‘Sexual assault’ custom game mode reveals a glaring Overwatch moderation problem

Note: Content warning: This news story includes descriptions of sexual assault.

See the original story here. Since its free-to-play launch earlier this month, Overwatch 2 has seen an influx of user-created custom game modes. Like many FPS games with custom server browsers, Overwatch 2’s custom games can be named anything Blizzard’s word filter, and character limit are allowed. But even so, a mode called “Sexual Assault Simulator” was introduced, and Twitter user Lynn MBE posted a PSA for those who might encounter this mode.

“Don’t let your kids play Overwatch,” warns Lynn MBE, who says her 12-year-old son found the mode, “realized it was bad, closed the game and told me.” Comedian and Twitch streamer Brian “Limmy” Limond responded to Lynn MBE’s tweet by posting several screenshots of a list of the same mode he found on Twitter.

The description of this mode says:” This is version 1.2 of our new and unique sexual harassment simulator. Find new friends, live a normal life, and have children!” It goes on to say, “This is a new and unique sexual harassment simulator version 1.2.

Tweet

Entering this one forces one player to play as Cassidy against a team of strictly female Overwatch heroes. In the upper left corner of the screen, the instructions say, “Flash to knock down your victims,” which refers to Cassidy’s old “Overwatch 1” flashbang ability, and it also says “Tbag to fuck,” but with space, perhaps to avoid the word filter It is a sentence. When you crouch down, the text “rapingā€¦” appears at the top of the screen. ” text appears. And enemy heroes are labeled “pregnant,” eventually generating Torbjorn bots that mimic children.

The mode, attributed to YouTube user Amatsuhikone, was playable through a custom game code in Overwatch 1 as of January but was updated with the release of Overwatch 2.

A Blizzard spokesperson told PC Gamer in response to my questions about the mode that “there is no inappropriate or explicit content in our games. “A Blizzard spokesperson told PC Gamer that “we are not aware of any inappropriate or explicit content in this We removed this user-created game mode as soon as we became aware of its existence. We are continually working to improve our automated filters to prevent inappropriate user-generated content and to manually remove anything not caught by our system.”

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