Black Ops 6 will let players talk directly to their meat shield hostages, and people are already bracing for heretofore unseen levels of toxicity and abuse

This is the best worst idea in videogames I've seen in a very long time: Treyarch says Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will give players the ability to talk directly to the people they're holding hostage and using as meat shields.

The meat shield, for those not familiar with the maneuver, works like this: A bad guy is stunned or wounded but still on his feet, so you grab his shoulder, spin him around, put your arm across his throat, and march him forward into the gunfire that would otherwise turn you into a sticky mess. Here's a great example of the move from the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger flick Total Recall, which I will link but not embed because it's pretty bonkers in the way that only '90s action movies are. (I will also note that the guy in this case isn't so much bad as just really unlucky.)

Anyway, there's not a lot of space between the shield and the shielded, and someone at Treyarch has decided that forced closeness would be a great opportunity for people to get to know each other better:

We heard you and can confirm that the Body Shield feature in Multiplayer will enable voice chat between the attacker and victim. Be nice… pic.twitter.com/KxyaDo7bAcAugust 28, 2024

I have to assume these conversations would be relatively short-lived—it would be a little strange if the dance partner up front kept on talking after being thoroughly perforated by his teammates, after all. But even so, the potential for comedy is obviously there, and an awful lot of people replying to Treyarch's tweet seem genuinely excited for the feature.

Unfortunately, as noted in other replies to the tweet, there's far greater potential for abuse. «Can't wait to be held hostage whilst being called the F slur 1,000 times,» Camelcastoff tweeted. 

Even more common than expressions of concern, though, is the eager anticipation for bad behavior that some players are clearly feeling: «This is the most toxic thing you could have added,» vivakingtone tweeted. «I love it.»

The reactions really do set