Yet another blunder by Actiblizz.

[Linkedblade]

Older people too, probably. I still do most of my calls via landline, i have a mobile phone but rarely use it so i only have a prepaid account.

That's one of the problems, prepaid carriers are having issues.

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Hardware bans don't exist as an actual system. Any purported "hardware bans" can and are bypassed via incredibly trivial methods.


To combat bots, hacking and smurfing. Nobody likes hacks in their competitive queues, so by setting requirements like this they make it harder for people to continually create new blizzard accounts and continue to hack in ranked, after they've been banned once.

You can call your provider and reroll your phone number. It's easier than changing your IP.

[ThatsOurEric]

Man, remember when you could just log into Overwatch and just play it?

You know, without having to deal with que loading times?

Also, despite having owned OW1, I log in today, and for whatever reason, a majority of the characters are locked
and required to purchase...even though I've been playing OW2 and already had them.

Some epic levels of fail right here.

[Addiena]

That's one of the problems, prepaid carriers are having issues.

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You can call your provider and reroll your phone number. It's easier than changing your IP.

Yup, systems like this are trivial to bypass and anyone who thinks otherwise is a deluded fool, for every bullshit anti cheating system they develop the cheaters develop fast and efficient ways around it or through it, they never work for long and only serve to punish the legit players . .its the same for things like Denuvo, the crackers dont give a fuck about it since they are already playing the cracked game.

[wushootaki]

Blizzard - "We're not racist or sexist and everyone can play our game! You just need a phone number and not a pre-paid!"


-quickly googles which socio-ethnic classes usually are among those who don't have a phone number-


Wait a minute...

[Flatspriest]

It is a flaw. They are purposefully blocking providers. As well as those who don't have phones (Parents with children for example) Why should carrier even come up as a problem. They knew about it and did nothing about it. I don't understand why people are defending blizzard on this one

If you want the number to be marked as a contract and not a prepaid number, talk with your carrier, or contact the FCC who sets the regulations on how numbers are allotted and marked. Blizzard does not set that up in any way.

[Linkedblade]

Blizzard - "We're not racist or sexist and everyone can play our game! You just need a phone number and not a pre-paid!"


-quickly googles which socio-ethnic classes usually are among those who don't have a phone number-


Wait a minute...

That's a silly and wrong to infer. The demographics that don't have a phone number are usually the young and the elderly. The horde of 12 year olds that are being stopped from playing a game designed for them cant play due to a stupid "security" implementation.

[wushootaki]

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet...b-d58c239bc009

I'll start you off. Do your own research.

[StillMcfuu]

Blizzard - "We're not racist or sexist and everyone can play our game! You just need a phone number and not a pre-paid!"


-quickly googles which socio-ethnic classes usually are among those who don't have a phone number-


Wait a minute...

To be fair to Blizz, if you can afford the equipment required to play OW, you can afford a carrier that isn't prepaid. The buy in cost far exceeds what a contract would run you for multiple years.
Gaming isn't a cheap hobby and pretending that costs required to access games somehow makes them classist or racist is pretty prejudiced thinking in itself.
This isn't a soda tax.

[Mosotti]

Right, but Overwatch 2 is FREE, not an expensive hobby.

[micwini]

Blizzard - "We're not racist or sexist and everyone can play our game! You just need a phone number and not a pre-paid!"


-quickly googles which socio-ethnic classes usually are among those who don't have a phone number-


Wait a minute...

Not having a pre-paid phone has nothing to do with race. If there are certain groups with a higher amount of prepaid phones, that is on themselves.

[StillMcfuu]

Right, but Overwatch 2 is FREE, not an expensive hobby.

PCs, TVs, gameconsoles, internet fees, and electricity are not.

[Edge-]

Right, but Overwatch 2 is FREE, not an expensive hobby.

Being F2P has nothing to do with it. I've played easily hundreds of F2P games over the years, from all kinds of developers and genres and budgets and whatnot. I don't think I've ever had a single one of them request my phone number in order to play the game.

[Aleksej89]

Taking your phone number never had anything to do with combating toxicity.
Anyone can buy a brand new throwaway phone number for 1$ so they can abuse the hell out of it and just get a new one when needed.
There might even be software solutions that can emulate/fake the whole number check.

Blizz just wants your phone number so they can tie it to your account/ID/whatever for data collection/selling.