''Moderator Mayhem'' is a

casual Casual or Casuals may refer to: * Casual wear, a loosely defined dress code **Business casual a loosely defined dress code **Smart casual a loosely defined dress code * Casual Company, term used by the United States military to describe a type of ...

web-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

video game designed by

Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, Randy Lubin, and Mike Masnick of

Techdirt Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and cop ...

targeted towards

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

makers. It was published in May 2023. The game is about the challenges of

content moderation On Internet websites that invite users to post comments, content moderation is the process of detecting contributions that are irrelevant, obscene, illegal, harmful, or insulting with regards to useful or informative contributions. The purpose of ...

user-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. According to Cory Doctorow, the video game is based on a card game Masnick used to teach people about the difficulties of content moderation. It is designed for

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

but can also be played on

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s. A followup entitled ''Trust & Safety Tycoon'' was published in October 2023.

Gameplay

The player acts as a content moderator for a fictional social media company and requires decision making under time pressure, getting feedback from a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

character along the way. In later rounds, the player is required to judge appeals, or rely on the advice of an AI-based content moderation system. The gameplay is primarily swipe-based. While the gameplay describes the topics content moderators encounter in real life, it does not display prohibited content.

Reception

''Moderator Mayhem'' was recognized as a way to better understand content moderation and the effect of policy thereon. The hosts of '' This Week in Google'' podcast said the game demonstrates how policies affect people, and that the game itself is an example of journalism. Doctorow suggests it as important to discussions of content moderation, because of the impact of technology regulation on people's lives. ''Business Punk'' magazine suggests it may help the player appreciate the difficulty of the task of content moderation, while Rob Pegoraro of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

'' said the game showed him he did not want a job as a content moderator. Columbia Global Freedom of Expression noted the game's relevance to discussions of legal compliance, media safety and free speech. '' Der Standard'' compared the game, as well as the followup ''Trust & Safety Tycoon'' to the border guard simulator ''

Papers, Please ''Papers, Please'' is a puzzle simulation video game created by indie game developer Lucas Pope, developed and published through his production company, 3909 LLC. The game was released on August 8, 2013 for Microsoft Windows and OS X, for Li ...

''. Brendan Sinclair of

GamesIndustry.biz Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...

appreciated both games' portrayals of the difficult choices moderators face but also wrote, "I'm a little concerned the takeaway people will have from it is that moderation is difficult so it's unreasonable to ask these companies to get it right."

''Trust & Safety Tycoon''

In October 2023, Masnick, Lubin, and Leigh Beadon published a followup game titled ''Trust & Safety Tycoon''. Players are tasked with hiring moderators and deciding what to automate, simulating real social media platforms. According to David Pierce of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'', it "is like a corporate training manual... but a good and useful one." The developers interviewed trust and safety workers as research for the game. Unlike ''Moderator Mayhem'', ''Trust & Safety Tycoon'' does not rely on time pressure. Instead, players have to "juggle ... user growth, ad revenue, moderator speed, and team morale."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , last = Pegoraro , first = Rob , date = May 15, 2023 , title = Think You Can Be a Content Moderator? Test Your Skills With This Game , url = https://www.pcmag.com/news/think-you-can-be-a-content-moderator-test-your-skills-with-this-game , work = PCMag , access-date = 2023-07-05 {{cite news , last = Robertson , first = Adi , date = May 11, 2023 , title = I am going to win content moderation, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve. , url = https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/11/23720012/i-am-going-to-win-content-moderation-something-that-is-both-normal-to-want-and-possible-to-achieve , work =

, access-date = {{cite podcast , url= https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google/episodes/716?autostart=false , title=This Week in Google 716: It's Pronounced Papyri , website= twit.tv , publisher= TWiT.tv , host1 = Leo Laporte , host2 = Jeff Jarvis , host3 = Stacey Higginbotham , host4 = Ant Pruitt , date= May 17, 2023 , time= 7:24-13:52 (11:44, 12:17, 12:38, 13:13) , access-date= 2023-07-05 {{cite web , url = https://www.business-punk.com/2023/05/bei-diesem-spiel-koennt-ihr-eure-faehigkeiten-als-content-moderatorin-testen/ , title = Bei diesem Spiel könnt ihr eure Fähigkeiten als Content-Moderator:in testen , author = ((Business Punk Redaktion)) , date = May 15, 2023 , website = {{ill, Business Punk, de , access-date = 2023-07-05 {{cite web , url = https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=5b024e7a0c16e2779164ac24d&id=ba310ff561 , title = South African Supreme Court of Appeal affirms gratuitous displays of the old national flag constitute hate speech , department = Newsletter Archive , date = June 2, 2023 , website = Columbia Global Freedom of Expression , via = campaign-archive.com , access-date = 2023-07-07 {{cite web , url = https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/13/four-bar-linkage/ , title = Revenge of the Linkdumps , last = Doctorow , first = Cory , date = May 13, 2023 , website = Pluralistic , access-date = 2023-07-09 {{cite news , last = Hill , first = Kashmir , date = July 29, 2023 , title = An Internet Veteran’s Guide to Not Being Scared of Technology , url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/technology/mike-masnick-techdirt-internet-future.html , work =

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, location =

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

, access-date = 2023-08-20 {{cite news , last = Pierce , first = David , date = Oct 22, 2023 , title = Mario and Spider-Man are both back in a big way , url = https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/22/23925495/super-mario-bros-wonder-oneplus-open-spiderman-2-installer-newsletter , work =

, access-date = 2023-10-25 {{cite news , last = Robertson , first = Adi , date = Oct 17, 2023 , title = Consider the bronies. , url = https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/17/23920771/consider-the-bronies , work =

, access-date = 2023-10-25 {{cite news , date = 20 October 2023 , title = Browserspiel simuliert den Wahnsinn von Social-Media-Plattformen , department = Game zum Nachdenken , url = https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000191845/browserspiel-simuliert-den-wahnsinn-von-social-media-plattformen , language = German , work = Der Standard , access-date = 2023-10-25 {{cite news , last = Sinclair , first = Brendan , date = Oct 27, 2023 , title = Why is Trust and Safety so hard? {{! This Week in Business , url = https://www.gamesindustry.biz/why-is-trust-and-safety-so-hard-this-week-in-business , work =

, access-date = 2023-11-02 {{cite news , last = Lima , first = Cristiano , last2 = DiMolfetta , first2 = David , date = October 17, 2023 , title = Think you could make a safer social media site? This game lets you try , url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/17/think-you-could-make-safer-social-media-site-this-game-lets-you-try/ , work =

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, department = The Technology 202 , access-date = 2023-12-06

External links

Announcement by Engine

''Moderator Mayhem''

''Trust & Safety Tycoon
2023 video games Browser games Browser-only games Casual games Simulation video games Content moderation Business simulation games