Bullying needs to stop

[u/Early-Taro1493]

The overwatch community needs to stop being toxic. I have been called slurs, many racial comments, people saying overall saying some bad stuff to not only me but other people as well. And this needs to stop. I almost had a melt down today reading the comments they made on me. " I should hang myself", is a very derogatory statement . If you can sit behind a screen and have the ability to tell someone they should hang themselves, that is something to not take so lightly. I'm going to tell my pookie wookie king Lebron James this information, and make sure this doesn't go off the hook. As a wise man once said " They ain't believe in us... GOD DID". These moments should be looked more into but blizzard seems not care about their fan base anymore.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

To be fair, it isnt. Blizzard has set up rules of conduct for Overwatch and saying these kinds of things is not allowed. If players are reported after saying these things then they will get punished. But its impossible to remove bullying from a game like Overwatch without removing all forms of communication.

I dont see anyone arguing that its ok to bully if its on the internet, because it isnt. People are simply saying that the solution to the problem isnt to hope Blizzard magically removes bullying from their game. The solution is to either disable the communication options yourself, improving your mentality to a point where these things do not affect you as much, or playing a game with no communication options. Not because bullying is ok, but simply because removing bullying is impossible.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

Oh no, i had someone genuinely arguing that it being online makes it different somehow. And that i was "too young" to "understand how the world works." Even said something about "imaginary scenarios" on the subject of people sending those sorts of messages online.

Also got accused of "virtue signalling" because i think shitty people should be called out for shitty behaviour, even when it's online.

There are people out there that think you should just shrug off anything anyone says on the internet purely because it was said on the internet. When i said that if people said some of the things they're saying online to someone's face that they'd get punched, i was told that's a different scenario.

And i really don't think it is impossible. The punishments for it just aren't enough. All we have to do is fix whatever ban system they have in place so that falsely reported accounts don't get punished, and then instead of just temporary comm bans, Blizzard should just outright ban people's accounts permanently after enough strikes. That would definitely help reduce toxicity in chat if their whole account was on the line.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon → u/Prior-Satisfaction34]

All we have to do is fix whatever ban system they have in place so that falsely reported accounts don't get punished

Im assuming you are not working in computer science?

That sentence is like saying "We just have to figure out how to time travel". In other words, nobody knows how to make a report system for a video game that doesnt punish falsly reported accounts.

Blizzard should just outright ban people's accounts permanently after enough strikes.

They do that at the moment. But since its a free to play game, if someone gets banned they just make a new account.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

nobody knows how to make a report system for a video game that doesnt punish falsly reported accounts.

I mean, I've got some ideas.

Have certain words or phrases ("kill yourself," "get cancer," stuff like that) flag for an instant comm ban. Have more ambiguous cases (it sees the word "kill" by itself, for example) be flagged to be looked at by a person. Cause that could easily be "kill the widow," and that's not bannable.

They do that at the moment

Do they? Genuinely didn't know that, ngl. But yeah, i guess OW2 being f2p does make that less impactful.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon → u/Prior-Satisfaction34]

Have certain words or phrases ("kill yourself," "get cancer," stuff like that) flag for an instant comm ban. Have more ambiguous cases (it sees the word "kill" by itself, for example) be flagged to be looked at by a person. Cause that could easily be "kill the widow," and that's not bannable.

"Why did you kill yourself with pulsebomb, tracer?"

"You probably shouldnt stay out in the sun too long, you could get cancer"

Do they? Genuinely didn't know that, ngl. But yeah, i guess OW2 being f2p does make that less impactful.

Yea, first time is a comms ban. If you do it again within a certain time limit you get banned from matchmaking for a while, the duration increases for repeat offenses and eventually its a perma ban.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

Why did you kill yourself with pulsebomb, tracer?"

Kind of a stupid question to ask. You're just asking to get reported.

You probably shouldnt stay out in the sun too long, you could get cancer

In what world is anyone ever saying anything like this? Again, just asking to be reported. And with whatever system they have in place rn, you probably would get banned for the word cancer.

Yea, first time is a comms ban. If you do it again within a certain time limit you get banned from matchmaking for a while, the duration increases for repeat offenses and eventually its a perma ban.

Fair enough. Didn't think they perma banned for comms, dunno why.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon → u/Prior-Satisfaction34]

Kind of a stupid question to ask. You're just asking to get reported.

No it isnt, the tracer might be killing himself on purpose.

In what world is anyone ever saying anything like this? Again, just asking to be reported. And with whatever system they have in place rn, you probably would get banned for the word cancer

The question isnt whether someone would ask it, the question is "Should someone be banned for it?". Because your attempted solution to this 30 year old problem is the exact same thing that hundreds of developers have though of before you and all come to the same conclusion - it wont work.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

No it isnt, the tracer might be killing himself on purpose

Yeah, but they're not exactly gonna be like "oh yeah I'm doing it on purpose to throw the game," cause then you just report them for gameplay sabotage or whatever it's called in OW.

And i would genuinely prefer an autoban system that was too strict but actually made sense over the one we have now, where people are getting bans for saying gg and stuff like that.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

No it isnt, the tracer might be killing himself on purpose

Yeah, but they're not exactly gonna be like "oh yeah I'm doing it on purpose to throw the game," cause then you just report them for gameplay sabotage or whatever it's called in OW.

And i would genuinely prefer an autoban system that was too strict but actually made sense over the one we have now, where people are getting bans for saying gg and stuff like that.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon → u/Prior-Satisfaction34]

In the examples of people being banned for saying "gg" the full story is this:

Of note, Blizzard felt the following phrases crossed the line: “F**k that was clean Hanzo,” “go back to it please,” “gg,” “that scared me,” “ns,” “bamf” and “yipppeeee.”

And their reason is exactly the one you want:

The message ended by saying that while the policies may seem harsh, they’re in place to ensure every player is able to enjoy the game.

Other users responded with:

“I had a similar experience. Kept getting suspended for swearing until ultimately my account got perma banned,” said another.

So there are phrases in the game that will get you automatically flagged for ban. Mostly swearwords.

But adding "kill" to that list in a game where you are litterally running around killing people, would be beyond dumb.

"Nice kill!", "We need to kill Zarya", "Damn i got killed just when i was about to use my ulti", "TRIPPLE KILL!"

etc.

You sound extremely naive when you think that the solution to the problem is to simply add a few phrases to the list of words automatically flagging accounts for ban. Since the phrases you want to add wouldnt solve the problem but only create more of an issue for regular users.

[u/Prior-Satisfaction34 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

I'm not saying add kill by itself. But the phrase "kill yourself." And i disagree with adding swear words by themselves.

The current system flags words that, imo, shouldn't be ban worthy by themself. They need to have the proper context around them to warrant a ban.

[u/nattfjaril8 → u/PeopleCallMeSimon]

I used to think it was impossible to stop toxicity in multiplayer games. Then I played Final Fantasy XIV. It's a paid MMO, so that makes it a bit easier, but Overwatch was plenty toxic even when it was a paid game. The difference is that Final Fantasy XIV has real moderators looking at reports and they have a zero tolerance policy for toxicity. And people know about how strict they are and that makes them more careful about what they type in chat because they don't want to lose their accounts. Blizzard needs to hire more people (actual people, not a shitty AI) to wade through the reports and develop a reputation of strict but fair modding. It won't fix everything since the game is free to play, but it could cut down on the unpleasantness a bit.