Cheating has been a major problem for competitive multiplayer games, and continues to be one for shooters such as Call of Duty: Warzone. Warzone has been plagued with cheating since launch, and Activision has taken steps to try to resolve the issue. However, one of the methods for rooting out cheaters and hackers has possibly hurt some regular players.

Call of Duty: Warzone has an in-game function that allows players to report others for cheating of any kind. However, various Call of Duty players and content creators report being supposedly "shadowbanned" for cheating in Warzone when they didn't. The players state that after being reported by opponents, for one reason or another, they were blacklisted from regular matchmaking and placed in lobbies with other cheaters that have long queue times.

Recently, YouTuber Tomographic shared his experience of being "shadowbanned" in Warzone and how it impacted his gameplay online. In a video uploaded December 25, he said his account had been blacklisted from regular matchmaking and moved him to what he called a "cheater's bracket." Whenever Tomographic played a game with his friends, the hackers were there as well. Tomographic attributed his ban to using the DMR 14 in Warzone, a powerful rifle he describes as "broken" that gave some players the impression he was cheating.



Tomographic advises players to avoid using weapons like the DMR 14 until the banning system is improved. The issue isn't a recent development, and stretches back to this past April when various players raised the issue of their accounts suddenly being banned in both Modern Warfare and Warzone. The issue was brought up on the Activision Support forums many times as players reported playing Warzone for a few matches before being inexplicably banned.

Some commonalities include being given no reason for the ban, losing access to Warzone on PC, and receiving up to 200 pings before being matched - up if they ever do. Even when some of them started new accounts the bans carried over. While Activision reversed some of the bans in Modern Warfare, it doesn't appear the company will do the same with Warzone anytime soon.

The "shadowbanning" issue has cropped up repeatedly throughout the year and continues in December as well. At the time of writing, Activision has not provided an official response or comment as players continue to be reportedly "shadowbanned" in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Call of Duty: Warzone is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.



Posted: Dec 31, 2020 7:46 pm
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-warzone-shadowban-concern-december-2020/