Thanks to my fellow long-distance forum MVP, Naeri, for tipping me off on this, but this is some huge news that came out. The Overwatch Community Team for Blizzard Korea has updated their complied list of players who have been recently banned due to disruptive behavior in the game. This includes abusive chat and gameplay sabotage. Over 7,200 accounts have been actioned on January 2nd.
It should be noted that Korea is a far more engaged culture when it comes to PC gaming, and this is a common practice in that culture. Here in western markets, the culture is different and in most cases (but not always) it is more appropriate to not give actioned players any public acknowledgement to their offense.
Google Translate translation for anyone who’s interested:
Hello Overwatch players.
At Blizzard Entertainment, we’re constantly working to create a more positive gaming experience by removing the barriers to your gameplay experience. We are also improving the in-game reporting and punishment system based on the opinions of many players who are giving advice and attention through the Overwatch forum or community.
As noted in our previous blog 2.9 thousand, players who use inappropriate language in the game are subject to silent sanctions, so that players who are silently sanctioned will not be able to access the game if they repeatedly use the inappropriate language without further improvement. ‘Pause’ sanctions are underway. In addition to profanity and inappropriate language use, penalties for players who have been reported for unsportsmanlike behavior such as deliberate alliances or absences from the game have been strengthened recently.
The sanctions below are a list of accounts and accounts that have been suspended for accounting for unsportsmanlike behaviour, such as abusive language use, intentional alliance disruption, or the absence of a game, and will continue to inform you.
Thank you again for all your feedback and interest throughout the Overwatch community, and if you are witnessing a player that is undermining a healthy gameplay experience, please take advantage of the 2.6 thousand player flag feature. Your active report is the foundation for a healthy and enjoyable Overwatch world.
Thank you.
[Reason for Sanction and Number of Accounts Sanctioned]
Non-mannerive behaviors (including abusive language, inadequate language use, deliberate interference, and no games) – 7,225 (2020/01/02)
Good business model, the more people get arbitrarily banned by an automated report system the more secondary accounts they have to buy - finally an Activsion approved cash flow generator.
Despite trolls saying to the contrary, Blizzard does work to identify those who disrupt games. In any case, any player who is actioned should refer to the appeal process for assistance. I would remind you that per the terms of EULA, those under 13 are not allowed to have their own accounts (but are allowed to access an account controlled by their parent or legal guardian who assumes the full responsibility for that account).
Not use an automated report system, it has too high a false positive error rate.
Publish the metrics used to objectively define sabotage and design/implement them so they are difficult to game (just like crypto - everyone knows how it works, yet it is hard to cheese).
It let her create an account using her birthdate. So I mean they took our money knowing full well her age. That counts as a pass to play.
Stop being offended by the people who you don’t want to listen to and use the tools Blizzard gave you to mute them yourself instead of running to a bot to have them muzzled by blind authority?
saying gg can either make some of the players feel either positive about it and a few special snowflakes will report you for “abusive chat” because Blizzard support once told me something along the lines “if a player think its offensive, then its offensive”.
thats some excellent system right there, we live in a society.
Sanctions over sanctions but still a bad game with bad q times and unplayable heroes , OP heroes.
No wonder so many players get sanctioned.
Let’s not get into fixing the game itself ,no ,ban and suspend players for not playing shield tanks or not playing the meta ,op heroes.
What a horrible game company. I dont know if this thread was made to put blizzard in a good light because to me this does the opposite. It just shows how many players are frustrated with the game and also how easily the report system can be exploited.
