If you were to bring up Overwatch in a conversation, certain things would no doubt be brought up. The vastness of the game’s roster, favorite character on that roster, very strategy when going into battle, etc. This is what should be brought up when talking about such games. However, the game also has a dark side in the form of a very toxic community. While it’s true that the Overwatch community is so passionate that they have inspired true change, they are also known for being very ruthless and mean to other players, which Blizzard has been trying to stop.
The toxicity issue is a constant talking point, and now, Blizzard has taken a major step to try and get it to stop. In the latest patch notes for the game, Community Manager Josh Engen revealed that players who get reported for toxicity in the game will be receiving in-game notices directly from Blizzard on this matter.
This will serve as a “caution” of sorts to warn against further toxic actions But, if they refuse to listen, “Ongoing misconduct will result in silence, suspension, or a permanent ban, depending on the severity of the infraction”.
This will no doubt make many players happy, as they’ve been asking Blizzard for quite some time to step up their game in regards to the toxic community that Overwatch has gotten. Now, lest you think that this is just a small group of players “complaining”, there have been very detailed reports from places like Reddit and Battle.net describing all that’s been going on. One instance was a gay couple who was being harassed by both opponents and allies. They haven’t played the game since.
Even if it was a small section of the community doing this, it would still need to stop. Video games are supposed to be a safe haven for everyone, and no one deserves to be harassed while trying to have fun.
Blizzard is heading for disaster. How so?
What if “toxic” players deliberately and intentionally falsely flag other players for being toxic just to get them perma-banned from Overwatch?
Being a “toxic” is not the same as being stupid. Quite the opposite. Toxic players can be very shrewd and manipulative. Anybody who has played EVE Online knows this to be all too true.
There must be a degree of burden-of-proof which Blizzard has to meet and to be blunt… they cannot. In a civil court, I could see Blizzard being sued to the hilt by wrongly-banned gamers. And just for the record, folks… I am not trolling or being toxic. I’m just being realistic.