When it comes to friendly internet communities, video game fans sadly rank low on the list. Video game communities often have a reputation for sexism, racism and homophobia; because of this, video game developers have to work harder than most companies to protect themselves and their players from social media abuse.
This is further compounded by the fact that online games themselves are communities—so if you’re not keeping users safe in your social media profiles, players might be skeptical of your ability to manage a player base in-game. This makes social media comment moderation essential for video game companies.
For example, do your games target young children, or an older audience? If the former, you must ensure your social profiles are child-friendly and free from inappropriate language. Users can associate inappropriate content left on your pages with the brand itself; such content can also reflect poorly on your games’ fanbases in general, turning children and their parents away. You can learn more about cultivating a child-friendly social media community here in our blog.
Video Game Companies are Responsible for User Safety
Comment moderation for video game developers is essential to protect users from scams. For example, social profiles for video game companies are often targeted by scammers hoping to phish users. It goes like this: a user (sometimes masquerading as a representative of the company) will post a message offering a promotion or tech support to users, then ask for them to message their account information.
This allows them to steal an account from gullible users, which often can’t be recovered. With some games, user progress can actually be worth real money. In addition to protecting users from scams, you must ensure your brand’s integrity by stamping out scammers and spammers who pretend to be you. Failing to do so can lead to deep mistrust in your brand and angry customers.
Video Game Developers Must Protect Their Business
Another form of spam that video game companies must moderate for is the use of hacks or cheats. This takes the form of unauthorized third-party apps that give some players an unfair advantage over others—perhaps an offer of free in-app currency that’s illegitimately obtained. On one hand, these offers can be bogus and lock users out of their accounts or infect them with malware. On the other hand, they can hurt your finances by threatening your games’ monetization.
It’s also important to remember that because scammers can disguise themselves as company reps, some younger users might believe such scams are actual promotions authorized by your company. This might lead to unsuspecting users being banned for cheating—even though they thought to offer was legitimate. For these reasons, you must protect your company’s finances by moderating video game profiles for spam.
Keep Conversation Respectful with Comment Moderation
When it comes to online or mobile games, fans are likely to complain about monetization, updates or changes in policy. These debates sometimes lead to disrespectful arguing among fans. Social media moderation for video game developers is essential for brands whose fans often find themselves in such debates.
On a related note, when users turn to social media to complain about your games or updates to them, you must respond swiftly. This means actively managing discussion on your social profiles—we’ll discuss how you can do this more effectively below.
Comment Moderation Makes a Good Impression
On a final note, comment moderation for video game developers is important for the promotion of their games. A common strategy to promote a game is to encourage users to comment, react to or share a post. If users act inappropriately in the comments, it will make a bad first impression to users who are just learning about your brand. Moderating video game profiles and cultivating a friendly community ensures that you’re putting your best face forward when seeking new players.
How AI and Automated Comment Moderation Helps
It can be tough keeping up with so many social media comments. Thankfully, social media moderation for video game developers doesn’t need to be difficult. With automated comment moderation, you can immediately detect the types of spam discussed above, thereby protecting your users and your company’s finances. 24-hour comment moderation also makes it easy to keep your profiles child-friendly and safe all throughout the day.
Using AI-based comment moderation also makes it easy to moderate in multiple languages. Here’s why that matters: often, games roll out in a region-by-region bases—for example, a game might be released exclusively in one country weeks or months before any others. This often doesn’t stop players from installing out-of-region games, which means you may have foreign users discussing a product on your pages in a language you can’t understand. With a tool like Smart Moderation, you can employ automated, multilingual moderation to protect your pages.
Finally, indie developers with small teams can better engage with their users when they’re not drowning under the busywork of dealing with spam and inappropriate comments. In this case, comment moderation gives them time to identify brand advocates and forge relationships with their users.
Tags: Comment Moderation, Social Media