The latest update Y3S3.1 for Rainbow Six Siege introduces new penalties for team kills. What was intended as a well-meaning change, however, has not been well received by the community.
Ubisoft continues to try to mitigate the toxic atmosphere in the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege. A new change is now intended to address team kills. However, the community is up in arms. There are two factions against the change:
- while some players already feel punished by the new regulation
- others feel the change does not go far enough
Ban for Team Kills: Too harsh or not harsh enough?
What changes with update Y3S3.1? The latest patch for Rainbow Six introduces harsher penalties for team kills. Now killing team members results in a 30-minute ban, rigorously excluding the player from matchmaking, both from the casual playlist and from ranked and terrorist hunt.
Further violations lead to stricter bans, such as being excluded for one hour, two hours, 24 hours, or even for a whole week.
How was team killing handled before the update? Until patch Y3S3.1, a double team kill in any mode resulted in a kick to the main menu. In the ranked playlist, there was an additional 30-minute penalty for leaving the match.
Why has the penalty been increased? Ubisoft is still trying to improve and support Rainbow Six after more than two years. However, the community of the game is often perceived as particularly toxic. Recently, streamer Anne Munition showed the harassment she faces in the game.
In a previous patch, Ubisoft even introduced harsh penalties for abusive behavior, but only for the PC version of Rainbow Six.
How does the community react? Players are protesting against the patch. Some already feel punished by the introduction of the changes. There are reports of unintentional team kills due to friendly fire. This happens to experienced players.
Others argue that in certain situations it is part of tactical gameplay to eliminate your own team members. For example, if teammates are killed who are currently being interrogated by an enemy Caveira. If an enemy Caveira is interrogating downed team members, the location of the other teammates is revealed.
Other players find the changes good, but desire the introduction of a “Punish/Reward” feature. This would allow players to decide for themselves who should be punished for a team kill.
In contrast, other players argue that such a feature would only be abused. They complain that Ubisoft hardly responds to player feedback. For years, the community has provided good suggestions against team killing that would not require bans.
What do you think of the latest change in Rainbow Six? Are the bans excessive or do they not go far enough?
