Blizzard is looking to curb misbehaving Twitch users in the chats of its official Overwatch streams by requiring that chat participants link their Twitch and Battle.net accounts together before sending messages during a stream.
Blizzard describes the move as a new moderation program, and aims to give it a test run during the upcoming Overwatch Contenders quarterfinals from now through January 12, 2019.
In order to send a message in Twitch chat during the live-streamed events, viewers will have to log into their Twitch accounts and link their Battle.net accounts up through Twitch’s webpage, though it isn’t explicitly said what action, if any, Blizzard will take against misbehaving chatters following the Battle.net linkup.
In a blog post on the test, Blizzard says that the change hopes “to improve the viewer experience for the Overwatch Path to Pro ecosystem” and that the team will evaluate how, if at all, the requirement led to a “more positive viewing experience.”