The reporting system of Overwatch gets clear rules. What can be reported and what cannot, you can now see in black and white.
Sooner or later, it’s the same in every online community. After the initial grace period is over, the tone in the chat gets rougher, and the behavior of some people gets worse. Those who do not get their way tend to troll the whole team or insult every player and their mothers without hesitation.
Therefore, there has been a reporting system in Overwatch for a while now, allowing players to report toxic players. This system works in principle, but it has also been misused in the past to punish players for trivial reasons.
On the current PTR of Overwatch, the system has now been significantly improved and supplemented with categories. Additionally, each category now has a clear description of what can be reported under this point and what does not belong here.
An example is the category “Bad Teamwork,” where Blizzard lists what falls under it:
“Bad teamwork is: Not trying to fulfill the map objectives or constantly communicating negatively in the chat (Example: “This team is terrible”).”
Bad teamwork is not: Playing a hero that the community does not perceive as optimal or being silent in voice chat.”
In the past, Blizzard has already announced that they want to penalize those who misuse the reporting system by reporting other players without a valid reason. Presumably, the precise description of the categories is a first step to clearly inform both reporters and toxic players about what is allowed and what is not.
What do you think about this expansion of the reporting system? Is it exactly what Overwatch needed? Or just a fruitless attempt to get the problem of toxic players under control?
By the way, Blizzard is already considering a map editor – then players could create their own maps.
