Warzone Update Removes 'Report Offensive Chat' Feature
There are more problems for Activision with Call of Duty. The latest Warzone update has done more than just add the objective-based Payload mode, fix recoil on the C58 Royal & Kross 4x Optic, and issues with Dead Silence. Raven Software has divisively pulled the Report Offensive Chat feature.
With complaints that the Call of Duty community can be a sometimes toxic place, we've witnessed it first-hand as Felix "xQc" Lengyel felt the full wrath of angry CoD players. Last month, Activision confirmed it had banned over 350,000 account for "toxic" behaviour - with a portion of them presumably coming from the Report Offensive Chat feature. Is the latest move one in the wrong direction?
Why has Warzone removed the Report Offensive Chat feature?
In the patch notes for the Season 4 Reloaded update, Activision wrote, "Removed the Report Offensive Chat button while we investigate a related crash". There's no information about what the potential crash is, how many people have been affected, or when the offensive chat feature will be back in action.
While it's great news the overpowered Dead Silence perk has been nerfed, so it's harder to conceal your footsteps, the fact the Report Offensive Chat feature has been removed alongside Reloaded hasn't gone down well with the Warzone community.
Discussing the state of the community right now, one player wrote, "Yeah they added the ability to report offensive text chat which is a W. But it is way overdue and I think we should all be asking the question. It's become a meme at this point "it's just cod" simply isn't acceptable".
When will the Report Offensive Chat feature be back?
Delving a little deeper into what's going on, claims that using the Report Offensive Chat feature caused Waronze to crash started doing the rounds on July 18.
It makes sense that Raven Software wants to fix a major problem like this, but it remains to be seen how long the feature will be out of action. In the meantime, Warzone players are open to a barrage of potentially offensive chat, that could range from threats to racism and homophobia.
Most of us can brush offensive chat off, however, having the ability to report someone was a failsafe if things got too much. Even though Activision has been called out for its lack of progression in tackling claims of a toxic Call of Duty community, the Report Offensive Chat feature was there to try and keep the trolls at bay.
For now, prepare to settle in for an uptick in harassment as the gates are unlocked and the trolls flow forth into Verdansk.
