Epic Games is adding a new voice reporting feature into Fortnite to help catch players who break the company’s community rules.
If the feature is on — if you’re under 18, the feature is always on when using voice chats — the device you’re playing the game on will securely capture the past five minutes of audio on a “rolling basis,” according to Epic’s blog post. (Epic stresses that it does not store voice recordings on its servers unless you file a report.) Audio after five minutes is deleted.
When you report a conversation, “the voice chat audio captured from the last five minutes will be uploaded with the report and sent to Epic moderators for review,” Epic says. (Reports are anonymous.) Then, the company says it will auto-delete clips after 14 days or “the duration of a sanction.” If you appeal, Epic may hold onto clips for 14 more days so it can make a decision. And if Epic needs to keep a clip for legal reasons, “it will be retained for as long as legally required.”
If you are over 18, you can toggle voice reporting to “off when possible,” which means the feature won’t be available in parties you make with friends that have also all toggled voice reporting to “off when possible.” Epic says you can also choose to turn voice chat off entirely, but that obviously may not be ideal if you want to easily communicate with your friends or other people in game.
Epic’s voice reporting feature follows similar tools offered by companies like Sony and Microsoft. On Thursday, Epic will also start showing age ratings for “all first and third party playable content” within Fortnite — the company announced that feature in October.
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