Mini Dev Update #9 - In-game Moderation

Hey everyone!

Today, we’ll talk about something that isn’t flashy but is very important for the future of Rematch: in-game moderation.

This is a bit of a dev blog, a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re handling reports, bans, and how we want to make Rematch a safer and more competitive place for everyone.

Where we’re at today

Since launch, we’ve taken some dedicated time to review player reports and decide what fair and effective sanctions should look like.

So far, over 500 sanctions have already been issued to players who broke the rules. This might not seem like much, but we actually have a very limited amount of cheaters (they’re just very noticeable), with a large amount of reports being for toxicity and griefing.

Right now, our main focus is on the most egregious offenders:

• Players with a high number of reports

• And a high average of reports per day over a 30-day period

  
  

These are the cases where patterns are very clear, and in those situations, we’ve been handing out permanent bans. We are also keeping an eye out for individual reports outside of the game. This approach helps us catch most of the bad actors, but it’s not perfect.

The current limitations

There are a few important things the current system doesn’t do well enough yet:

• Reports don’t allow you to add detailed explanations or screenshots, which makes it harder for us to act on more subtle or contextual issues, especially when we need to act on toxicity reports that involve voice chat.

• There’s no built-in appeal system right now

  • We know our community moderators have redirected players who would like to appeal a ban to use the EAC appeal page, but it’s not functional. They didn’t know, and that’s on us, sorry about that.

  • You can now submit appeal requests through this Google Form.

• The in-game suspension pop-up doesn’t explain enough, and we should at least aim to provide the reason and the duration of the suspension.

  
  

Because of all this, we’re being extra careful and sticking to the most obvious, repeat offenders for now.

Where we’re going

Our goal is to automate moderation much more in the future, using in-game systems that are mostly invisible to players.

Here’s the basic idea:

• The more a player gets validly reported, the more our system keeps a close eye on them

• That leads to warnings, then temporary bans, and eventually permanent bans if the behavior doesn’t stop

• On the flip side, every match where a player isn’t reported helps them get more “in the clear” over time

  
  

Think of it like football refereeing, where minor or occasional issues lead to yellow cards, repeated or serious offenses, red cards, and cheating or extreme behavior benches you permanently.

The Leaver Penalty will also be plugged into this new automated system down the line. Speaking of which, we will continue to keep an eye on the way the system applies sanctions to players, and we will continue to refine it based on your feedback and to reduce or avoid instances of unfair punishment.

Additionally, we're currently working on better cheat detection measures, particularly with regards to speed hacking, which will help us track down cheaters, and better identify instances of cheating from bad connection and lag spikes when a sudden position or speed change is observed. 

Encouraging good behavior

Moderation shouldn’t only be about punishment. We also want to recognize and encourage players who help keep Rematch a safe and competitive environment.

Here’s what we’re working on:

• If you report a player and that report leads to action, you’ll receive a notification letting you know your report helped keep Rematch safe and competitive. We think it’s important that you know that your contribution matters, and being kept in the dark does not feel good.

• We’re actively working on an Honor Level system to reward players who engage with the reporting system wisely.

  
  

We’re also exploring whether high Honor Level players could receive additional rewards. Nothing is locked in yet, but we’re trying to achieve a fair balance with in-game moderation and sanctions alongside positive reinforcement.

Wrapping it up

We know moderation isn’t perfect yet, but this is something we’re actively investing time and thought into, because the long-term health of Rematch depends on it.

As always, thanks for playing, and helping us build a game that values sportsmanship as much as skill. We’ll keep you posted as these systems evolve!

In other news, we’re making steady progress on the 2026 roadmap, which we should be able to share with you soon! In the meantime, you can look forward to Patch 9 dropping at the end of the month (tentatively planned for February 25th, with a Beta planned a week before), and then Patch 10 marking the end of Season 2 and the start of Season 3 towards the tail end of March!

That’s it from us, hope to see you all on the pitch very soon!