After a 12-year-old reported to his family about an inappropriate Overwatch 2 exclusive game mode, angry fans took to Twitter to react to Blizzard and raise awareness about the "sex" mode.
In addition to core 5v5 battles and rotating arcade modes, Overwatch 2 allows players to create their own custom game lobbies. And since Overwatch 1 introduced exclusive games, players have spawned some fan-favorite mods like Genji Ball and Parkour.
But Overwatch's custom mods have a dangerous side, as many players may come across obscene content hidden in the game catalogue. The game modes Tinderwatch 18+, Anime Girls Naked, and “$E x” were easily accessible to players of all ages, which was a bit of a nuisance.
These lobbies aim to attract players looking for a more mature gaming experience, and their fantasies can be realized through text and voice chat. However, with no way to restrict access to these game modes, any player, regardless of age, can join these lobbies and participate in chats.
12-year-old discovers Overwatch 2 'sexual' mods
Twitter user on October 23 Lynn_McGoo published a PSA about obscene game modes that his 12-year-old son discovered while playing Overwatch 2.
Lynn says, “My 12-year-old son found in it special games called 'sexual harassment' and a game that simulates imitation of female characters. Also the game was called 'girls' so it thinks only female characters play, chose a female character, she was the only female character in the game, had to lie down while the male characters were lying down. on her character and…” she finished her explanation, continuing like this.
He stated that the game was "quickly deleted" and advised parents to do the same.
tweet later Twitch streamer Limmy Retweeted by . He added screenshots that players posted of a game mode titled "sexual harassment simulator" on Twitter. One of the screenshots showed the game in the "Popular" section of the private game browser, and another, 125 active lobbies with 13 players showed .
“Looks like it's been going on since the first game,” Limmy said. It would be easy for Blizzard to block this, but they don't. This is a game marketed to 12-year-olds.”
How easy is it to access the game's sexual content?
But how easy is it for players to access this kind of adult content in Overwatch 2? Including the time it takes to unlock the console, launch the game, and find and join a lobby; It all takes about 10 minutes.
All a player has to do is scroll through the "All Games" list for a minute or two before encountering the "18+" or "Girls Naked" lobby.
In our search for answers, we joined a lobby titled “$3 X Hot skins or kick” and asked “Want to have $eX” within the first few seconds of entering the game.
Without asking our gender, sexual orientation or age; The actress requested sexual favors via text chat.
Image shows Overwatch 2's text chat used to request adult action
However, we have discovered that some steps have been taken to protect players from such content. (As empty as these steps may seem. In an attempt to create our own custom game lobby, we found that players were no longer able to use certain banned words.)
You may be interested in: How to play Overwatch 2 without a phone number?
These words include “sex”, “sexual” and similar words of this nature. However, as mentioned above, players can use special characters and 'leet Speak' to circumvent these restrictions, as in the previous examples, letters can be replaced with numbers or similar signs to circumvent these restrictions.
However, we have been successful in creating a game lobby titled “harassment simulator” that can be argued to be only marginally better than “sexual harassment simulator”.
These game modes have been around since the time of Overwatch 1. Where the game used to be paid, now that Overwatch 2 is free to play, it's easier than ever for adolescent gamers to access the worse content the game has to offer.