Topic: Switch 2 GameChat requires a phone number to use (Verification by text to # registered to Nintendo Account)

Edit: just found an article from way earlier, why are these sites reporting this news like it was just found out? From April 28 another report... I didn't hear about it but that doesn't mean these sites should be sensationalizing it. Still, I think its lame and will reduce usage unnecessarily, but not a major deal. Here is the earlier article from April 28:

https://www.nintendo-insider.com/setting-up-gamechat-on-ninte...

This one took me by surprise, and I felt it was significant enough to highlight in its own topic.

"If you plan on using GameChat on Nintendo Switch 2, you'll need a phone number. That news has been spotted in the official terms for the feature.

Nintendo doesn't go into detail about why a phone number is required for GameChat on Switch 2, but the reason seems fairly clear. The company always takes the protection of its players seriously – especially younger ones. If someone uses GameChat in a nefarious way, it's a bit easier for Nintendo to block them and prevent them from returning."

https://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/GameChat-ph...

Image link above

Article:

https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-switch-2-gamechat-req...

Not sure what I think about this...

Yes I know their justification, and Xbox and Playstation use phone verification at times too. But I just genuinely don't care for the practice. I am a responsible parent, I will lock my kids system behind parental locks and the content they play is curated by me. I don't feel the need for the companies to "profect my children", because i do it myself. But I also don't think its a big deal, just file it under one more lame imconvenience.

Actually what more annoyed me was I stumbled upon this story filed on Nintendo Everything and then come to see Nintendo Insider reported it back in April. These news sites need to do a better job on checking to see what is new news or not. But that's just a frustration for me trying to stay up to date:p

Got to know who's flashing their dingaling.

Nintendo Gamechat...After Dark.

Well they have to confirm whom is using it and that it's someone permitted to use the account.

They also have the ability for other users in your chats to report you with the last few minutes of a chat. Which they can use to ban you if you violate terms of service. I assume the phone verification is so they can refer it to the police in instances where you go to the point of breaking laws

I don't have an issue with this personally. They don't want, for example, a kid broadcasting a school shooting over GameChat. Or someone sending phonographic video to kids. Or whatever unsavory things can happen on video platforms. Better to be ahead of the curve than have a PR disaster on your hands

In this age of authoritarianism, id just be worried what law breaking police would push to get footage over. Like going after creepers is okay, going after political dissidents because they congregate over Fantasy Life to discuss their next moves? Less cool. So i hope they only pull the ban/police report lever in extreme cases only.

You need to provide phone numbers for jobs, bank accounts, housing, loans, credit cards, setting up any online account that deals with delivery to your address....

So no, no big deal. People are just overreacting for clout. End of.

@Quantumz00 Did you actually read what Nintendo said about this policy?

Only what i can read of it that has leaked online so far. The article and the policy actually doesnt go into specifics at all of why they might ban you or report you to cops. But i suspect most of the reasons would be inocuous, i just dont trust that to always be the case in this age. Just look at the awful things Microsoft has become complicit in. So i am wary to do extra things like this for corporations.

I just hate extra steps that other platforms do not require. It is why Nintendo lags behind in the online sphere, that little added frustration - whether the annoyance of adding friend codes or having to get text verification to use video chat.

Like those stipulations are not in place to access voice chat or stream yourself over playstation or microsoft platforms, so why must nintendo always add meaningless extra steps? To me it is just a symptom of a larger problem.

One needs to read the Nintendo Policy not read what people say here about it. Or just contact Nintendo support and ask them.

I largely see the whole text verification thing as an attempt to keep kids safe.... People might say "oh I'm capable of taking care of my kids responsibly" but society is held back by it's weakest , so I don't really blame Nintendo, I blame the deadbeat Parents who let there kids scream racial and homophobic stuff down the mic 15 hours a day nonstop with no rules or parentally guided education for the extra checks and balances (oh and dumb idiot grown ups who act like there a poorly raised seven year old full of hate online too).

This is liability protection for Nintendo pure and simple. And will stop she/he said vs she/he said stories. It's someone over age of 18 and this is the user whom decides what they do - it's not up to Nintendo to decide who use the account. This is for user account responsibility to monitor their behavior towards others or other family member and tell them of the consequences should they abuse this feature or to help stop abusive actions from abusing other users.

@Quantumz00 I mean... just to use Nintendo online services you need to provide email address and a payment information such as a credit card. If a government had that information and wanted to go after you, adding a phone number wouldn't really make any difference.

But as others have said, this sounds like mainly a liability issue.

@Quantumz00
They've explained how this works. Some key points from their site about the safety aspect:
https://www.nintendo.com/au/hardware/nintendo-switch-2/gamechat/

Get started by approving specific friends from your Friend List to use GameChat with. This means you'll only interact with people you want to.

As an additional security measure, text message verification is required to use GameChat. It uses the phone number registered to your Nintendo Account.

You can report a user that made you feel uncomfortable or harassed during a chat. If the reported behavior is confirmed, actions such as suspending the Nintendo Account in question may take place

For players under age 16 to be able to use GameChat, a parent or guardian must first allow use of the feature in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device app.

So yes, IF you are discussing overtaking the empire over a game of Fantasy Life with people who have specifically approved. IF one of them reports that discussion to Nintendo. And then IF Nintendo feels inclined to report that dissent to the empire. Then sure. You're in trouble. But it seems unlikely to me Nintendo would bend so quickly to such a thing for the PR disaster it would create

But the point is it would require a chain to push it along. Starting with someone you added to your chat. Someone who could easily just capture the footage and report it without going through Nintendo

The "reporting to police" bit is more for the scenarios where, for example, someone contacts your kid and gets through all the other above barriers to the point where they start using GameChat. Then they start grooming them. Showing your kid inappropriate stuff. You see this, or you kid comes to you, and you don't know who this person is or where they are. Nintendo has a mechanism there to follow through with that and a way to identify that user. Which is hopefully enough to deter a lot of that kind of behaviour in the first place

Nintendo is not gonna risk getting sued or a scandal simply because humanity has a lot of terrible people that don’t mind using products to be awful or to gather with others being awful. This allows them to CYA and report people that do criminal behavior using their services as a vehicle.

From what I heard Puerto Rican phone numbers don’t work with the US region despite Puerto Rico getting the Switch 2 and even the camera

EDIT: It appears to have been fixed and Puerto Rican phone numbers can now work