Epic Games is taking significant steps to addressing toxicity in Fortnite's voice chat with its new reporting feature. It lets players report offensive voice messages that violate the game's community guidelines, contributing to the creation of a safer gaming environment.
In an official blog post, Epic Games announced the addition of voice reporting to the popular battle royale game. This new feature allows players to submit audio evidence of in-game rule violations, providing a more reliable system to address instances of misconduct.
When the voice reporting feature is activated, the game securely records the most recent five minutes of audio on a "rolling basis." Epic Games emphasizes that these recordings will not be stored on their servers unless a formal report is filed against a player. The feature is automatically enabled when users under 18 engage in voice chats.
Upon reporting an offensive chat, the captured voice chat audio from the last five minutes is uploaded with the report and sent to Epic moderators for review. The company has said that this process maintains player anonymity. Recordings are automatically deleted after 14 days or the duration of a sanction, with the possibility of extensions for appeals. Epic Games may also retain audio clips for legal reasons - we guess if the content within the recordings is actually illegal and not simply against its guidelines.