So I constantly get asked in game about aspects of the game and for starters I don’t answer because most if not all of the questions are ambiguous resulting is easily misinterpreted results. My least favorite question is “How effective I feel the reporting system is?” The reporting system never asks what I don’t like about it, it merely asks if I feel it’s effective.
So lets talk about it. The first issue I have is all the options, most of which don’t work or aren’t relevant. I can report players for : abusive chat, abusive voice, intentionally dying, afk/non-participation, cheating, inappropriate name, and spam. The problem is several of these don’t even work and because they don’t work they result in the rest of the options being required because this unpoliced toxic behavior results in higher toxicity.
First of all Hots is a team game and by signing up you sign up to play as a team which involves communication. It shouldn’t be an option to mute your team. If you need to mute your team from the get go, the problem is you, not the team, and this game isn’t for you. That feature needs to be removed and it’s one of the worst aspects of the game. Not all feedback is constructive and that is a good thing it indicates to people they need to improve.
Lets talk about what Blizzard does and why it’s part of the problem. When you report someone for non-participation or intentionally dying, it generates no report that the system ever checks. These are thee most single handed toxic aspects of mobas and hots specifically and yet Blizzard does literally nothing. They actually result in more toxic behavior and by invalidating these report features Blizzard makes their games worse not better. Not only do they not look into these issues they aren’t even generated in their automated penalty program.
Next, their penalty system isn’t operated by humans it’s operated by algorithms. No one checks, skims or reads them and there is no appeal process. They system just push it through. If someone reaches a threshold, they get an automated penalty.
Additionally, you can be reported for ambiguous words including but not limited to bastard, even though bastard sword is the name of an item in many games. We aren’t playing Disney fun land, we’re playing a cutting edge game which, has a maturity filter. It should not be possible in 2019 to be penalized for a word blocked in a filter. In fact, if someone calls you a bad word you might have done something wrong, and there is merit for dialogue and even if that game won’t be a win, that dialogue is invaluable in improving the community’s skill as a whole. I will actually report and whisper people after games if they are so bad I would never want them on my team and I’ll tell them what they did. It’s incredibly annoying to lose a game because a Lunara or Tychus doesn’t take spell armor vs Kael’thas with Pyroblast on their lvl 13 talent. Words simply cannot express how bone headed a mistake that is in 2019 and thankfully my mmr is high enough that I usually don’t get such people but they need to know and it’s not ok if they get offended, especially if I’m constructive and concise about it.
I’ve spoken with numerous people who get silenced and now they don’t even feel like talking which is a cruel shame. The reporting system shouldn’t, but does end communication resulting in many games simply being silent. What is the point of any communication systems in Blizzard games if people who communicate are simply cut off.
Finally, when someone does receive an in game penalty, they never know what it is about. I have spoken with people who have various penalties and they always have no clue why they’re in trouble. Now granted, some people it’s obvious but others there is so much gray area and this is the problem with Blizzard’s system. Blizzard’s system doesn’t care about mitigating circumstances, it only cares about quantity. It also doesn’t care about the reporter, which is part of the problem. If a toxic person instigates trouble in game through poor performance, attitude, or behavior, the system doesn’t care about that. An innocent person who is a pillar of the community can get falsely reported and penalized under the system. This is one of the reasons Blizzard’s reporting feature is so grossly ineffective and results in so many false positives.
I wasn’t always a skilled gamer and I don’t pretend to be the best but I’m far from a scrub and the only way I improved or learned to recognize my errors is because vocal gamers, even if abrasively, informed me of their dissatisfaction and I’m a better player and person today because of it. Blizzard has always struggled as a company when it comes to rule enforcement and this is just another example but they don’t have to be. The time I spent with League of Legends and their tribunal was phenomenal and my tribunal record wasn’t flawless, I only had about 70-80% accuracy and on the cases I didn’t agree with the majority, many of them I was firm that I didn’t care what the majority thought, because in many of those instances it was a fight breaking out on both sides, both parties were wrong, and i disagreed with a penalty because there wasn’t an option to penalize BOTH people. I wish Blizzard had a tribunal system, and I wish I could pass judgments on anyone in a penalty case, not just the person the case was generated for, but up to all 5 people on a team.
If Blizzard wants to pave the way for a better, ethical gaming environment, that is how you do it. I would gladly spend an hour a day again reviewing cases if it meant I could judge everyone and that’s how you fix the reporting system. Because once everyone realizes I can review their performance in a game and penalize, the community would shape up real quick because ANYONE getting in trouble in a game you played, meant you could be at risk to. You’ll see behavior clear up real quick, but first the community has to know Blizzard actually cares, and that there is always a chance they are being watched.