“Overwatch” game director Jeff Kaplan recently revealed that the team has plans for the Reporting system of the video game. These plans include the short term, medium term, and the long term plans of the game developer.
Short term plans
According to game director Jeff Kaplan, Blizzard has not done a great job in communicating the adjustments it has made to the Report and Punishment system of “Overwatch.” In the game’s official forum, Kaplan shares the team’s plans for the system and will evaluate all aspects of punishment.
The game director notes that their short term plan will start converting silences.
Silences are the most common punishment in the game, usually imposed on players with undesirable manners. When a player is silenced, voice and text chat is disabled. Recently, a trolling user in the forum was discovered to have been silenced for 9,216 hours. However, even though the player had already been given a punishment, he was still able to play the game, which is a real problem.
Kaplan reveals that they are looking into increasing the length of suspensions. Moreover, he adds that soon Silences will be scrapped and punishments will only include suspensions and bans.
Also included in the developer’s short term plan is the continuing test of the system that sends notifications to players when their reports have been acted upon. The game director moreover says that several accounts were banned in the recently concluded Season Five. Those affected will lose all the rewards they have achieved in the particular season.
Medium Term
As for the medium term plans, Blizzard will completely ban repetitive Competitive Play offenders. This means that they will no longer be able to play Competitive again. The in-game notification system, as well as increased email notification, is included in the developer’s medium term plans. A brand new set of punishments that will escalate much more quickly will also be tested.
Aside from this, Kaplan also underlines that they are looking into blocking Competitive Play offenders sooner. Booster and game throwers who manipulate skill rating will be included in these punishments. Kaplan said that Blizzard would become more aggressive in implementing punishments for this kind of behavior.
Future plans
Blizzard hopes that in the long run, it will not have to police the “Overwatch” community. The game developer would like to promote positive actions by rewarding players who act properly. Kaplan notes that they are working hard to solve the current and persistent problem that affects not only the players but the developer as well.