EA Escalates Its War On Toxicity In Battlefield 2042

Today, in advance of the release of Battlefield 2042 this November, EA announced the Battlefield Community Charter, a set of guidelines developed with the stated aim of “ensuring Battlefield remains a welcoming experience that encourages Positive Play.” Positive Play is EA’s set of initiatives which aim to “help keep games fair and fun for everyone.” The Charter not only outlines a series of principles to which players are expected to adhere, but also consequences for those players who fail to adhere to those principles.

Adam Freeman, Lead Community Manager at EA, tweeted out an update for the Battlefield community in which he told players that “Toxicity, Harassment, Cheating and Exploiting can get in the Bin.” He also linked to an EA community blog post that provides further details on the company’s efforts to guarantee players a fun and fair gameplay experience.

EA’s community charter detailed four expectations the company has for players within the Battlefield community:

• Treat Others As They Would Like To Be Treated
• Keep Things Fair
• Share Appropriate Content
• Keep Things Honorable

EA’s efforts to uphold these precepts in Battlefield 2042 include not just standard tools like the option to mute specific individuals in-game, but also a profanity filter for in-game text chat which will be permanently active, seemingly without the option for players to turn it off if so desired. I can already imagine the lengths players will go to get a couple no-no words past the filter.

In his tweets, Freeman also stated that the tools for reporting players who break the rules has been improved for Battlefield 2042 to make them “easier to access, and clearer as to what you’re reporting.”

Of course, all of this emphasis on good behavior might not mean much if there weren’t stated consequences for flaunting the rules. The Battlefield Community Charter concludes by detailing what may happen to players who violate those rules, including potentially having their access revoked “to certain or all EA Services.” Repeat or severe offenses may result in permanent account deletion. Because Battlefield 2042 has cross-play functionality, if a cheater is sanctioned, EA said they will be permanently banned across all platforms.

Only time will tell whether players will uphold EA’s standards, but the company has made it exceedingly clear that players better not be dicks to one another while they play the objective, or else.