Toxicity should be allowed. You guys are a multi-billion dollar company failing to define the line of what constitutes toxicity and what constitutes the friendly banter found in quite literally every game. By now, it’s a relatively common opinion that because you guys have an option to disable/enable censoring then it should be on the player whether they want to witness or not witness this form of communication. Match chat is disabled by default, and while the general Overwatch demographic isn’t always the brightest, they aren’t stupid enough to not expect people to say these things.
To appeal to the corporate puppeteers, it’s equally profitable to appeal to both the people who don’t want toxicity and the people who like the more “competitive” environment. Players who don’t want toxicity can still play the game because they have the necessary tools required to avoid it–and players who couldn’t care less aren’t going to feel the looming presence of an AI that dictates whether what you said is worth getting suspended over or not.
Now, before anyone starts typing up a storm, the toxicity I’m referring to doesn’t fall on any extreme end of the comm-spectrum. No racism, no sexism, no homophobia, anti-semitism, and any other radical form of hate that I personally think obviously defines itself. Those who do say things like this should face consequences, absolutely, but where does the line draw in terms of that banter people want? Is “Tank hmu if you need a coach” so harassing they should be banned? What about “0-5 lol”? I can think of an infinite number of examples in which it’s joshing around but not life-threatening. You (Blizzard HQ) are so caught up in trying to categorize every form of toxicity you fail to see what people actually want: a well-rounded, content-driven game that listens to its fanbase and runs in the way a respectable company that actually cares should run.
And now, dare I say the game no one wants to mention (M%rvel R$vals), is blatantly out-competing you guys, all the while we await some new buzz-word filled pseudo-update where you guys “heard us” and are doing your “best” to give us what we want. I think you’ve forgotten, this game does not exist without a playerbase, and all of that is going to be driven away because of the incessant corporate slop you guys serve on a silver platter.
Simply put: Give us content, fix your game, and get your act together. It’s genuinely pathetic (in the non-toxic sense, of course.)