Blizzard has called on Overwatch 2 players to stop putting their teammates down.
In a blog post detailing the work the studio has done to combat cheaters and disruptive players, Blizzard called on the Overwatch community to employ positivity in the game.
Blizzard said, “While we can’t control how each of you communicates with each other, we can tell you that it matters when it comes to performing well in your game. ”
“Our data shows that players rarely win when they start attacking their teammates.
“We can understand the frustration when a partner cannot perform well or play a hero who is not contributing effectively to the match. However it is always a good idea to encourage ideas and strategies with your teammates. Thoughts happen, but putting them down isn’t effective.
“The one consistent factor in every match you play will always be you, so always remember to think about how you can make a positive contribution to the match, finding ways to turn losses into game-winning strategies.” Are.
“It’s not necessary that every match works, but when it does you always have something to gain.”
Blizzard’s message is one we’ve seen before from developers of team-based competitive multiplayer games, and the issue of toxic chat between teammates is as old as the genre itself.
Blizzard said reporting is the most effective way to deal with cheating and toxic behavior in Overwatch 2, but it also uses machine-learning algorithms to transcribe and identify disruptive voice chat in the game.
Blizzard said, “These efforts have been successful in not only identifying disruptive chat, but encouraging players who are taking action to improve their behavior.”
“In many cases, players do not realize that how they communicate with their teammates can be disruptive and may immediately correct their behavior after receiving a warning. Overall, we are very happy with this new technology. Happy with the results, and we’ll be deploying it to more regions and languages in the coming months.”
An interesting related issue in Overwatch 2 has to do with the recent release of new support hero Lifeweaver, who enters competitive play next week.
Blizzard has warned players not to use Lifeweaver’s Life Grip ability to intentionally put allies in danger, and said it is keeping a close watch to ensure that their abilities are not used to cause grief to teammates. It is not done to give. Again, reporting is the best option here.
However, Blizzard acknowledged that Lifeweaver players may accidentally grief their teammates as they become used to the character’s kit.
Blizzard said, “Making a mistake is not the same as intentionally sabotaging a teammate, and we hope everyone can be patient and kind while Lifeweaver continues to grow among our community.”
Elsewhere, Blizzard said it penalized more than 100,000 accounts worldwide it found used cheats such as Aimbots and Wallhacks. Most of these accounts were permanently banned. Blizzard often bans 5000 accounts every week.