Valve’s zero-tolerance policy on toxicity has claimed another victim: Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner. The beloved Dota 2 host recently had his in-game communication privileges taken away after his behavior score tanked.
Following the initial shock, Slacks explained his side of the story on Reddit as community members flocked to the thread to share their toxic experiences with the Dota 2 host.
Slack admitted to his toxic behavior in Dota 2 ranked and public matches, while also claiming he’s been making an effort to change. In the fall of 2023, Valve released an update that changed Dota 2’s behavior score system. Following this change, Slacks noticed his score slowly going down. As a countermeasure, Slacks stopped using his microphone, streaming, and minimized toxic typing.
The change in Slacks’ in-game behavior only slowed down the fall, though, as the host finally lost enough behavior points to lose his communication privileges. Despite finding his punishment “deserved,” Slacks also thinks the new system can be broken or excessively harsh.
Slacks is a vocal player by nature, and losing his voice in games might impact his overall enjoyment. For the time being, Slacks aims to stick to playing with close friends in the party queue.
Overall, the new behavior and smurf detection systems have been working double time to clean up the Dota 2 matchmaking pool. But there seems to be a general consensus that recovering behavior scores is now almost impossible. Players cut off all communication themselves and continue to lose points, and some streamers even opted for boosting to fix their behavior score, which resulted in long-awaited Dota 2 perma-bans.
The current system basically leaves little to no room for player reformations, and it’s currently unknown whether that’s an intentional decision, so Dota 2 players with hints of toxicity in their blood are on thin ice until further notice.
