Epic Games is bringing Fortnite into a whole new era with innovations like Fortnite Reload, the introduction of Fortnite OG, the GTA-inspired Brick Life Mode, and more. However, some players are concerned about the overhauled text chat system, and if it could welcome more ‘toxicity’ into the game.
In an update posted on December 10, Epic Games confirmed that text chat would be expanded to all Fortnite islands, not just Save the World or the pre-game lobby.
While text chat can be limited to just your party or all players in your game, some players have expressed concern that it could make Fortnite more toxic.
Anyone who played Call of Duty back in the day will know it had a toxic lobby problem, leading to current fears that the usually family-friendly Fortnite could go down the same route. When ShiinaBR shared news of the overhauled text chat, popular content creator D3NNI wrote: “Oh my god this is about to be so toxic.”
oh my god this is about to be so toxic 😭😭😭😭
— D3NNI (@D3NNI_yt) December 9, 2024
These concerns were shared by others, and another player added, “They’re adding a whole game text chat?? I have a feeling I know what it’s gonna be like.. the fn community is too toxic.” A third concluded, “This is either gonna be really funny or really bad, worst-case scenario it’ll just be like toxic OW text chat.”
Some vowed not to use the text chat in fear of getting banned, though it’s worth noting that text chat can be disabled in your game settings.
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Text chat includes anti-toxicity measures
The official announcement from Epic Games stated that with the mature language filter and personal information filter active, toxic messages will automatically be screened, while messages involving personal information will also be blocked from appearing.
This should hopefully tackle potential credit card issues, although we’ve seen savvy players get around similar parameters before. Anyone over the age of 13 can choose to remove censors on ‘mature language and toxicity’, also suggesting that Epic knows there could be toxicity issues.
Like with the voice chat reporting system, you will be able to submit your recent text chats to Epic as evidence for review when reporting suspected violations.
Still, there are worries that it’ll be abused. Call of Duty had to employ AI to stomp out waves of toxicity when Warzone introduced proximity chat, and to this day, many players still get chat banned in COD for abusive text chat messages.
While Fortnite’s developers seem confident its text chat will foster a friendly environment for all, it’s hard to say just how swift moderation will be.