“Overwatch” is without a doubt one of the biggest titles in recent memory. Since its release last year, it acquired millions of players from around the world. But unlike any other games, it still suffers from one common problem: toxicity.
Players often leave matches early or tend to throw their team in “Overwatch.” These are just among the many ways toxic players ruin the gameplay experience. Apparently, developer Blizzard is taking yet another step towards fighting it. Here is everything about it in a nutshell.
Muting players on Xbox Live
The studio released the newest map recently in the game called Junkertown, as well as many character tweaks and changes.
Interestingly, the update brought a brand new tool in fighting toxic players in the game. Xbox Live users that acquired enough points for the “Avoid Me” reputation will be banned from the in-game voice chat. This will prevent them from communicating with other players and thus making their experience a little worrisome.
According to Engadget, it is a small consequence in “Overwatch,” but it should be enough to eliminate the bad apples from the good ones. Expanding the game’s toxicity-fighting features is a great move from Blizzard. Even the softer methods is just as significant as the major ones, such as seasonal bans. This is the new tool that the studio is deploying in hopes to fight player toxicity, an issue that seems to grow as each day passes by.
The video game company already vowed in the past that more and more features would be launched to tackle in-game toxicity. While they did not elaborate any details, they assured the fans that these tools would make their experience worth it.
Improving the console platform
This new anti-toxicity tool in Xbox Live is a big hooray for console players, most especially Xbox One users.
Remember that when the game first launched, players on the said platform had no way of reporting toxic players. This type of reports were only made available in the PC version of the game. But just weeks ago, Blizzard finally introduced the report and punishment feature. Now, with this new method, it seems the studio is looking to bring improvements to the console version of the game.
Director Jeff Kaplan announced on the official site of “Overwatch” that they have managed to discipline around 480,000 players. He mentioned that this figure would increase, most especially with the new mute feature. Kaplan also promised that they would further refine and improve the report and punishment system in the game. While he remained positive, he did not choose to elaborate on the topic.
