Overwatch vets are convinced players are getting dumber—and they’ve got evidence to back it up

The culture and people involved in online PvP games can be brutal at times, and it’s not out of the norm for experienced players to exaggerate while they express their frustrations. However, a few Overwatch 2 gamers on social media have found some solid anecdotal evidence to suggest the game’s playerbase isn’t getting any smarter.

With nearly 40 heroes on the game’s roster, it can be difficult to keep up with how certain heroes and abilities interact with one another, but a few players on Reddit have pointed out some instances that serve as strong proof the game’s player base is getting dumber.

In the thread’s original post, one user highlighted his team’s text chat to show their Doomfist player getting upset over not being healed. While that might seem like the typical strife among teammates in any given match, what made this complaint especially silly was where it was being directed—at a Hanzo player.

That’s right, the tank was upset because a DPS hero with no healing abilities whatsoever was not using their kit to heal them. Though this was by far the funniest of the mishaps, there were a few more in the comments of the thread that also stood out as other players shared situations they’ve witnessed when it comes to teammates making boneheaded plays.

The top comment on the thread involved a Diamond-level player on Sigma, attempting to use Kinetic Grasp to negate D.Va’s Self-Destruct Ultimate ability. After dying to the bomb, the player was confused and upset because Kinetic Grasp didn’t absorb the bomb’s damage, despite the ability’s tooltip clearly stating it only absorbs projectiles.

One can only hope these anecdotes are just coming from a microscopically small fraction of Overwatch 2 players, but it’s still scary to know at any moment, you could queue into a game with players who don’t even know how their own abilities work.