I am writing to share my experiences and concerns regarding the toxic behavior that some players exhibit during matches. While I understand that online gaming can attract a wide range of personalities, I believe there are steps that Blizzard can take to mitigate the negative impact of such behavior on the overall gaming experience.
I recently played a match where my teammates were extremely abusive, using disturbing and hurtful language like “I hope your mom dies” and “You are an orphan.” These messages caused significant emotional distress and negatively impacted my enjoyment of the game. I felt trapped in the match, as I couldn’t leave without facing penalties for abandoning the game, which only added to my frustration.
To address this issue, I propose the following potential solutions:
Enhance reporting and moderation systems: Invest in more effective systems to identify, report, and track toxic behavior, as well as enforce penalties for those who engage in it. This may include better chat filters, AI-based moderation, and more responsive player reports.
Encourage positive behavior: Implement systems that promote sportsmanship and reward positive behavior, such as a commendation system or in-game incentives for players who consistently maintain a friendly and cooperative attitude.
Allow temporary safe abandonment: In cases of extreme toxicity, consider allowing players to abandon a game without penalty. This could be based on a certain threshold of reports or an in-game vote. This would provide relief for players who find themselves in unbearable situations and give them a chance to regroup and find a more positive gaming environment.
Stricter penalties for repeat offenders: Implement escalating penalties for players who frequently engage in toxic behavior, ultimately leading to temporary or permanent bans from the game.
Provide better in-game tools: Develop tools that empower players to manage their in-game interactions, such as more refined mute/block options and customizable chat settings to filter out offensive language.
By taking these steps, Blizzard can create a more welcoming and enjoyable environment for all Overwatch 2 players. I understand that it is not possible to eliminate toxicity completely; however, I believe these proposed changes will help to reduce its impact and provide a better gaming experience for the community.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider these suggestions. I look forward to seeing how Blizzard continues to improve Overwatch 2 and its community.
I agree that there are things Blizzard could, and should do to address toxic behaviour and encourage positivity and make Overwatch a more welcoming experience, but sadly I don’t think they feel that there’s enough of a monetary incentive to do so.
All I am saying is that if you ban people who spent money, they would need to repurchase the skins or battle passes they cared about. Or even better yet, the pay to win heroes. Lots of money to be made, in my opinion. But I am not a business expert 5000.
Hear me out with this wild idea, how about the just make using certain words an auto report to a system that auto bans you? There’s words that should clearly never be said for any reason, why not just auto report you and those get taken more seriously.
Also this, no. Just mute the person and play the game, it’s a random person on the internet, it’s not that deep, just ignore the.
If you get reported enough, you do get a ban, but it takes quite a bit to activate and people need to actively report toxic behavior.
They have this, you can change the filter to safe mode, but again, they could just make it so certain words can’t be typed in the first place…
I’m saying just mute them if they aren’t going to implement the auto report system for saying certain words… Implementing the auto ban/removing certain words from being typed would be better, but who knows if they ever will
The funniest part is they already make gg ez type all those random text lines, and that’s not even that toxic to do, there’s way worse stuff you can type and it goes through
Maybe. I don’t know if the type of person who gets banned is also the type that would repurchase everything though.
Yeah I’m really not sure why that isn’t a thing already, considering it is in other games, and Overwatch already has the “gg ez filter”. I guess they genuinely think using slurs is less egregious than typing “gg ez”?
I would like to provide additional insight into a specific aspect of this issue: group toxicity. In my experience, when several players are partied together, they may collectively engage in hostile behavior towards one or more players. This can create an even more distressing experience as the victimized player is left feeling overwhelmed and outnumbered.
Under the current rules, players are compelled to endure such behavior as leaving the game early results in penalties. This effectively benefits the toxic party, allowing them to continue their disruptive conduct without repercussions.
Enhance reporting and moderation systems: Invest in more effective systems to identify, report, and track toxic behavior, as well as enforce penalties for those who engage in it. This may include better chat filters, AI-based moderation, and more responsive player reports.
AI based moderation ? responsive player reports? who do you think will pay for this services that will run 24/7 monitoring all chat and voicechats ? this is straight up no…
chatfilters are client based, there could be improvement but 90% of people turn it off because of temptation what the other people are saying.
even the 5th point will be useless to 90% people too.
The toxicity is alright in this game for me personally, its worse in valorant and cs. So dont be cry baby. Its a game not irl. Everyone is getting butthurt on the internet…
Just muting them only helps to push away people that actually wanna try and be team based. Its not helping anyone. I still get reported by said person and all their friends for “Throwing” cause i die a certain amount of times as tank.
I’ve genuinely had multiple matches within a few hours where the same slur has just been hurled at people, and every time it happens, I just lose all respect for the individual. It’s gross; grow up.
