Computer, mobile and console online games bring together dozens of millions of players around the world. The most popular titles surpass hundreds of millions of users. Multiplayer games gather and mix people of all ages (children, adolescents and adults), who are anonymous and can chat with each other using social features designed to promote interaction and socialization via text, audio and, in some cases, video in real-time.
Malicious individuals are taking advantage of these factors and using games for many sorts of practices and crimes. Harassment, racism, sexism, bullying, hate speech, grooming, identity theft, account hijacking, scams, bots are a few examples. These are challenges that affect users, communities, but also platforms in many ways. For instance, the Free to Play Report published last year showed that 65% of players experienced severe harassment in some of the most popular games; 19% of them informed playing less or leaving the game because of that experience. Another study has shown that 1 in 5 gamers has been a victim of payment fraud. These unfortunate incidents are obfuscating and undermining the value of games in providing amazing experiences where players can find entertainment, explore new things and build connections.
Multiplayer games invest in solutions to moderate their environment and community, whether with humans or artificial intelligence. However, tracking billions of conversations in real-time involves a monumental work that is not necessarily effective in preventing risks and problems. These interactions are written and spoken in multiple languages and, in many cases, requires an interpretation of what is socially acceptable by region, between friends, and other variables. Besides that, new memes, expressions, abbreviations and acronyms are being created every day. Scammers, toxic players and predators are creative and continuously finding ways to sneak into the game. In that sense, there was an urgent demand for a solution to help games to stop them before acting and significantly minimize the risks.
The founders of GamerSafer, two Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurs, saw an opportunity to make a difference. They founded the company to provide an all-in-one solution for online games to secure users’ accounts and experiences from frauds, crimes and toxic behaviors with an innovative approach. Their product, a Digital Gaming ID powered by computer vision and AI technologies, verify and authenticate players before they join the game.
The Digital Gaming ID works for games of all sizes, is embedded into the game login and acts as a smart gatekeeper for online games. It also allows players to inform their preferences and play-style to have these factors considered in the match they are about to join, to minimize triggers of toxic behavior. With that, GamerSafer is helping game publishers and developers to prevent malicious users from entering their platforms and enabling a more personalized experience for players. Esports organizations and leagues are also seeing the value of this innovation to promote a fair and healthy competitive landscape. Itβs a unique approach designed to support this industry to break this wicked cycle.
Top Competitive Advantages:
- Prevention focused.
- One solution that addresses different pain points (from frauds to toxic behaviors and child exploitation).
- Scalability across multiple platforms and use cases.
“As a former executive from the gaming industry and a gamer, I saw an opportunity to act on the root causes of problems that are disrupting players’ experiences and causing losses to the industry,” said the CEO of GamerSafer.
GamerSafer was incubated at the UC Berkeley Skydeck program, a worldwide recognized program with less than 2% of the acceptance rate and they are currently working with early adopters customers.
The co-founder and COO is a second-time entrepreneur and a child safety advocate. She was named one of the Headstream Innovator winners this year in the “Reshaping Digital Places and Experiences” category. Headstream Accelerator is a leading award to honor the best innovators designing safe and supportive digital places and experiences for current and future generations of young people. “GamerSafer combines human-centered design with the latest safety and privacy trends to support games in the mission of offering incredible experiences for players and communities. Success for us means to safeguard millions of players of all genders, geographies, ethnicities, ages and religions, especially those that are most vulnerable right now.” shares the COO.
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