Diving into our favourite games can more often than not be an exciting endeavour, but there does come a time when we’re ready to put our PS5 and Xbox controllers down for good. The usual culprits like Modern Warfare 2, Apex Legends, and Fortnite can get us frustrated and while most players will shake it off, it can sometimes, unfortunately, lead to some heated situations. In a bid to reduce those scenarios, Sony is working to improve the emotional environment that surrounds a typical PlayStation gaming experience.
According to a new patent for PlayStation owners, Sony is developing a new system that will seek to filter out any negative chatter through in-game communication like voice chat. The patent clarifies that “during a communication session, the system monitors for emotional states and triggers moderation rules based on the player’s emotional profile.”
The recently filed document that focuses on “systems and methods for emotional detection and emotional-based moderation on voice inputs”, also expresses that “a user emotional profile may be stored in memory for a user.” These profiles could be recorded in conjunction with other players that may be related to inciting specific emotional responses.
“A current communication session associated with the user and one or more other users may be monitored based on the user emotional profile,” the document explains. To get an idea of how to categorize the players that may be getting hotheaded or perhaps aggressive, the system will use “detectable indicators, including textual indicators” that include “diction or word choice, profanity […] changes in voice intonation, pitch or frequency, rate or tempo of speech.”
As the patent would potentially analyze audio data from in-game chat, this would more than likely apply to dedicated chat functionality found within games like Warzone 2, as opposed to private chats that operate outside of an actual game application. Additionally, the core goal of Sony is to refine a system that “monitors for emotional states and triggers moderation rules based on the player’s emotional profile. The system can modify the presentation of messages in accordance with the moderation action specified by the player’s emotional profile.”
Conversely, this system “can be used to prevent negative emotions, such as anger or bullying language, from affecting a player’s mental health or sensory processing conditions.” Though the document was originally filed in September 2021, it has only just emerged in the last few weeks. Whether it will be implemented soon remains to be seen.
If you are looking for a different change of pace with your gaming adventures, we recommend diving into in the latest PS Plus Extra and Premium April 2023 games lineup.