…with the chat policing. There is no need to silence and ban players who engage in a little trash talk or swearing. The report system is overbearing and abused heavily for chat purposes. People report you for EVERYTHING these days. There are MULTIPLE ways to block/mute/avoid other players if they are bothering you. Two mouse clicks and you never have to hear from that person again. It’s really that simple. Why is there even a need for Blizzard to get involved? For cheating or throwing or intentionally obstructing players, yes, by all means, report and deal with them, but this is a competitive online game…a healthy amount of trash talking should be expected and definitely should not be a ban worthy offense. I fully admit that I talk trash. I call people out when they play badly. I get mad when high lvl players can’t seem to identify and focus a healer and instead chase around the undying tank. However, the things I say are nothing in comparison to the other ridiculously offensive things I see others say. The difference is, I don’t care. I don’t get offended. It makes you look weak. Your “feelings” aren’t as important as you think they are. There is literally nothing anyone could say that I would feel the need to report them for. Especially when I can click two buttons and deal with the problem myself. Heck, I don’t even do that because it’s a game and it doesn’t matter what people say. Grow up. If someone bothers you, mute them and move one. It’s that simple. So glad I spent around $60 on this game to be banned for saying the “F” word a lot. It’s ridiculous.
Yep - just don’t type in chat or say anything in voice chat.
If you ask the team to swap you’ll be reported and banned for two weeks. What a meme of a reporting system.
How about don’t be toxic and you won’t get banned or silenced?
Is this such a hard concept? I’ve never once been banned or silenced. You know why? Because I don’t say toxic things.
The thing about trash talking is it’s only fun when both sides are comfortable with it. The problem arises when you start trying to trash people you’ve never met who may or may not share the same mindset as you. One person might find something amusing, but another person might find the same thing offensive. You don’t really get to decide how someone feels or whether their feelings matter. Banter among friends is fine, when everyone’s in on it. Talking down to people you’ve never met who are simply playing the game is naturally going to have a less positive reception. Is it that hard to simply not go insulting people? 
What is toxic though? It’s so subjective. I could say I’m offended by the word “the”. You can’t prove I’m not. Should I expect you to stop saying the word? No? Just hit the mute button and move on if someone bothers you. Why is this so hard to understand. They spend so much time reviewing chat reports when they should be fixing their broken characters and matchmaking.
The action of trash talking/banter is not the issue. The issue is Blizzard’s heavy handed ban and silence policies. There is no need for it when the player has the option to handle the problem themselves.
I have been banned for using the “f word” too much and i recently got banned for saying stuff like “guys rememer private profile = boosted mercy main” as a joke at the start of the game and it wasnt directed to anyone.
Perfect example. I don’t consider swearing as being a douchebag. But yet, you can still sit here and call me one. That in itself is reportable. The difference is, I’m not a little snowflake who gets my feelings hurt when a gnat farts. It’s real simple to just hit mute and move on without getting someone banned because they said something you don’t agree with.
Don’t compare saying the word “the” to flaming a teammate and telling them that they’re useless trash and should uninstall the game. Don’t act like you don’t know the difference between right and wrong.
If your point is that “oh I can say anything, and even if it isn’t toxic, someone will be offended and report me!” then let me counter with I HAVE NEVER BEEN BANNED OR SILENCED IN GAME. If what you are suggesting were true, people would get offended by non-toxic things I say and report me. And yet, that doesn’t appear to be happening, even in my 2000+ hours in the game.
I follow the simple formula: Don’t be toxic, and you won’t get into trouble. It really is that simple.
I hope you’re being hyperbolic, cause that’s just sad.
At least give out chat ban or stuff. #competitive-discussion
Look around the forums bro. I’m not the only one who feels this way. People get reported and banned all the time for stupid things that shouldn’t matter.
I got silenced 1 week because i spawn camped and teabaged a mercy. Report system is bs. (Btw i will never stop teabging mercies).
That sounds a lot like an excuse for toxic behavior, as opposed to a genuine reason for being banned. If people are so easily banned, why have I yet to be banned even once in 2k+ hours in this game?
FYI: Saying “I’m not the only one who feels this way” should never be a valid justification for an attitude. There are plenty of racists out there. If you pick out any individual one and (s)he says “I’m not the only one who feels this way”, does that make their prejudice justified? No, I don’t think it does.
Edit:
You know what, nevermind. I feel there is probably no arguing with you.
My behavior is irrelevant. My point is that with so many options available to the player to mute or block other players that Blizzard shouldn’t even have to get involved.
You are probably the kind of guy that doesn’t use chat or voice chat.
Ofc if you don’t use it you won’t get banned. But using it alone will get you banned one day. Even if you talk about strategies.
Because people hate it when they have to switch or do teamwork.
Like im literally the most positive person on the team i do callouts i even say stuff like wow nice shot the enemy and all of that stuff. But i also like to meme and THAT gets me banned? I wasnt even targetting anyone. I asked 1 person who left the voicechat at the start who also had private profile “what do you have to hide” and apparently thats harassment?
Exactly this. I will call ANYONE crazy who thinks the report system for abusive chat is in a good place right now. It’s heavily abused.
You might be pissed but what makes you think your teammates aren’t too? Would you be ok if someone flamed you when you’re already tilted? Probably not.
It took me 3 suspensions to understand that, I said the F word twice during my entire OW career, I thought telling my teammates they were bad and they should switch was ok, because “hey, I’m just asking you to switch and I’m not insulting you openly, you can’t report me for that” but there are ways to do things correctly and this isn’t one of them.
Now I’m only talking when I ask someone to switch I say “Maybe XXXX is not working right now, we should switch” or “Please switch XXXX, we need XXXX now” and make calls in general.
Having said that I can understand the fear because I feel it too, even when being nice or just neutral I get flamed or people simply leave voice chat so I’m fairly certain I’m getting reported by these people.
It’s on the customers service to step up their game and stop giving us premade answers. Sometimes it really feels like talking to a robot that just sees a certain of reports and validate the suspension based on that.
I mean, my last suspension was really shady in that aspect, sure I called like a dozen of people bad over the course of two months and I shouldn’t have done it but I was just mostly saying “Switch XXXX” or “Please stop feeding and play with your team” so the vast majority of the reports I received were not valid but the suspension was still upheld by a GM.
I pray that I won’t get suspended again honestly and I’m scared to just talk now even when being nice. So while I understand the frustration the automated ban feature can induce, I’ve also realized that adding salt on top of salt just doesn’t work.
Lol I’m a main tank player in Grandmaster. I do nothing but shot call for my team. My comms are amazing.
And you know what? I do nothing but communicate all game and I still somehow manage to not get reported. Isn’t that remarkable?
Here’s the thing, blizz doesn’t get involved. They let their easily-abused automated system do pretty much all of the work in regards to abusive chat and gameplay sabotage reports.