Before we dig into the title, I’ll disclaim that I don’t know much about the reporting system other than it’s allegedly automated - which is interesting not only because the concept of an automated system is incredibly flawed but I also noticed they give you a text box on the reporting screen to detail the incident.
Does that imply that the details are being read and the system isn’t actually automated? What if there were an option to include a screenshot or video recording as evidence as well?
Seems unlikely that they’d add something like that, since they can access chat logs and probably also voice comms recordings.
It’d be nice if they’d add a way to provide direct and immediate evidence, but they won’t as long as they can use the above as an excuse.
“When a player is reported blah blah blah, we have a team investigate blah blah blah, chat logs blah blah, nothing further from the reporting player is needed blah”
Other games don’t allow it, because screenshots can be easily doctored. They judge based off the game’s logs.
I remember them claiming that they didn’t log voice chat, they can only tell if you did or didn’t use it.
This was a while ago though, so take it as you will.
There’s also a possibility that they weren’t being entirely candid about it.
Nothing makes a punk get himself caught quicker than saying “We only watch the front door.”
Really? I’ve gotten loads of reports actioned on that were pretty much entirely over things they said in voice. I guess it’s possible it was just sheer report quantity that got them…
Can you imagine the amount of server space they would need!?
Hahahahah
They would need at least…a 2tb external USB harddrive (A seagate one)
What if there were an in-game capture system or something along those lines?
Most things a screenshot would capture would also be captured by logs.
The forums don’t allow for the discussion of specific peoples bans so what we know specifically/can discuss is a bit limited.
The original report system this game had was pretty bad at dolling out penalties.
Depending on how good and how aggressive the detection systems are the fact that they are automated might not be an issue.
Part of the problem with something like this is going to come down to the sheer volume of information that can really only be processed by real humans. It would not be feasible to check every submitted screenshot or video capture.
The text explanation, I imagine (and I could be wrong), is more for the purpose of GMs being able to evaluate a ban if it gets appealed, rather than being evidence for instituting the ban in the first place. If many people who reported the player are all saying consistent things about what the player has done, it’s less likely that the player has been wrongfully banned, etc.
I guess it goes back to my understanding of the reporting system being unclear.
From my understanding, an account only gets looked at if there are x amount of reports - which is valid and logical in theory, but I also feel like there are some things that should warrant immediate action and they probably get overlooked because not enough people reported it. I’ve also heard of a lot of people getting punishments on their account due to false reports. I.E., a silver sniper main who was doing nothing wrong but was paired with petty teammates.
Is there a synopsis of the reporting system somewhere to reference? I can’t find anything when I google it.
The entire motive behind this thread stemmed from a situation where a player was streaming racist slurs into match chat. I was really hoping to see that ‘thank you for reporting’ notification when I logged in, but again, my understanding of the reporting system is vague and I’m not even sure of those notifications are automatic when action has been taken.
They just don’t have anyone read them unless the ban gets appealed. Even then they won’t spend as much as 10 seconds verifying the legitimacy because how can they? All they have to go on is the same thing that initiated the automatic ban to begin with so they just throw out the appeal and claim it is justified.
This makes sense to me. I really didn’t get how an automated system meshed with the option to have text inserted.
I admit it’s an unrealistic suggestion but I still feel like it would be nice to submit substantial evidence when toxicity and other bannable offences occur. I remember way back somebody on the team saying something about trying to crack down on toxicity - maybe this was during a developer update video? - and that they even kept up with youtube to try and police bad behavior. I thought at the time that if they’re trolling youtube for “Toxic Overwatch Player” videos they might as well offer an option to link/ss/etc.
The company is downsizing at the moment. For them to even begin reading reports, not even verifying them, they would need to hire tens of thousands of minimum wage workers.
It’s simply never going to happen and they will never do a thing about it as long as everyone continues to buy lootboxes and watch this league thing.
It’s best to stop believing now that Blizzard has the users best interest in mind. The only thing that is of concern to them is profits.
I was told that when a report is filed under abusive chat that the chat logs for the game are sent to Blizzard to make a quick determination that the person being reported, was in fact, abusive in chat (any chat; team, match, group, whatever). I haven’t been able to fully confirm this, but it makes sense.
It’s unclear how the system works with slurs.
In theory, detecting them shouldn’t be a problem and should be something that could be detected and dealt with without a report.
They have been playing with machine learning.
In practice, you aren’t the first person to mention repeated racist slurs not appearing to trigger a ban which would suggest something is off if an automated system is in use.
(It’s possible if the person was banned separately that you wouldn’t get the report notification)
They have also stated that they verify all toxic chat. People don’t necessarily believe that though.
I don’t know of anyone that has tested it much.
There have been plenty of instances where blizzard has pointed out that they have pulled voice chat logs and text chat logs when actioning players in their games. One notable instance is when a player claim to be banned for one-tricking was called out by Game Director Jeff Kaplan back in December of 2017.
Source: Overwatch Forums
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https://blizzcon.com/en-us/watch?v=5bc43d7ca916260558561679&franchise=BLIZZARD&eventYear=2018
Great reply Wyoming, thank you for confirming that Blizzard has the chat logs. Do you know if Warden is still doing ban waves to cheaters? I haven’t heard anything on this lately.
I do not have any detailed information short of what is presented by Blizzard and my own personal experiences with the games.
Terrible and misleading post as usual.