Damien Glorieux a senior director of the Newcastle-based
Ubisoft Customer Relationship Centre said:
We want to be on the right side of history. It's here, and at four other locations around the world, that staff monitor how players of Ubisoft games are getting on -
responding to requests for help and actively getting involved with the communities that have evolved around their titles. They deal with everything from purchasing issues to online toxicity.
Other companies have similar set-ups,
but what's unique here is the involvement of local law enforcement.
The deal between the company and Northumbria Police works in two parts. Behind the scenes at Ubisoft Customer relations centre.
Firstly,
it sees specialist officers share their knowledge and expertise on harmful online interactions with the 200-strong team working at the centre in Newcastle, who then apply that training to their daily work.
Secondly, an agreement
is in place so that in extreme cases, where there is a threat to life or potential serious harm spotted, staff can fast track the information to police.
They will then decide whether or not to act.
It is
daunting, but at the same time it is very important, which is why we wanted to sign this deal and try to make things right .
We wanted to focus on the most extreme cases, make sure we do the right thing there because it gives us a
solid foundation to build the rest of our work around.
Less than 0.01% of cases that the centre deals with end up requiring police intervention.
That works out as roughly a handful of cases a month. Most of
the time, accounts will be temporarily banned or permanently closed if players have breached a code of conduct.
Staff in Newcastle can also recommend the company start legal proceedings in some instances.
Of
course all censorship schemes start with the promise of using the tools for extreme cases. But once in place, the mechanism will soon be used against even the most minor of sleights or insults, especially if they are targeted at 'protected' identity
groups.
Games developer Ubisoft is partnering with the police to try to sanitise the world of online gaming.
