It would actually be hilarious if it wasn’t so messed up. They took the phone debacle from 2018 and put it into overdrive. I guess Blizzard really is just a magnet for bad PR.
They know this. Everyone here trying to come up with excuses for why SMS is okay or why it’s the consumer’s fault knows deep down it was a flawed decision made by Blizzard. The only reasons why they don’t care are because:
- They don’t like Blizzard/OW2 being criticized.
- This decision doesn’t have an immediate effect on them and they’re unable to see the harm this decision does.
- They’re here to just antagonize.
It’s why they’re not addressing the root issue and using arguments like “Oh, curious that only low-post accounts care about this” as if every OW player has to be some basement-dwelling individual who never leaves the forums, or “Well it speaks more to you as a parent that your kids don’t have cellphones” as if every kid, no matter their age, should have a phone even when said kid has no reason to have it.
There’s no reasoning with people like that. They will continue to deflect the issue onto other people because they simply have no empathy for anyone else.
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Except that those that do have phones have pre-paid phones, so even of those that do have phones, a lot of those people are still being excluded.
Puts another hash mark on my wall Identical post #103857
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I have the same problem.
Like the person right above you who literally just posted if you don’t have a phone tough luck.
Same problem here. I even bought the Watchway Pack for my daughters back in July (I think) and the younger one can’t play because she has no phone.
My daughters had been playing Overwatch for the past two years.
Honestly, I don’t even understand what problem Blizzard is trying to solve here. As I get it they are trying to prevent people from owning more than one account. What exactly is the problem with people owning multiple accounts? I might be missing something since I only played Overwatch with my daughters during a few weeks two years ago. I recall being annoyed by a few players who were pretty obviously using aimbots. But I can’t see why I should have cared whether someone had other accounts or not. What am I missing?
Except you can’t, because Blizzard already stated that prepaid phones are not viable for SMS Protection.
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Yeah, that could not have been said better, that is exactly it.
No wonder you don’t have sympathy since you seem to have no idea of the requirements.
I have a phone. My daughter has a phone. My wife has a phone. We are all on monthly prepaid plans. In Denmark going to other long-term plans is a very expensive step up. I would imagine a significant percent of the country is on some kind of prepaid plan because they are so much more affordable and provide huge amounts of data/calls/sms so no reason to go to more expensive plans.
That means a good proportion of this country, including my entire family, can no longer play OW after playing it for 4 years several times a week.
It’s just not reasonable to suggest spending an additional $20/month (at least - probably more) to get some phone plan just to play a game. And that cost would be for each of us.
It also states that if your number was previously associated with a pre-paid plan then it may not be accepted. Which means all 3 of us may have to change the numbers we have had for many years just to plan OW.
This seems ludicrous.
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The real problems here is phones, let alone specifically post-paid phones, and that is exactly it.
I remember Jeff Kaplan interview on IGN on ‘Ow haters on IGN forums’ (a comedic bit)
Post: “Does this game really have 1M sales? I doubt it”
Jeff: “Idk about that but i personally bought 10 copies. Not counting the ones provided to me as a developer. So thats atleast 10 copies sold which i’m proud about”
I guess Jeff now can’t use all his copies to play. HAHAHA.
This is the usual selfish parent, sure they care about their kids, but do they care about the people online whose kids are ruining their games with? No. Please stay out.
They’re trying to solve “toxicity” and “smurf accounts.”
Doesn’t seem to be doing that great of a job since the three games I played last night had some tryhard sweaty cursing out the team in each one. Can’t really speak to the smurf account situation, but as someone has pointed out, there are already ways to circumvent SMS Protection via Talkatone.
I mean if you spent even 5 minutes skimming one of several dozen threads you could have seen peoples concerns.
And if its so easy to bypass SMS protect why have it?
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And THAT isn’t even right cause prepaid phones like Boost, Mint, Tracphone, StraightTalk all seem to work.
There’s really no rhyme or reason to this.
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Oh, so perhaps the problem is not really with people owning multiple accounts, but with toxic people switching to another account when they get banned? It makes more sense, to me at least.
It is a terrible idea and should have never come to fruition.
Admittedly, I do use StraightTalk and I’ve been able to play the game, but I think the reason why I’ve been able to is because StraightTalk does go through service providers like Verizon and AT&T (or at least uses their towers).
However, it still doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change the fact that having SMS Protection is a dumb decision and shouldn’t be in the game.
Like any Blizzard decision, it has good intentions but with repercussions for the playerbase Blizzard either didn’t notice or didn’t care enough about to pay attention to.
And again, people have already found ways to bypass this so it feels like a pointless change.
This is the usual selfish gamer, who somehow forgets that games are meant for people of all ages and somehow feels like certain groups of people that they doesn’t even have to play with will dimish their experience. The epitome of other gamers selfishness right here