Update: July 2nd, 11:30 BST
We have now added additional hard-filtering for a number of hateful words and phrases to our chat filter. When these words are used, they will be censored regardless of your profanity filter setting - they have no place in Gielinor under any circumstances.
Here at Jagex, we’re committed to making our games safe and welcoming spaces. Sometimes that means showing our support on social media and raising money, as we did on June 5th with our statement on the Black Lives Matter movement.
But committing to diversity and inclusion also means looking inwards at the systems that make it difficult for marginalised players to enjoy our games. While our statement and charitable donation were welcomed, many of you rightly held us accountable for not doing enough to tackle the racism and toxicity people still experience in-game.
As part of our commitment to ensuring Gielinor is an inclusive and representative place to be, we’re making some changes to the in-game profanity filter.
In February 2011 we introduced the option to turn off the chat filter that had been in place for around a decade. We did this because, as an automated filter, some players felt it got in the way of regular conversation. We had hoped this choice would give players the opportunity to more freely express themselves, but sadly inappropriate, offensive language and behaviour, despite being against the rules, has remained.
So to start with, we're going to be hard-filtering a number of hateful words and phrases. This means that some words will be censored regardless of whether the profanity filter is toggled off. The banned words and phrases have no place within Gielinor, and there is not a time or a place when they would need to be said.
We know the filter isn't perfect, and we know it won't solve toxicity within our community, but it's a good place to start. We will be monitoring your reports and feedback, and will share more about further action we plan to take in the future.
We look forward to implementing these changes in the near future. Keep an eye out for news on our website or social channels.
In addition, we’d like to encourage everyone to make use of the in-game moderation tools – the ‘Report Abuse’ feature and the ‘Ignore List’. For more information on both, you can check our Player Support guides.
Ultimately, all that we ask is that we all respect one another in-game. Gielinor is for all of us.
Take care!
- The RuneScape Team