Veteran gamers are obviously aware of Blizzard Entertainment’s history of banning players who were caught cheating or hacking their games. In order to keep the overall player experience positive, the developer has cracked down on abusive users who seek to take advantage of system vulnerabilities. These issues are definitely understandable reasons to revoke the violator’s access since these can turn a supposedly fair match into a one-sided ordeal. Now, it has been confirmed that some “Overwatch” players have been reportedly banned for Trolling. This comes as a surprise for many gamers who have experienced the common practice in some form or another in many other online shooters as well.
Trolling can get you banned in ‘Overwatch’
According to Blizzard Entertainment, their most recent bans are part of their continued process to make the team-based shooter more welcoming. It appears that the developer has banned more than a hundred “Overwatch” players in China for trolling. These users were supposedly caught doing “negative player behavior,” which apparently includes, malicious hang up, repeated temporary absence, and the lack of participation in a match.
At first glance, it might seem that their decision to revoke the access of some users due to trolling is quite drastic. These kinds of behaviors are often expected and sometimes are the source of an enjoyable or funny experience for players.
Nevertheless, the development team stands by their decision to enforce the “Overwatch” code of conduct. If left unattended, these behaviors can eventually encourage more negative practices that can affect both the players and the game studio.
Naming and shaming
The official forum for the hero-based FPS actively posts the names of the players who were recently banned by the developer.
It is their intention to shame these individuals to discourage others from misbehaving within the game. In fact, they also encourage other users to report offenders. Additionally, they assured everyone that every report will receive a follow-up verification.
It is a known thing that a lot of players believed that the company did not really pay attention to these reports.
Therefore, a lot of offenders presumably got away with their practices. Likewise, the idea that the developers were lax about it encouraged them even more. Hopefully, all of those things are in the past as the game studio has recently tried to show they want to change the environment.
Tough love
Offenders should be aware that Blizzard Entertainment will enforce a permanent ban system for “Overwatch.” They have expressed their intention to remove the alleged toxicity that has been noted by a lot of its players. Discouraging people from misbehaving seems to be a step in the right direction.
