I get it. Blizzard does not want any toxicity. Not even borderline toxicity. Heck, the argument could even be made that Blizzard actively penalizes anyone acting with a PG-13 attitude.
But that’s not what this post is about. This post brings to question whether or not permabanning (aka permanently banning) is really effective at all, or is it flat out informing the player that they must re-purchase the game if they wish to play again.
For me, I do not see the player learning or have any reason to make any steps to reformation with such a punishment. With money not being a factor (not a major factor at least), any player who has his account permanently banned only will laugh at the punishment, spend ~$20 on another copy of the game, and continue being the same person without hesitation.
I feel as though, the silencing of the account, while doubling each duration, is the absolute best method. Because while most folks do not care about having multiple accounts, I personally find pride in having only 1 account, as I really enjoy how analytically interesting it is to see how I’ve changed, improvements etc from season to season, and with which heroes.
Having said that, I find it most painful that my account has been banned. Without going into too much detail, I’ll admit I was toxic up until my 195 day silence. But with all things considered, I also made the unfortunate choice of maining Torb and Hanzo before their re-works, so you can imagine the amount of grief that was thrown at me. In addition to those poor hero choices, I tended to play a lot (10,000+ games before I was banned). With these factors, not only was I on the receiving end of toxicity just about every game, but I also wracked up numerous unwarranted reports. This is ultimately what lead to my permaban, and to top it off, Blizzard refuses to comment or give any inkling of proof as to what lead up to my final ban (being that I firmly believed I was a mannered, supportive teammate… knowing that I was on the verge of being banned or receiving another hefty punishment).
Regardless, I am still banned without reason, and although I do in fact have 2 other accounts I can easily hop onto, the prestige and pride that I had with my main account was magical to me. Pouring so much effort into one account just to ultimately have it banned without a final reason has left a sour stomach in me towards both Overwatch and Blizzard. I struggle to find the energy or care to play the game anymore, knowing that it all may just be a waste if Blizzard decided to ban it again without telling me why.
That is why I am wondering is a permaban effective? I mean, if Blizzard wishes to discourage loyal players from ever playing their games again, then perhaps. But I’d find a much more just punishment (if the punishment is indeed deserving), for Blizzard to hand out an outlandishly long penalty. 1 year silence, 1 year ban, etc… I believe the message will be better received by the person at fault, rather than permabanning that player. Because having my account which I literally played daily, for almost 3 years straight, 10,000+ games, almost all golden guns, etc, to be permabanned, has left me with a distinct disgust towards Blizzard and Overwatch.
I honestly never had any ill feelings nor grudges towards teammates or enemy players after the game was over. I never took anything personal nor meant to be personally toxic towards others during my play. I always took the games (ranked) seriously, with every intention of winning, and accepted fair losses just like anything in life. I just firmly believe that I operate on a different wavelength than most folks, and often times can be misconstrued as toxic or mean. That was never the case, and I always strove to better my attitude and choose my words more wisely after each punishment. But due to Blizzard’s vagueness, I honestly struggled to pinpoint what it was that I said or did that was deserving of an abusive chat report. It’s like, how can I correct my problems if I can not specify what the problem is? I can assure you it wasn’t anything obvious like I hear others at times, such as swearing vulgarity, making racist comments, or saying players have conditions (ie. autism, retarded, etc). I did none of that. Let me repeat, I did none of that. Yet, I am permanently banned and still do not know why.
So when I see that my account was banned as opposed to being silenced or suspended for an extended period of time, like a year, I can only be left to believe that Blizzard does want to have a toxic-free community, but take it on with an overly aggressive behavior, such that, they are capable of punish enough accounts to the extent where that player ultimately buys another copy of the game to bypass their punishment, in turn, generating more dollars for Blizzard.