Healthy Communities via the ECE Framework

The ECE Framework lays out a balanced approach to environment, consequences, and encouragement in order to help developers think strategically about promoting healthy communities.

Reactive moderation is important in online games, but lasting change comes from a more holistic approach. By proactively shaping the environment and encouraging prosocial behaviors alongside moderation, you demonstrate a commitment to player experience while building a thriving community around your game.

This author-developed framework is an established tool for companies seeking to create thriving player communities and prioritize player and community wellness.

The pillars of ECE

Environment, Consequences, and Encouragement (ECE) form a strong framework for building healthy online communities:

Encouragement — Actively promote positive interactions. Make helping others feel rewarding, and build a culture where good behavior is the norm.
Consequences — Clear and fair consequences are essential, but they should be used strategically — not as the sole solution.
Environment — The game world itself shapes player behavior. Design choices can subtly encourage cooperation or inadvertently foster friction.

A balanced approach across all three pillars is crucial — overemphasizing one, like relying solely on punishments, will ultimately undermine your efforts.

Encouragement

While addressing negative behavior is important, simply limiting harmful actions isn’t enough to cultivate a thriving community and can overshadow positive contributions. Players may become less inclined to participate or take risks for fear of making mistakes, stifling creativity and engagement.

Guide players toward better choices. Design systems that naturally promote cooperation, good sportsmanship, and helpfulness. Subtly nudge players towards these behaviors through rewards, in-game feedback, and showcasing role models.

A generic and cheery platform-style game with an enticing treasure chest in the middle. — A rather enticing chest. Image courtesy of Heorhii Aryshtevych.

Design tips:

Shape behavior from day one — Establish positive social norms from the outset. Consider designing tutorials, early rewards, or systems that prioritize cooperation over immediate competition and addressing antagonistic behavior early.
Design for delight — Build systems that make prosociality inherently fun and satisfying. This can involve features that foster social connection, shared goals, and a sense of community (e.g., shared rewards for team-based quests in an MMO).
Respect builds investment — Avoid labeling your community as “toxic” and be sensitive to unintentional disruptions. Show players you value them, and they’ll be more likely to uphold those standards.
Social recognition — Highlight helpful players, celebrate collaborative achievements, and use leaderboards to showcase positive contributions (e.g., a “most supportive player” badge in a MOBA).
General reinforcement — Subtly nudge players towards prosocial behavior through design elements like positive in-game interactions with NPCs or encouraging character customization options.

Questions to ask:

How does our game encourage the kinds of interactions we want to see in the game? In what ways do they do the opposite?
What are we doing to actively create the kind of atmosphere that makes players feel welcome?
Are there ways the game might be telling players, particularly of marginalized backgrounds, this game isn’t for them?
Are we helping players build the right kinds of interactive habits? How are features being designed and evaluated with this in mind?
Are we exposing players to high-risk interactions before they’ve established the right level of trust?

Related design techniques:

Designing for Harmony with Reciprocal Features

The quality of the interaction between players is key to the experience we are trying to build.

Designing for Psychological Safety

When we can improve the conditions for psychological safety in our games, it leads to better experiences for players and communities.

Encouraging Trust by Design

Delve into design techniques that can help players overcome skepticism and build connections.

Prosocial Behaviors | Checklist

Quick and easy checks for prosocial behaviors you may want to support in your game.

Consequences

Clear and consistent consequences are an important part of a healthy online community. Witnessing disruptive conduct without repercussions undermines trust in your commitment to a safe and enjoyable environment. Consider consequences the cornerstone of a sturdy building, supporting the positive elements built upon a well-designed environment and ongoing encouragement.

Yellow and red cards on grass — Image courtesy of Mihail Dechev

Design tips:

Build trust with clear expectations — Addressing issues swiftly and providing support with transparent community guidelines and in-game tutorials set the tone from the start. Create clear internal guidelines, and design your game to support those goals.
Ensure fair and effective moderation — Gather robust evidence before imposing penalties. Understand regional laws, distinguish legitimate reports vs. harassment attempts, and establish a clear process for players to appeal decisions. This protects the community and individual players and demonstrates fairness.
Design appropriate consequences — For less serious infractions, provide opportunities for course-correction through warnings before escalating to harsher penalties. Players are more likely to learn from their mistakes and become positive contributors to the community.
Meaningful penalties — Consequences must directly counter the motivations behind undesirable behavior. Banning a free-to-play account might be pointless if they can easily create another (e.g., temporary restrictions on competitive modes).
User-friendly reporting — Offer clear reporting pathways and, when possible, let players know you’ve acted on reports without disclosing private details. This transparency speaks volumes about your commitment to a healthy gaming environment.

Questions to ask:

Are we providing clear and consistent consequences for infractions?
Do players understand what is expected of them?
Do we provide warnings to help players change their behavior?
Are our penalties overly harsh in some instances? This can lead to resentment and rebellion rather than genuine change.
Do other players trust that if they report a violation it will be dealt with? Or do they feel that their reports don’t matter or that the company doesn’t really want to address these problems?
Do we understand why these behaviors are happening?

Related design techniques:

Environment

Atmosphere, setting, character design, and even the situations you put players in subtly influence their choices. The environment pillar of the ECE Framework focuses on proactively shaping player behavior through thoughtful design choices. It goes beyond simply policing negativity; it aims to create a virtual world that inherently fosters prosocial interactions.

Characters sitting around the campfire in Chrono Trigger — Image courtesy of TIGG

Design tips:

Shape behavior through design — Consider how all game elements (quests, social spaces, world design, characters) can influence player interactions and encourage certain behavior patterns. For example, the diversity and availability of character options can send important messages about your preferred audience.
Friction vs. flow — Identify areas of friction, both intended and unintended, that may hinder interactions. Focus on designing for flow, so players can collaborate and enjoy the gameplay together (e.g., streamlining group-finding tools in a raid-based game).
Social spaces — Carefully consider the layout and functionality of social spaces within the game. Use design to encourage positive interactions and minimize “hotspots” for conflict (e.g., designate spaces for socializing, trading, etc. to cultivate a sense of community and reduce friction).
Marketing for inclusion — Use your marketing and messaging to attract a diverse player base with a shared interest in community values. Highlight features that promote cooperation, sportsmanship, and respectful interactions.
Adapt and iterate — Your game doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Acknowledge factors outside your direct control, like genre reputation or platform limitations, and work within these constraints to mitigate potential negative influences.

Questions to ask:

What are the areas of friction, intended or otherwise, that may be impacting players’ ability to have positive interactions with one another?
How can the game’s environment (atmosphere, setting, character design, player situation) be used to promote cooperation, trust, and positive social interactions?
Are there ways the game world or its mechanics might unintentionally encourage negative behavior?
How can we leverage the marketing and promotion of the game to set clear expectations about the kind of community environment we’re aiming to foster?

Related design techniques:

Designing a Culture of Teamwork

How to design environments where players support each other, celebrate diverse contributions, and ultimately build a thriving community.

Shaping Inclusive Spaces with Words

Whether your game focuses on narrative or not, word choice in game design has the power to shape player perceptions and communities.

Reducing Bias in Language

Inclusive language is key to dismantling biases and creating a more welcoming game experience.

Sources of Conflict | Checklist

Quick and easy checks to avoid common sources of conflict in multiplayer games.

Tools

ECE general tips

Iterate — Revisit your ECE strategies as your game and community evolve.
Targeted focus — If resources or buy-in are limited, prioritize one area at a time and build from successes.
Realistic goals — Community building is ongoing. Emphasize transparency and continuous improvement with players and stakeholders. Don’t make unrealistic promises to “end toxicity.”
Limit risk profile — Design to limit harassment possibilities by default (opt-in voice chat, pre-set text options). Early interventions can prevent snowballing into larger issues.
Apply ECE thoughtfully — Even within a genre, ideal ECE tactics shift based on your game’s pace, target audience, etc. The point is to think through these angles holistically.
Dig deeper into player motivations — For lasting change at scale, understand the root causes of player actions. Proactively address these through design changes, and implement consequences as a backstop for behaviors you can’t fully prevent.

Finally, keep in mind that the ECE Framework isn’t a magic bullet, but a mindset shift to long-term, thoughtful game design and community management. You can use it to craft a customized strategy that’s right for you, your game, your community, and your studio.