Blizzard is going to great lengths to ramp up the security measures in Overwatch 2. The introduction of SMS Protect — which prompts players to verify their phone number via their battle.net account to actually play the game — comes alongside a new automated Overwatch 2 voice recording system, which targets your voice chats.
Toxicity, in-game abuse and just all-round nasty players has been an unfortunate reality of the online gaming space for decades. Now, companies are ramping up their security measures to both protect players and hold them to account.
Blizzard has long been working on a system it says will be ready to go for Overwatch 2. Your voice chats will be recorded before being translated into text, analysed for misconduct, and used by Blizzard’s internal systems.
Blizzard claims this system’s introduction “will enable the team to act on abusive voice chat”.
The transcripts will only be collected temporarily as a voice recording of a reported player. Then, they’ll be transcribed through speed-to-text programs. From there, the text file will be analysed for disruptive behaviour. The audio file is deleted once it’s transcribed to text, but the text file will be help for a little while long, deleted no later than 30 days after the audio transcription.
The kicker with this system is that it actually relies on players reporting a player. Don’t expect the system to simply pick up naughty words and language, because that won’t happen. If you report a disruptive player, the system will kick into action and analyse the player’s actions and recordings.
The system, along with SMS Protect’s introduction, certainly demonstrates Overwatch 2‘s keenness to be an accepting and inclusive online experience for players.
Overwatch 2 launches October 4.
