It has been well publicized across the video gaming industry about the growing toxicity in Overwatch, and give major props to Blizzard, as they are doing everything they can to bring it back down.
One of the catalysts for this poor behavior online has been down to how ineffective the game’s report system is, with many players taking advantage of its tame punishments. It’s great to see that this is something that is being addressed, but it is also a hindrance on the shooter going forward in other ways.
As game director Jeff Kaplan states, the focus on reducing toxicity has in turn slowed down development on the more creative side of things that will improve the game as a whole. Kaplan stated: We want to make new maps, we want to make new heroes, we want to make animated shorts. But we’ve been put in this weird position where we’re spending a tremendous amount of time and resources punishing people and trying to make people behave better.”
Ultimately, far too much time is going into implementing changes for report systems and other issues of a similar nature, as opposed to working on a replay or match history system. Hopefully it’s something that can be resolved soon so Blizzard can get back to work on progressing Overwatch for the future.
