Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan took on a toxic Overwatch player in the game’s forums—and won.
In a post titled “Seven bans, one year,” a player wrote that he’s had no response to support tickets inquiring on the reason for his multiple bans. As noted in the title, the player has received seven bans over the span of one year.
The player has received 220 reports for harassment, Kaplan responded. “Looking at your chat logs, these reports are verified,” Kaplan said. Kaplan also posted a sampling of the player’s chat harassment—and yeah, the player is definitely not playing nice.
Related: A new Overwatch reporting feature goes live this week
“Plus you continually accuse other players of hacking—we’re seeing this in a significant percentage of your games played,” Kaplan said. “The players were are accusing are not hacking, they are just performing at a high level. Also, you repeatedly spam lines such as, ‘TOrbrbrbrbBrbrbrBrBrBRBBRBRBRBRbRBRBRbRB.'”
While it certainly is funny to see Kaplan clap back at a player harassing others in Overwatch, it’s also a clear indicator of the serious problem Overwatch faces in regard to toxicity. The player in question doesn’t appear to understand why he’s being banned, despite his clear bad behavior.
Blizzard is working to step up its report system, most recently adding a feature that notifies reporters when a player they’ve reported has been actioned. It’s a small adjustment, but could go far in reinforcing the report system in Overwatch.
Fighting toxicity continues to be a big deal for the Overwatch, and it expects to continue rolling out new features into the new year.
