Alone-Chats-and-Live-Streaming-to-Make-Gaming-Brighter">Watchers Blog</a></li><li>Fortnite and New Kids Sociabilities | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350314539_Fortnite_and_New_Kids'_Sociabilities">European Journal of Social Sciences</a></li><li>Fortnite is finally adding the chat feature &nbsp;| <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://gamerant.com/fortnite-text-chat/">GameRant</a></li></ul>&nbsp;

Why is moderation so crucial for platforms? How does it influence customer behaviour and loyalty? What do recent studies claim on the connection between safety in digital space and business growth? And how do we handle this?

Keep community chats safe without censorship. See how Watchers uses layered AI and human moderation to reduce toxicity, block spam and protect your brand.

Safety vs Censorship: Watchers’ Community Moderation

AI moderation for images, changelog, and marvellous iGaming stickers: what we added to the product last month.

Watchers' integrated chats now include AI moderation capabilities for checking images sent by users. Users can communicate in a habitual and convenient way without unpleasant content. That increases engagement and revenue on all type of platforms

AI moderation for images, changelog, and marvellous iGaming stickers: what we added to the product last month

<h2>Features</h2><h3>Live streaming recording</h3>If you provide audio streams on your platform and your users share their screens with some visual materials, voice can be recorded and re-used to attract more users and even for your promotion on social media or other platforms to attract more people to use your service.<h3>AI moderation of images</h3>We provide users with the opportunity to send pictures and allow them to communicate in a completely trusted and healthy space with AI moderation tools. You can activate the AI moderation tool, which will block all inappropriate messages with images automatically. Alternatively, you can activate manual pre-moderation and check all messages before they get into the chat.However, manual moderation is available for both options: if you find the image AI allowed for sending inappropriate, you can hide it afterwards.<h3>Changelog</h3>We introduce changelog on our admin panel! Partners can subscribe to all updates through the admin panel and track platform updates and modifications via emails.<h2>Improvements</h2><h3>Text Input for Bet/Win Sharing&nbsp;</h3>Users can add some additional text while sharing their bets or winnings.<h3>Chat Disable Management&nbsp;</h3>Any partner can pause or turn off a chat on their side directly on the admin panel and add an announcement for users as to why the chat is unavailable and when it will be open again.<h3>Toggle for threads and automatic banning&nbsp;</h3>You can turn threads functionality on and off anytime, as well as the opportunity to ban users automatically based on other users’ claims. You can activate and deactivate these features at any moment.<h3>Several new languages</h3>We’ve added Korean and Japanese pre-moderation tools and localised the chat interface.<h3>Custom settings for stickers and a new exciting sticker set</h3>Partners can add as many sticker packs as they wish, activate several at a time, and assign an emoji to each sticker. When users type this emoji into a chat, the assigned sticker will be proposed for sending despite an emoji.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/af2dd38c-5ca4-4ec8-8736-4465e5846733.png">We’ve also added a default sticker pack for iGaming, which a marvellous Brazilian illustrator created especially for us.

Ensuring trust and safety in online environments is paramount in today’s digital age. We constantly develop moderation systems to guarantee a pleasant user experience without any issues. Our moderation system contains four layers and is suitable for 

AI tools for moderation to protect your users and make integrated community chats safe are great, but when they work together with users' moderation tools and convenient back office for in-flight human moderation, it becomes just the best solution

Four-layer moderation system for the most trusted space

We consider the differences between various industries and establish a moderation system that is suitable for all our partners, allowing end-users to feel safe and free.<h3>Four levels of moderation</h3><h2>Blocking lists, masking of sensitive data, and some extra tools for the spam-free area</h2>The first moderation layer is based on lists of words, phrases, and links. It is the simplest yet effective way to prevent users from sending generally violent lexicon or competitors' names. To prevent spam, you can restrict sending links to a chat. To avoid sharing private data—any phone numbers—we also mask phone numbers, bank accounts, cars, and crypto wallet numbers to protect users from fraud.The benefit of blocking lists is that they can be updated at any time, and adding new items after the launch is possible. The default stop lists are prepared for different languages and activated when we receive the GET parameter with the user interface language.<h2>AI-powered tools for text and pictures</h2>The AI moderation system checks all messages sent to a chat in 10 ms. It automatically takes predetermined moderation actions when it detects content that matches criteria set in rules, such as profanity, hate speech, sexual content, self-harm, politics, fraud, etc. The tool automatically hides all messages that match the criteria, with a mark indicating the reason for hiding. Additionally, the AI tool flags such messages on the admin panel, allowing in-flight moderators, if necessary, to focus on rule breakers who posted these messages or send such issues to the CRM system.This tool can be used for preventing self-harm, for example, in the context of responsible betting. If the system identifies messages that could be interpreted as potential self-harm content, these messages can be forwarded to the CRM system for a ticket to resolve the issue, potentially blocking access to betting. Chats can be crucial for responsible betting because the main platform sees what is really happening with users and what they have on their minds. Moderation helps you keep chats clean while staying in touch with users and always knowing what they want, doubt, plan, and think about your platform.<h2>Users’ moderation</h2>People have become accustomed to using social media to make their personal space comfortable and friendly. Users who see offensive messages tend to report such content, delete inappropriate posts and comments, and block their authors from their feeds and private space. So, we allow users to report messages and rule breakers and hide and block them. Users can block other users if they don’t like each other. Both can continue to communicate in a chat but won’t see each other's messages.Tools for human in-flight moderationThe first three layers cover 97% of violations in a chat, but if you need a chat which is 100% clean, we provide convenient tools for in-flight moderation. Moderators can hide messages, flagged by AI, ban users, and check how often particular users break the rules. Moderators also review user reports and transmit technical issues to the CRM system, which helps users feel safe on different levels.<h3>All levels are responsible for different benefits and advantages</h3>Pre-moderation is easily customised. Platforms can tailor their own rules to fit community standards and cultural sensitivities, considering habits and possible violations on the platform. AI tools support scalability: regardless of the number of users and messages gathered on the platform, AI processes all content at the same speed and with the same high quality. AI helps to reduce routine tasks for human moderators by handling violations of the same type, allowing human moderators to focus on more challenging tasks or nuances. AI, combined with in-flight moderation, enables real-time moderation, ensuring users do not encounter any violations in the chat, as all examples of profanity are caught by AI or human intervention.Coverage for all nuances: users’ moderation tools protect individual preferences and help them maintain a good mood. If someone cheers for a different football team, users can simply hide such fans for themselves, and everyone is content.<h3>What about chat rules?</h3>We have a default scope of universal chat rules for all domains and platforms; however, they can be customised for each platform along with the settings of AI tools. Regular chat rules include the following restrictions:What is prohibited?- Obscene and inappropriate language, socially inappropriate/unacceptable words or phrases, as well as abuse, swearing, and hostile remarksCursing, vulgar and offensive language aimed at denigrating the honour and dignity of other users are all prohibited. By hostile remarks, we mean messages aimed at offending people because of their race or ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability or illness, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.Aggressive or degrading statements, harmful stereotypes, and statements referring to the inferiority of others are prohibited. Harmful stereotypes, which mean degrading comparisons, are also forbidden. Speech that degrades human dignity through comparison, generalization, or behaviour description is also forbidden.- Flooding and advertisements- Threats- Private dataIt is forbidden to send phone numbers, addresses, IDs, any other document data, bank card details, etc.—whether users' own data or that of others.- Fraud and begging- Cybersecurity breachesAny attempts to gather users’ confidential information or data or to gain unauthorized access to a service, product, or platform are forbidden.- Nicknames/usernames containing anything restricted by any of these rules are forbidden. Also, you can activate a tool that will check users' nicknames from the main platform’s profiles.- Political and sexualized provocationsPropaganda and any provocative content are forbidden.<h3>Threshold for violations</h3>All of these topics and threads can be settings specifically for AI tools. The default threshold for marking such a message is 75%. This means that if AI tools are 75% certain about the existence of one of the threats in a message, it will be flagged and, if suitable, hidden automatically. However, if you have a more sensitive thread for your platform, you can decrease the entry threshold for such a violation and flag it even with 30 or 40% certainty. So, if even a hint of sexual issues or self-harm is inappropriate, add the low threshold for these topics, and AI will catch all possible variations and even veiled messages in this area.

FIFA Pro and Matrix Threat provided the last report on how they protected female athletes from online abuse during the Women’s World Cup. This report showed many significant conclusions and one big gap.

AI moderation tools work differently for integrated chat solutions and traditional social media. Which experience is more successful? 

The ways AI tools protect social media users and sports fans… If they really do that

Sports organisations' approaches to protecting athletes with or without participation of social media platformsTwo years ago, FIFA and FIFA Pro presented the AI tool to protect players on social media after the European final between the UK and Italian national teams, which was full of&nbsp;abuse issues. This&nbsp;tool works as an integrated solution that athletes or clubs can turn on and link to&nbsp;their accounts on the leading social media platforms. All comments and posts with tags to this account that can be perceived as abusive or hateful will be hidden and reported, and the information on&nbsp;the author’s account will be gathered to de-anonymise them.FIFA uses this tool during significant international events. After two years, it’s possible to compare results and the level of&nbsp;discrimination during male and female football tournaments and make common conclusions on what is happening in sports communities on social media and how the social media platforms react to the reported issues.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:2416/1606;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/cfeef98d-a832-44af-917e-4fac77aa665a.png" width="2416" height="1606"></figure>©FIFAAccording to the last reports after the Women’s World Cup 2023 and its compartments with&nbsp;World Cup 2022, the level of&nbsp;discrimination, abuse and hate speech is higher for female tournaments than male ones.<blockquote>“0.14% of posts and comments captured for analysis during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 by the monitoring system were confirmed to be abusive (7k out of&nbsp;5.1m). 0.10% of&nbsp;captured posts and comments during FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 were confirmed to&nbsp;be abusive (19k out of&nbsp;20m).“</blockquote>Also, the types of hate speech have changed. If during the World Cup Qatar, the most popular hateful comments were linked to racism, the most popular types of abusive comments during the Women's tournament are sexism and homophobia. The report even shows separate graphs for different countries, so we can see that haters worldwide find their own reasons to hate. All of&nbsp;this information is useful and significant, and this system can help athletes and other sports representatives avoid direct hate speech. However, we should remember that there is much more hate on social media outside&nbsp;official accounts, and authors of such comments do not so often tag the persons they address. So, while protecting just athletes’ and teams’ accounts, we don’t protect users, fans, families and friends of these athletes, as well as the unofficial accounts of these people.This latest report highlights a crucial point: X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram could ignore half of the reports until moderators intervened directly.&nbsp;<blockquote>“X has by far the highest volume of dentified, targeted discriminatory, abusive or threatening content, with initial takedown rates of&nbsp;39%. Where there was additional escalation to X after failure to act on immediate automated reporting, a takedown rate of over 95% was recorded—highlighting the value of&nbsp;direct platform engagement. The ability to escalate was not made available by all platforms.”</blockquote>Abusive comments on social media are a pervasive issue for various sports organisations. To tackle this problem, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) offered free access to the Bodyguard AI social media monitoring software during the Roland Garros tennis Grand Slam tournament. Similar to the FIFA tool, participants in the tournament could use this tool to moderate comments in real time. It also analysed responses in less than 200 milliseconds.<h2>What can you do to protect your audience?</h2>While AI-powered moderation tools are impressive, we must acknowledge that they only treat the symptoms of online harassment, not the underlying problem. Organisations have taken steps towards a solution by launching investigations and penalising those responsible for cyberbullying. Still, this approach is impractical for regular users who simply want to follow sports media accounts or engage with other fans.So, problems that are not solved:<ol><li data-list="bullet">If it is not a team's or player's official account, protection doesn’t work.</li><li data-list="bullet">Regular users are not protected.</li><li data-list="bullet">Social media platforms themselves do not participate in the process of protection.</li></ol>Because we provide public community chats, we see the importance of fast and furious moderation tools for all participants. We are developing tools that can detect all abusive and hateful comments and messages, regardless of who or for whom they were intended. We have three ML models, each more suitable for different cases. These tools can recognise various languages and check every message based on the particular language dictionary.Also, Watchers AI tools can be set to a specific topic of messages, because chats about horror movies and sports betting should be moderated differently. Our models aim to determine the optimal approach for each type of chat. Partners can also set the model's strictness level, depending on the particular platform’s policy or the average age of the users.So, abuse issues can be addressed in separate social media spaces, but what about the gigantic social media platforms? Will the number of such cases be increasing from tournament to tournament, from day to day? Will see.***<a style="background-color:transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/form">Connect with</a> us to discuss real-time AI-powered moderation that protects your users and viewers, and builds a trusted and healthy space for them in live public and private chats.

What are the advantages of integrated community chat, and how can extra tools, such as engagement widgets, achievements, audio and video streaming, help your content platform keep users and boost transactions? Let's discover.

Boost Engagement with Integrated Live and Community Chats

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc">On this page&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#seamless-chat">Convenient, Seamless Chats</a>&nbsp;<a href="#clear-features">Clear and Intuitive Features</a>&nbsp;<a href="#safe-and-trusted-space">Safe and Trusted Spaces</a>&nbsp;<a href="#real-time-messaging">Real-Time Messaging</a>&nbsp;<a href="#rich-tools">Rich Conversation Tools</a>&nbsp;<a href="#integration">Personalised Integration</a>&nbsp;<a href="#extra-engagement">Extra Engagement Tools</a>&nbsp;<a href="#next-steps">Next Steps: Make Your Platform a Community Hub</a>&nbsp;<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;" data-end="450">Great content alone doesn’t guarantee user engagement. Today, people consume content while chatting, sharing, and interacting—whether on social media, YouTube, or Twitch. The secret to their success? They don’t just deliver content—they create connection.When your platform enables users to chat, share emotions, and discuss what they love, it transforms from just another app into a sticky, loved brand.<h2 id="seamless-chat">1. Convenient, Seamless Chats</h2>A chat feature should feel as natural as breathing. If users need to struggle with menus, search for settings, or wait for messages to load, they will quickly disengage. Convenience means:<ul data-start="1215" data-end="1517"><li data-start="1215" data-end="1307">Replies work smoothly, so users can easily involve others in conversations.</li><li data-start="1308" data-end="1400">Settings like muting are accessible with just a few taps.</li><li data-start="1401" data-end="1517">The entire experience runs without noticeable delays or glitches, making real-time conversation truly real-time.</li></ul>When chats are seamless, users stay longer, interact more, and naturally build habits around your platform.<h2 id="clear-features">2. Clear and Intuitive Features</h2>Nobody wants to stop mid-conversation to figure out how to reply, react, or share content. A chat system should be simple enough to understand instantly, yet powerful enough to support dynamic interaction.<ul data-start="1878" data-end="2137"><li data-start="1878" data-end="1954">Core actions (reply, react, etc.) must be visible and self-explanatory.</li><li data-start="1955" data-end="2046">The interface should reduce cognitive load—users shouldn’t have to learn how to chat.</li><li data-start="2047" data-end="2137">Onboarding should feel invisible; the product teaches itself through intuitive design.</li></ul>The easier it is to use, the more likely users are to explore and engage actively.<h2 id="safe-and-trusted-space">3. Safe and Trusted Spaces</h2>Engagement thrives only in environments where users feel respected and safe. Without trust, people hold back. A healthy chat space requires:<ul data-start="2403" data-end="2629"><li data-start="2403" data-end="2488">Strong moderation tools that act instantly against harmful or offensive messages.</li><li data-start="2489" data-end="2558">Clear reporting systems so users can flag issues with confidence.</li><li data-start="2559" data-end="2629">Transparent rules and consistent enforcement to maintain fairness.</li></ul>Creating a secure environment isn’t just a technical task—it’s a promise that your platform values community well-being.<h2 id="real-time-messaging">4. Real-Time Messaging</h2>Nothing kills excitement like delay. Real-time messaging ensures conversations flow naturally, especially when paired with:<ul data-start="2914" data-end="3165"><li data-start="2914" data-end="2995">Read receipts and presence indicators, so users know when others are engaged.</li><li data-start="2996" data-end="3059">Synchronisation across devices for a consistent experience.</li><li data-start="3060" data-end="3165">Stability during high-traffic moments, like live sports, trending shows, or real-time market updates.</li></ul>This instant interaction is what keeps users glued to the platform, making every moment feel alive.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:1000/1000;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/34f1966e-14d4-425b-9d5c-5e4d44260730.png" width="1000" height="1000"><figcaption>Compare chats without rich tools and with them</figcaption></figure><h2 id="rich-tools">5. Rich Conversation Tools</h2>Words aren’t always enough. Users want to express themselves quickly and visually. That’s where rich tools come in:<ul data-start="3425" data-end="3649"><li data-start="3425" data-end="3480">Stickers, emojis, and pictures add personality and fun.</li><li data-start="3481" data-end="3569">Reactions allow users to show support, agreement, or disagreement with a single tap.</li></ul>These small touches turn ordinary chat into something vibrant, emotional, and addictive.<h2 id="integration">6. Personalised Integration</h2>Chat should never feel bolted on—it should feel like a native part of the platform. This creates continuity and strengthens brand identity.<ul data-start="3923" data-end="4200"><li data-start="3923" data-end="4004">Customisation and adaptable layouts that match your product’s design.</li><li data-start="4005" data-end="4089">Smart integration so users can switch between content and chat without friction.</li><li data-start="4090" data-end="4200">Personalisation options (like nicknames, avatars, or profile badges) that make each community feel unique.</li></ul>When chat feels like your chat, users associate the positive experience directly with your platform.<h2 id="extra-engagement">7. Extra Engagement Tools</h2>Not every user wants to type messages—but they still want to be part of the conversation. Engagement tools give everyone a voice:<ul data-start="4476" data-end="4682"><li data-start="4476" data-end="4543">Polls that capture instant opinions, even from passive readers.</li><li data-start="4544" data-end="4610">Interactive buttons that let users participate with one click.</li><li data-start="4611" data-end="4682">Quizzes, challenges, badges, drops, and gamified elements that reward interaction.</li></ul>These features activate silent users, increasing participation and community vibrancy.<h2 id="next-steps">8. Next Steps: Make Your Platform a Community Hub</h2>By combining these elements, your platform won’t just compete with familiar social media—it will replace the need for it.<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;" data-end="450"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://calendly.com/watchers-platform/social-tools-for-your">Book a call </a>with our team to discover how easily you can integrate community chats and transform your platform into a thriving, connected space.</div>

Let's take a deep look at the latest studies about sports fans’ toxic behaviour online.

We take a deep look at how moderation works in online sports rooms and at the latest studies about sports fans’ toxic behavior online.

Abuse in sports online communities. How do we fight it?

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc">On this page&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#according-to-the-reports">According to the reports</a>&nbsp;<a href="#is-it-because-of-social-media">Is it because of social media?</a>&nbsp;<a href="#Real-steps">Real steps</a>&nbsp;<a href="#pitfalls-to-avoid">Pitfalls to avoid</a>&nbsp;<a href="#get-in-touch">Get in touch</a>&nbsp;<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><h2>According to the reports</h2>Since 2020, international sports associations, trade unions, and independent analysts have paid attention to the number of hate attacks on athletes that happen during competitions. This awareness has led to extensive research about abusive behaviour in online sports communities. FIFA, FIFPRO, the Conversation, World Athletics, Australian sporting organisations, eSafety, NBPA, and others presented proprietary studies.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*6qiCkhXHTxe3Bjmzt_mSRA.png" width="700" height="399">Studies have been conducted about different sports in different countries. The nuances of them are different, but the essence is the same: the core of online abuse is homophobia, racism, sexism, ableism, islamophobia, transphobia, and threats. These are listed in order of frequency of occurrence from the most to the least if you look at the situation as a whole. But in various leagues, different phobias and forms of discrimination come to the fore.<blockquote>“In recent times we have seen female athletes, those from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and diverse cultural and multilingual backgrounds increasingly becoming the targets of unimaginable online abuse, hatred, misogyny and racism.” — eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, Australia</blockquote>So, the EURO 2020 Final, ending with the English team losing and the Italian team winning,&nbsp;<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/58e4c303ca2197f5/original/FIFA-Threat-Matrix-Report.pdf">showed</a>&nbsp;an unacceptable level of racism among European and English fans. The African Cup of Nations 2021 Final highlighted fans’ homophobia. Misogyny and sexism traditionally accompany women’s competitions. The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were the first gender-balanced (women’s participation was 49%), showed the highest level of sexism.&nbsp;<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/online-abuse-study-athletes-tokyo-olympic-games">According to studies</a>, 87% of all abusive online messages were addressed to women.<h2 id="is-it-because-of-social-media">Is it because of social media?</h2>Toxicity breeds toxicity. In the beginning, bullying is directed against athletes, then spreads to other fans, training staff, and athletes’ relatives and friends. Toxic comments and messages have no limitation period because they are posted in public accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media; therefore, they continue to get impressions and be shared.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*jCKtoMqioaPGVqH3Uz8GdA.png" width="700" height="828">You might notice abusive comments if you've seen sports clubs' and certain athletes' pages and accounts even once, especially during a match or after a loss. Also, you might want to pay attention to Twitter threads, which have become popular and reached the top.If you are not a social media user, you may know from traditional media that athletes and sports organisations have joined boycotts of social media more than once. In April 2021, the Premier League, the English Football League and the Women’s Super League&nbsp;<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56872469">boycotted</a>&nbsp;social media for four days because of persistent disregard for abuse problems. However, two months after the EURO 2020 Final, the English team faced a wave of abuse that prompted FIFA to take action.<h2 id="real=steps">Real steps</h2>Many people think that the reason for abusive behaviour on social media is anonymity, but it's not all that simple. Social media is not a space to be completely anonymous. After the bullying waves during the EURO 2020 Final, a lot of online abusers were called to the police.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*CZNd8OCS0KtSVI0RxQrV6w.jpeg" width="700" height="526">Gareth Southgate consoles Bukayo Saka, who missed England’s final penalty in the shootout ©AFPTwitter and Instagram remain the spaces where bullying breeds bullying, regardless of whether the identity of the authors of abusive threads is often fixed or easily revealed. Triggers for bullying can be a game score, a player’s mistake during the game, or even an athlete's photo on their personal account. When anything can be a reason, there are no reasons at all.Following research, FIFA plans to launch a moderation service to search for toxic posts across social media. According to the Threat Matrix company, the two-level check will allow them to solve complex cases (as with the Italian player whose nickname is Gorilla. In this case, the gorilla emoji is acceptable when it is a toxic marker in racism cases.<h2 id="pitfalls-to-avoid">Pitfalls to avoid</h2>Of course, this is not the first attempt to fight toxicity in online spaces. For example, in 2021, Xinning Gui, PhD at Pennsylvania State University, made a presentation at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. She shared the instruments used to struggle with abuse in the cybersport space and how players utilise them for personal value. For example, they flag game competitors, not abusers.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*Srxvvc0GGbQo3Kf_w9uHfg.jpeg" width="700" height="401">Sifan Hassan of Team Netherlands celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 10,000m Final on day fifteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Photo by Cameron Spencer / Getty Images via CFP)The dishonesty of some users is not the only pitfall in fighting online abuse. One tough case was the recent Beijing Olympics, where, along with the hate comments towards athletes, real censorship was applied to Internet users. So, many European athletes claimed they weren’t ready to publicly say anything about negative issues related to the Olympics until they left China. In general, the Chinese system for checking online messages is aimed at posts and comments expressing an anti-government point of view, not for checking abuse.How to find a balance? How do you create a trusted online space for comfortable communication, avoiding abuse, and still remembering freedom of speech?<h2 id="get-in-touch">Get in Touch</h2>If you are looking for a way to increase engagement and provide additional content on your website or app, remember the safety of your users. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://calendly.com/watchers-platform/social-tools-for-your">Book&nbsp;a&nbsp;call </a>with the Watchers team, and we will be happy to find the best solution for your platform.</div>

Blog with tag: moderation