In the age of multiplayer games, it's almost impossible to play a game online and not encounter another player who shouts or send obscene messages. To combat this, oftentimes ruinous experience for players, companies like Xbox have elected to add profanity/offensive message filters to its systems. Now according to a blog post, Steam looks to be the next game company to add a customizable version of this profanity filter.
These profanity filters aren't infallible, unfortunately. In 2019, Call of Duty Mobile introduced a profanity filter, however, players found that the game wouldn't let them use certain words that the majority of players wouldn't consider profane or offensive, including "sniper," "assault," or even "domination" which is the name of an actual mode in the game.
Earlier today, Steam made a post on its Steam Community Blog announcing that a new chat filter is available across its platform through its experimental Steam Labs program. This feature was originally created for games like Dota 2, Destiny 2, and CS:GO, and is now expanding it to the rest of the Steam client and for any game that wishes to support it.
The blog post explains that Steam believes the inclusion of this filter will allow players to have a much more enjoyable online gaming experience. Steam has added two lists of words that are either considered strong profanity or racial, ethnic, or religious slurs. Any other words that are not apart of these lists that players wish to not see can also easily be added to their personal filter in their Steam account preferences.
While it's too early to tell whether or not players will react well to this new feature, this seems like a great move on Steam's part considering how many PC players use the platform. While this won't outright ban offensive language from its platform, this will allow players to avoid it as much as possible. It seems like a great accessibility option for those who want to engage in their favorite online titles but avoid potentially toxic player bases.
With this filter being fully customizable, it seems that Steam may be able to avoid the issues that games like Call of Duty Mobile and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have faced with their profanity filters. Even though this feature is only in Steam Labs beta, it's great to see that Steam seems to genuinely care about those who play on its platform.
Source: Steam Blog