At present, most of the in-game chat functions are currently stopped at the Military Battle Games “ WAR Thunder ” developed and operated by Gaijin Entertainment. The studio revealed this change on March 30th to prevent “user emotions to prevent political discussions that lose user emotions.” Overseas Media Motherboard is conveyed.
“WAR Thunder” is a multiplayer competition game that will make land, sea and empty battle with weapons from around the world. In this work, the game chat function is limited from the 28th update on February 28. Text chat in the entire match / team and voice chat are invalidated. On the other hand, radio messages that convey fixed statements are available, and voice chats are still available in the “division” that combines acquaintances and other parties. Significant limitations of communication functions that support multi-match have also received negative opinions by overseas users.
Chat functional restrictions were not revealed to the background to the implementation. However, some speculation is possible from the situation. Implementation is immediately after Ukrainian invasion by Russia. And Gaijin Entertainment is a company with Russia as a roots, and has a base in Europe, such as the country and Hungary. In addition, the studio has shown a statement showing a stance that “Political is a distance to politics” at the same time as the chat restriction implementation. As a result, the restrictions on chat in the game are “to prevent political discussions that are unrelated to the game”.
According to Gaijin Entertainment told Motherboard, it seems that the guess was a fact. The studio responds towards the magazine to prevent the chat chat in the game to prevent political discussions that lose the player’s emotions. Under the following comments, politics reveals the stance that places distance. In addition, “important thing is that people around the world can enjoy in a safe environment,” show intention to create a separate game environment with political controversy.
However, in “WAR Thunder”, it seems that there is already a situation that has already been acting among users around Russia and Ukraine. In this work community of overseas bulletin board REDDIT, political claims using the flag paint of the vehicle and the like are also reported. For example, a vehicle with a character with a “Z” character that is compatible with the russian side and a vehicle with a Ukrainian flag has been reported despite the same team. If the chat was not restricted, there may be a possibility that the controversy between users has intensified.
The current situation of “WAR Thunder” is an example that the political situation affects user emotions. Whether or not Gaijin Entertainment chat restriction is appropriate, pros and cons separately divided. However, it would have been a decision on the mistrustiness of the liking between users. And this war ended and the chat system returned, and I do not know whether to return to “usual communication”. The future of popular online war games is opaque.