"Overwatch" game director Jeff Kaplan has been very vocal lately in the game's official forum. Several days ago, Kaplan shared how going public in the community is both scary and downright intimidating. The director also stressed that team behind Blizzard’s popular first-person shooter are creative individuals working independently to further improve the game. The heartfelt post was a response to a player who criticized the game and its developers. Recently, the game director was on the online forum once again. This time, giving an unproductive player a taste of a 30-day ban.
Players’ criticism
A few days ago, an “Overwatch” player named Deventh made a post on the game’s official forum. He complained about the balance changes and suggested that the balancing team needs to be replaced. His post was responded by several players who are disappointed with the recent heroes balance changes.
Interestingly, the game director intervened in the thread and hit the player back with a 30-day ban. According to Kaplan, Blizzard will no longer tolerate people demanding that the team must be replaced. He also emphasized that players should make productive posts stating the issue or give productive suggestions.
Other details
Blizzard’s first-person shooter game is one of the many titles that have a massive player base.
These players have exceedingly unparalleled passion about the game, at times to a fault. This is exactly what Jeff Kaplan was talking about in his previous post. For a while now, Blizzard has been working hard enforcing its new rules. The developer recently triggered the start button of Permanent Bans in the game.
Players who have been and will be banned in the Competitive Play for three seasons might get permanently banned from the mode.
It seems that Blizzard does not want these types of players in their popular FPS title. The same philosophy appears to be applied now in the game’s forum.
In going public
In his previous post, the director also stressed that posting and interacting with players in the forum is not included in their job description. But, they do it out of love for the game and to have an open relationship with the player base.
Going public with their real names is also their way of letting players know that they are open to suggestions and listening to complaints.
Because they are not hiding under some aliases like most players, Kaplan revealed that posting in the forum is sometimes intimidating and downright scary. He added that while the majority of the players in the community are great, there are several who are mean.
Posting online is part of everyone’s right. However, it must be done with tact and a sense of responsibility. What the game director did in the “Overwatch” forum is an indication that unproductive critics are not welcome to play the game.
