Hello all,
I would “briefly” like to talk about an issue I’ve noticed getting worse and worse. That issue is the automated in-game report feature.
Overwatch 2 has been plagued by mass misuse of the in-game report feature as of late. So much so that—on October 9, 2023—the developers put out an article talking about and “clearing up” concerns people had over it. The link can be found here.
This was met with a lot of positive reception! People assumed that this was Blizzard saying that things were working as intended. Instead, what Blizzard had done was make things infinitely worse by revealing major components of how their report system works. Here is an excerpt from their article:
The effectiveness of a report is based on each match in which the disruptive player is reported. This means the report’s impact is the same whether just one or up to nine other players make a report. Players are not likely to be actioned if a group of friends collectively report them unless the reported player is being disruptive across multiple matches and getting reported by different players. Asking other players in chat channels to report a specific player doesn’t help and can make a match experience worse for everyone.
If you understand why Blizzard (and all other game publishers) are so tight-lipped on things like anti-cheat systems you’ll understand why this is such a big deal. Once knowledge of how something works is released to the public it can immediately be abused. That includes anti-cheat systems, competitive systems, and you guessed it—report systems.
What some nefarious people took from this article was that targeting and mass-reporting as a team over the course of one match won’t work to get people banned. It also seems to only take your one report into account, meaning reporting across multiple matches yourself won’t have any effect.
So by process of elimination, the only way for these nefarious people to target players was by doing so over the course of multiple matches and by having different people reporting each time. While it might be harder to do, that means that people now have a strategy:
- Queue-snipe using the social tab to leave once the targeted player leaves the game.
- Try to immediately queue into another game with them.
- Lie about what the targeted player did and call for a mass report in match chat.
– Remember, only one report from a different player is needed per game. Even if one unique player reports it will have an effect.
There are multiple methods people have come up with online. I have seen countless videos, posts, and topics discussing the issue and I can only imagine what might be going on in private as people continue to find ways to abuse the report system. While not every game will have false reports (we all get heated and say things we don’t mean at times), the inflation of false reports mean that you need much less actual reports before the system will kick in and ban/silence you.
I myself have recently been affected by this.
For simply not being willing to report a targeted player for false/unverified claims of homophobia and usage of offensive slurs, I proceeded to be threatened and harassed by the offending player over the course of numerous matches with the same claims. The moment I spoke up because I thought the accusation seemed fishy I was accused of the same thing. The offending player somehow ended up in numerous matches with me in which they would immediately use match chat to write up a sob story and accuse me of homophobia, harassment, using slurs, etc.
I am gay.
I don’t use ANY slurs LET ALONE homophobic slurs.
Note - If you’re familiar with gay culture you’ll know that there are some of us who use a certain gay slur as a way of “reclaiming” the word. While I’m okay with those who use it I personally find the word gross and never do.
Yet despite the inconsistency in the claim and the lack of any substantial proof I am currently met with a two-week in-game suspension.
This is supposed to be a video game. I am supposed to have fun. Yet instead I am terrified of even hopping online anymore. I’m now too scared to even have voice, team, or match chat enabled if I do ever play again because of the risk it poses to my account and everything I’ve paid for, which I’ve had since year one of Overwatch.
If just one person can use groupthink to abuse the report feature like this then there is an issue. If massive waves of people are getting falsely reported and banned then there is an issue. If all we get for an “appeal process” is an automated response referring us to the Terms of Use and In-game Policies then there is an issue.
Reported for playing Genji. Reported for having a bad game. Reported for not playing the meta hero. Reported for saying something in a way I didn’t like. Reported for my perception of a message rather than its intent. Reported because I don’t like them. Reported because I’m a troll who likes to see people suffer…
There is an issue with the Overwatch 2 Report Feature. Just because you say there isn’t one doesn’t mean that one doesn’t exist.
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UPDATE!
Hey there everyone. I’m going to provide an update to this post for anyone interested in reading it. Wall of text incoming. Sorry…
After a review from Specialist Game Master Rhydryk it was deemed that the reason for my account being banned for two weeks was not due to the false claims of homophobia/slurs. HOWEVER. It was not mentioned how much impact those false claims and reports might’ve had in flagging my account, so I’m left to speculate as to how much effect it had on my account standing.
Thankfully I was provided with specific chat logs that explained the reason for my ban. All of these are taken completely out of context and will be explained in-detail below exactly as I explained it to him in my new ticket (with censorship of course).
“F*** echo mercy” — This statement was not directed towards any players at all. It was a statement made to express my distaste for the HEROES when played in combination, not the players playing them. (Same as saying “Oh man, not again…” after running into a GOATS comp from Overwatch 1 for the 1,000,000 time)
“F*** FOFF” — This exclamation was made in humor and annoyance after dying repeatedly to a player. It was NOT intended to insult anyone or be aggressive, instead it was intended to make people laugh by admitting that they were destroying me. (Same as playing with your friends only to be killed and say "F** off man!" while laughing with one another)*
“F*** u” — Same as above, though I don’t remember the exact instance in which this happened I guarantee that it was not said to insult anyone. (See above)
“B**** you are blind deaf AND dumb” — This comment was made in direction to a toxic player who was insulting and harassing a member of our own team for “not doing their job” despite the fact that I was watching our teammate do god’s work to help keep us all alive. I was standing up for our teammate to stop them from being bullied by someone who simply wasn’t paying attention; hence the “blind, deaf, and dumb” part. It was not intended to bully someone, it was intended to stick up for someone BEING bullied.
As you can see, all of these can easily be taken out of context over text chat. If you’ve ever texted someone only for them to misinterpret your intended meaning and feel hurt, offended, or annoyed then you can understand exactly what happened here.
I’m a voice actor, believe me when I say that any line of text has HUNDREDS of possible “takes” on how it could be delivered; each with varying degrees of emotions, emphasis, and direction depending on the context of the situation. That’s something many voice actors are taught VERY early on.
Taking a line of text and interpreting it based on the intent of the person reading it is a dangerous way of handling something as impactful as a report system. Let’s use something DaedraWA said in this thread as an example:
This is PERFECTLY put. You should not be able to be punished over something interpreted negatively by someone else. Doing so allows ANYONE to be punished over ANYTHING. Even the nicest of people can be banned for the nicest of things if I were to take their intent of “GGWP! <3” as passive-aggressive trashtalk at the end of the game.
I don’t like using the slippery slope argument. It’s annoying and overdone. However with cases like this I feel like we’re rapidly approaching the point in which nobody can say anything for fear of getting banned. The game which prioritizes teamplay (and counter-swapping, but that’s a topic for another day) above all else is punishing communication with your team.
If the issue they have is with CURSING then I am deeply disappointed. What’s the point of having a maturity filter that you can adjust to your desired comfort level if people aren’t allowed to curse at all? What’s the point of having block/mute functionality if people can just report someone they don’t like and get them banned instead? In my opinion that is a HORRIBLE way to operate and is DEEPLY misleading to your users.
But hey, it’s your company. You do you.
I’m not sure what to do about this. I don’t know how to fix it. I submitted another ticket in hopes of explaining the context of each situation as I did above, however my hopes aren’t high.
I used to love doing impressions of Overwatch characters to get reactions out of people! You might’ve even heard me playing as Mauga while doing an impression of Mauga in quickplay or ranked play. But at this point I’m honestly too scared to even join voice chat in the future. What if someone thinks I’m spamming voicelines or spamming voice chat? Using the logic above, wouldn’t that qualify me for a ban if someone didn’t like it?
If I DO play this game again it won’t be with team, match, group, or voice chat enabled. I will practically be throwing each game because of the fact that I can’t coordinate or talk to my own team for fear of getting banned. This HAS TO CHANGE.
Rant over. I’ll update this post if I receive word from a gamemaster. Please be kind to each other in the thread. <3
