I am not absolving anyone. I am just talking about a strategy for improving the tone of the forums in particular (not gamers in general) that I have seen work again and again.
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As someone who works directly with patients in a hospital setting, I feel like this is an excuse. Part of being a game developer (or any artist really), is dealing with outspoken and passionate fans.
If you or your team are not up for that, I have to wonder if you chose the wrong profession.
I wouldn’t go to my chief medical director and demand they protect me from upset patients. That’s part of my job.
If I wasn’t up for that, I wouldn’t have become a doctor.
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Ok - well there has been a post on this from AndyB sharing this responsibility, which I’m sure you’ve missed or you wouldn’t have brought it up.
I think it’s clear that Blizzard does need to take a share of the responsibility of the state of the community.
Just like unmoderated console matches for years has lead to it being a cesspit (but that’s another sad, sad topic).
I still think we can be better but I understand your point.
Yeah, just wanted to respond to my replies. I usually try to respond to anyone who replies me. I quite like his response and am glad to see this from Blizzard. 
Yes but you don’t proactively set up Q&As online with patients you know are going to be insulting to you when you don’t have to as a doctor.
Just like Blizzard doesn’t choose to who buys its games and receives customer feedback I’m sure.
It’s not the same.
Noted.
But at the very least thing you could do is either Sticky this thread; or put up your own Sticky on this forum (and official website which is part of the company you work for) indicating there was an Reddit AMA and link it appropriately with a proper summary of information.
I get you have duties to perform. But notifying and delivering relevant information should be a priority. We really shouldn’t have to go scouring the internet to hear about relevant or new information posted elsewhere.
At the very least, you could put this information through the Battle.net launcher’s Overwatch page.
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Reddit has a downvote system where downvoted comments get hidden, while upvoted comments are put at the top.
That kind of system is great for AMA’s because not only are the most popular questioned brought to light, it also hides the unnecessary and extremely toxic comments.
As good of a feature it is… it obviously wouldn’t work well to implement that sort of feature on the forums due to how different of a community there is on here.
People regularly flag posts that they don’t like. People would just downvote anyone they disagree with. It would only intensify and further seperate the community, and it would actually only further increase toxicity because your feedback that might not be popular just gets hidden… and so you feel hopeless.
I don’t think AMA’s will ever work on the forums, and as easy as it is to point fingers and go “Wow they do AMA’s on Reddit but not their official forums?”… we can all expect how well a forum AMA would go…
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I don’t choose my patients.
If I’m seeing walk-in patients, and a patient walks in, I see them. Their care becomes my responsibility, regardless of how temperamental and belligerent they may be.
That’s part of my job.
Just like it’s part of their job to engage with the community.
Anytime you deal with other people, there are going to be jerks. If you don’t can’t handle that, you shouldn’t have a job that works with people.
Also, as a fun fact, I do telehealth with patients that I know have a track record of being jerks. So yes, I in fact do set up online Q&As with patients I know are going to be less than pleasant.
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This was exactly how it went down. I remember one of my most downvoted comments ever. Someone asked what color was our crosshair. And I said I liked pink. It wasn’t the most down voted but it was up there.
It works for Reddit though. An AMA is easier as a result
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I wish we had a downvote system, but at the same time I don’t…
Oh one thing Elder Scrolls Online does that might help is they have Q and A panels on stream. What happens is they let people know when it’s going to happen ahead of time and take questions from a forum thread. They close the thread after a couple of days. Then the community manger curates those questions both for tone, and what fits the criteria of things they are trying to discuss. And then they have a panel ask and answer those questions.
The streaming part might not be right for the Overwatch team but I think it might be a good format for a set of sticky posts here.
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I would prefer that to a live Q n A. That way the devs can answer more questions over an extended period of time at their own pace instead of needing their schedules to line up.
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This is truly the ugliest part of Reddit. There are a lot of innocuous comments that get obliterated because they bring an alternate perspective, are incorrectly perceived as wrong, or have something as simple as emojis. Most of the time we don’t even see it because it just gets hidden or dragged to the bottom.
It’s particularly impactful due to the way the upvote system on Reddit works with the sorting algorithm. A single downvote will often prevent it from making it to hot, where most users see it. Early upvotes and downvotes have a disproportionate amount of power.
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As kind hearted as this sounds Andy… please don’t, I had flashbacks of the Mercy megathread back in the day and to this day devs haven’t been able to live that down, all the “megavoid” dissing from some members of the community can be describe as simply vitriol
that’s the nature and the point of having downvotes though… downvotes are the only way the community is able to regulate itself, yes some opinions are less liked than others but who cares?
maybe don’t go as far as hiding a post with a lot of downvotes but allow people to organize threads and posts by amount of likes
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Hospitality and retail in a nutshell.
To alter a common saying “If you can’t stand the heat, don’t become a fire fighter.”
One of mine was suggesting a translocater type arrow for Hanzo (because he lacked mobility aside wall climb at the time) and it got downvoted a lot. One person commented they liked the idea of mid air teleporting and another person suggested a ghost arrow (ignoring barriers temporarily, which I can see both being a pve skill) and we had a decent back and forward. That back and forward was better feedback than those just downvoting and not leaving a comment.
Then one of my most upvoted posts was a joke and that made me slow down on giving constructive feedback and concerns.
At least if it’s recorded then like you said more questions can be answered precise and clearly over being on the spot doing it live.
Take some questions from multiple sides like some dps, tanks, support and more general ones.
Like “What’s Lucio’s identity now that the dps cast are getting a natural speed boost?” “What’ll happen to all the multi-tank dialogue?” “With CC being toned down how will hyper mobility dps be addressed?” and "What’ll happen to Open Queue, Quickplay Classic, No limits and Mystery heroes with role passives Being implemented?’
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Cause and effect. If devs would show more appreciation for their own forums and not dismiss them as toxic minority and post more stuff here, then more people would join the forums and may be more constructive because they wouldn’t feel ignored.
Don’t get me wrong, you being here is a great beginning, but being ignored was here kinda the standard for years.
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This is an interesting point actually, what would you say is this most useful form of feedback in your opinion?
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The problem with your statement is that it’s horribly biased to the point of meaninglessness.
- ‘Gamers are horrible so they’re horrible’ is not only not true and circular logic, it’s sweeping and non-productive. Considering the causes of toxicity can lead to the lessening of it.
- There are a lot of people who play games. There are some who are horrible people. Just because they’re the loudest of the bunch does not make all of them remotely horrible.
- The taking moral responsibility take is just silly.
Your conclusions are wrong, illogical, sweeping and biased, and unproductive.
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I guess I really never look at redit. Since I figured it is NOT a forum to be taken seriously.
Mainly for the reasons of posting random memes, garbo and such. So the only time I ever look for Dev news is either Youtube or Here.
Good thing that’s not what I said. I’m saying that trying to offload the moral responsibility of basic human decency onto an outside party is moral cowardice. It’s beyond childish.
I agree. A good example of decent people who play games is the main subreddit for OW, which is overwhelmingly positive, if a bit shallow. The polar opposite of this forum.
Gamer brain strikes again.
Oh wow, I had no idea. My bad.