Overwatch takes a hard stance against allegations from popular streamer TimTheTatman, banning a so-called griefer for life. The accusation: stream sniping. What is behind it?
Griefers – these are not necessarily the toxic players, those who throw insults and threats, but those who ruin the game for others. In this case, “stream sniping” was done. And it affected several players across multiple accounts.
A popular streamer sparked the issue
“I no longer want to stream, as I fall victim to stream sniping every single day!” recently complained the popular streamer TimTheTatman, hinting that he will wait to see if and when Blizzard will address the problem. He can no longer tolerate griefers this way.
Allegations against the griefer:
- He is a “one trick”: A player who only plays one character. Even if a different hero would perform better for the group. This is often accompanied by a specialization in a single playstyle and childish behavior when asked to play another character. This term is often considered an insult.
- He is a “stream sniper”: A player who gains advantages through simultaneously watching another’s stream and/or can harass them more effectively. For example, he can see where the respective streamer is located.
Because of TimTheTatman, Blizzard was now forced to investigate the allegations – with surprising results.
“He is one of the most toxic players we have ever encountered”
Hardly examined, Blizzard fell into a deep hole of seemingly endless tickets.
The griefer had not only chosen TimTheTatman as a victim over time but had also harassed others. For this, he had created several accounts that had also been repeatedly banned. In total, he has ruined thousands of players’ matches in Overwatch.
Anyway, he has now been caught – and rigorously banned. Along with all his other and also future accounts, of course. Blizzard emphasizes that they did not ban him just for playing only one character but because he systematically disturbed thousands of games through stream sniping.
Blizzard admits mistakes
Griefers like this are “extremely rare”, but here the reporting system seems to have simply failed. Blizzard acknowledges this.
“We admit that it was an unfortunate mistake of our report system not to have identified this player earlier. However, we are already working on being able to avoid outliers like this in the future.”
At the same time, players are encouraged to continue reporting toxic and damaging players, whether via tickets or social channels. “Let’s work together to make the community better!” With this, Blizzard concludes its statement.
