Ubisoft updates Rainbow Six Siege's ban system to better tackle "racial and homophobic slurs"

Ubisoft has announced improvements to Rainbow Six Siege's chat toxicity ban system, specifically intended to combat "racial and homophobic slurs, or hate speech".

According to a Reddit post by Siege community developer Craig "Its_Epi" Robinson, Ubisoft's new system - which appears to be automated, although designed to run in tandem with the game's more traditional player reporting methods - will launch this week.

Once the system is in place, Ubisoft says it "will be tracking the frequency at which language that violates the Code of Conduct is used by individual players". It will then apply an appropriate ban on a case-by-case basis."

Currently, Ubisoft's Code of Conduct forbids "any language or content deemed illegal, dangerous, threatening, abusive, obscene, vulgar, defamatory, hateful, racist, sexist, ethically offensive or constituting harassment."

Players that engage in toxic behaviour in-game could face either a two day, seven day, 15 day, or permanent ban, depending on the severity of their behaviour.

When a player is banned, they'll receive a pop-up telling them why they were banned. Additionally, a global message (similar to the current global broadcasts for cheating) will be displayed in-game, reading: "[Username] has been banned for toxicity."

Ubisoft says this is only the first step in its plans to tackle toxic behaviour in Rainbow Six Siege, and that it will announce further measures at a later date.

In the comments below the announcement, Ubisoft's community team offers a number of clarifications for those uncertain about the new rules.

For instance, it reassures players that "positive vulgar language" won't be subject to bans, as long as it doesn't include slurs and hate speech. "We understand that [Siege] is a competitive game and there will be some degree of trash talking/swear words used", it notes.

Ubisoft's also addresses concerns around malicious false reports, as well as false-positives that may occasionally occur when using words with double meanings: "Players who don't post the kinds of toxic language that will result in a penalty will not need to worry - even if they get reported, the chat logs can and will be reviewed for evidence of toxic behavior."

And for those positively seething over the new chat toxicity ban measures, such as the commenter that asks "Can we appeal this police-state, facist new rule?", Ubisoft notes, "Sure. You can play pretty much any other game."