Popular game livestreaming site Twitch (Twitch Interactive, Inc.) has problems with trolls just like any other online community, especially when it comes to the individual chatrooms for each stream. Now, Twitch is offering a new language gate option for broadcasters that might make their jobs a little easier, or it could simply add a minor inconvenience that will not change anything.

More popular broadcasters have the difficult task of simultaneously moderating their chat channel while also playing their game and interacting with viewers, and it can be tough to keep track of everything going on in the chat, especially when some users write in a foreign language to avoid auto-moderation or to communicate or harass people under the radar.

The new Broadcaster Language Mode option allows streamers to limit who can use their chat rooms based on their preferred languages. The default settings are pulled from users’ browser options, but users are also able to select a language when they try to access a chat channel.

“When Broadcaster Language Mode is enabled for a channel you’re on, you’ll be asked whether you speak the selected language,” Twitch wrote on its blog. “Just click the message to start chatting. We’ll save your preferences so you’ll be able to chat in any subsequent channel with Broadcaster Language Mode enabled for your languages.”

“Moderation is in the hands of the broadcaster”

While users are prompted on whether or not they speak a given language for a chat room, they are still able to chat in whatever language they want once they are in, and it is not entirely clear what problems this new feature is really going to solve.

“Even if Broadcaster Language Mode is enabled, all messages will be sent, regardless of language, so you won’t miss a single Kappa or PogChamp,” Twitch wrote. “Moderation is in the hands of the broadcaster and his/her moderators.”

In other words, don’t worry about foreign language trolls ruining your chat. We solved the problem by forcing them to respond to an arbitrary yes or no dialogue box that does not actually prevent them from doing anything.

Image credit: Wikimedia