A streamer considered himself particularly clever and wanted to bypass his ban in Overwatch . However, Blizzard did not relent.
For several weeks now, Blizzard has been taking a more aggressive stance against troublemakers in Overwatch. Anyone who misbehaves, deliberately loses games, or artificially influences their skill rating to ruin the enjoyment of others will face penalties. Repeated offenses can even lead to a complete ban for the season.
One of these rules states that players may not manipulate their skill rating. The streamer Stevooo announced on Twitter that he wanted to undertake a “Silver to Grandmaster” challenge.
So Stevooo bought a new account, invited 5 “friends” who were all in the Bronze tier, and completed his placement matches. And what had to happen happened: Stevooo was ranked low, left the group with his “friends,” and began the challenge.
However, not for long. Blizzard quickly banned Stevooo’s second account.
He then complained that he only had the account to play with his friends. He felt punished for wanting to play with his friends.
Blizzard explains that influencing the skill rating goes against the agreements. Stevooo retorted with a disgruntled: “Got it, I can’t play with friends.”
Blizzard even contacted Stevooo via Discord and explained the case to him in detail, how they came to the decision:
- If Stevooo had continued to play with his friends after the placement matches, everything would have been fine.
- Right after the placement matches, he started his “challenge” stream.
- From then on, he only registered solo.
Blizzard sees it as proven that the account was created solely to start this challenge – and that is against the terms of service.
Cortyn says: I find the whole “Bronze to Grandmaster” challenges quite silly anyway. If a professional Grandmaster buys a second account and then starts in Bronze… does anyone really find that exciting? Is it really interesting to see that a Grandmaster player can plow through Bronze, Silver, and Gold opponents? Yes, wow. A professional is indeed a professional and can also earn back their original rank. What a “challenge”.
What do you think of this approach? Is Stevooo actually “in the right”? Or is it good that Blizzard does not let themselves be fooled here?
In Overwatch, there is currently an annoying bug that bans players unjustly!
