As the gaming industry grows ever larger and players become increasingly connected, the issue of harmful behavior has moved from a background concern to a serious issue for developers, publishers, and, in extreme cases, authorities. Now, in a move that will be welcomed by many, publisher Ubisoft has announced (BBC (opens in new tab), thank you) that it has signed an agreement with the UK police to quickly deliver the worst cases of online harassment and intimidation to the police.

The agreement, the first of its kind, centers around Ubisoft's Newcastle-based Customer Relationship Center, one of the publisher's five centers worldwide. The center engages with the positive aspects of the gaming community and handles customer issues such as refunds, as well as dealing with adverse ones.

The agreement is with the Northumbria Police Department, where specialist officers will train Ubisoft staff on negative online behavior, and Ubisoft will respond quickly for extreme cases of serious harm and even potentially life-threatening options. The police will then receive the matter and decide what to do next. [We want to be on the right side of history," said Damien Grolleau, senior director of customer center at Ubisoft. We have millions of players and tens of millions of interactions."

Glorieux adds that this will focus only on the "most extreme cases," estimating that less than 0.01% of complaints handled by Ubisoft will be referred to the police. The majority of players who engage in harmful behavior will continue to face the tried and trusted sanction of account suspension or ban.

"This is not just a gaming problem, it's an Internet problem," said Andrew Holliday of Ubisoft, who is on the team that deals with such extreme behavior. Holliday cites a recent case in Norway where "there was language and behavior that reached the threshold of intervention. There were threats to life or serious harm. An agreement with the Northumbria police allowed the Norwegian authorities to intervene even though they were not British citizens. It was much faster, more efficient and safer than doing it privately."

"The police are constantly changing, demands are evolving, and we are constantly facing different challenges," says Detective Chief Inspector Deborah Alderson. 'Our job is to evolve with it.' Alderson says she hopes the agreement will be replicated by other publishers and police departments. The agreement has been in preparation for some time, but it is also being used to provide a blueprint for wider application.

In a better world, we would not need something like this, but alas, we live in one. While the UK does not have this particular problem, we cannot overlook the prevalence of despicable practices like swatting (both in gaming and in the wider online ecosystem). While many online misdeeds are minor and can and should be dealt with in-house, for extreme cases such cooperation seems prudent and essential. This transaction is the first of its kind.