Here you go
And this is the kind of behavior most of you here are defending? Sadly, not surprised.
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Blizzard may ban Overwatch players for "toxic comments" on social media like YouTube
- Thread starter DryvBy
- Start date
And this is the kind of behavior most of you here are defending? Sadly, not surprised.
DarkoMaledictus
Tier Whore
Time for M.A.I.D to be released. We need a completely anonymous internet. Big Brother is starting to get on my nerves...
Zog
Banned
We aren't defending behavior but we also aren't wanting to just give corporations carte blanche.
Makariel
Member
I don't think "most of you here" particularly care about random idiots on the internet, but the question of who watches the watchmen is one that concerns, well, obviously not you.
deadscreensky
Member
Personally I worry more about basic literacy. Blizzard said nothing about banning players for toxic YouTube comments, but somebody makes shit up for a catchy thread headline and too many of you jump right in, primed for outrage.
Makariel
Member
I think you're missing the point, it does not matter if the alleged toxic behavior is form of a 2 hour documentary, youtube comment, facebook post, pigeon message or passive-aggressive post-it-note on the community fridge.
deadscreensky
Member
Is Blizzard allowed to ban players for acting toxic while playing Overwatch?
That's what this thread is actually about. If you believe they shouldn't be able to police their own multiplayer game then you should state that instead of pretending this is about some free speech nonsense. Most players won't agree with that.
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Agent_Carnage
Member
Is Blizzard really checking every negative comment on YT and comparing usernames? What a waste of time. Why would someone get banned from a service/game for posting stuff on a 3rd party website? Seems like a total waste of time.
Makariel
Member
If you would have read my earlier post in this thread you would have seen that the very first thing I wrote is that Blizzard is a private company that can do what they want. However, they shouldn't get a free pass to trample over consumer rights in the process. Also, free speech is not nonsense.
Edit: are you working for channel 4 news by any chance?
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deadscreensky
Member
Yeah, that would be super dumb. It's a wonder anybody thinks that is actually happening here, but post a misleading headline and certain people will take it as a gospel...
You misunderstand. The nonsense is this fake idea that Blizzard is banning people based on comments outside of the game. They are talking about videos of people being toxic players inside Overwatch matches.
TheSadRanger
Banned
While there's some examples in the video that deserve bans/suspensions. I don't feel it should be that big of a deal if a player gets frustrated and says "Can we get on the fucking point guys??!??" or "Holy crap can we get someone on that genji/pharah, etc?" if they use vulgar language too harsh than sure a warning or suspension is warranted based on the number of incidents. I mean if a player is standing on the point trying to capture it and three of his team mates are chasing one player for a kill instead of helping cap the point quicker, than ya he has a right to call em out.
Being frustrated at a team at times and getting heated every now and then shouldn't be lumped into the same group of toxicity as someone going "OMG go fucking kill yourself you fucking N*****" ad nauseum.
Virex
Banned
Can someone explain to me where this all comes from? What I mean is why or when has Blizzard come to the point where they have to police your personal life or what you do outside the game to determine whether you can play their game or have fun with one of their products. I'm all for being respectful to people and just enjoying the online experience. But this seems bit like a step too far for me.
Virex
Banned
That's actually scary to be honest. It's like if you don't think like everyone else does. Then you're some evil person that needs to be silenced or shunned
Makariel
Member
Look for yourself at the 2:34 minute mark:
"We now proactively seek out social media sites like youtube for example, and look for incidents of very toxic behavior [...]"
If it's fake news then it's very convincing, since it made its way into a developer update from Blizzard themselves.
And yes, I agree that this is super dumb, still something that Blizzard is apparently doing.
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Crayon Shinchan
Aquafina Fanboy
This seems more like a shot across the bows for higher profile players.
Because who's going to waste their time combing through for all the nobody players?
It's a good move... stop the toxicity at the higher levels from high profile players, and it should help to reduce in part the overall community toxicity (as those high profile players help to set the tone for the community in many instances).
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Damageinc103
Member
Maybe they should change the name of the game too Overreach
cubicle47b
Member
I'm okay with temp banning (maybe even lifetime banning) users based on in-game and community forum comments. This kind of overreach is scary and dangerous, though. I can't support Blizzard financially while they're doing this.
Kallen0667
Neophyte
this sounds like a EULA disaster, class action lawsuit waiting to happen. i remember when linux was taken from the ps3 owners and they sued but it still didnt work. id still buy the game though something as small as this dosent deter me. but id imagine people will try to abuse it. but as for players always trying to find someone to blame, just reminds me of mgo2 and the mindset some people had in that game.
deadscreensky
Member
...Yeah, I already linked that myself.
As I've pointed out too many times now, it's very obvious watching the complete comments, putting this all in in context, that they're talking about in-game behavior. It's an enormous stretch to make the assumption that they're going after nasty YouTube comments. There's nothing he actually says to support that logical jump. Blizzard is talking about how players act in their game. That's it.
Makariel
Member
That is your interpretation of what's been presented. Obviously others have very different interpretations, and not quite as much faith in Blizzard as you do. If you can't see how what he says is easily interpreted in a different way, your belief in the goodness of Blizzard is just stronger than that of most, but that's fine. I personally haven't played a Blizzard game since HotS came out, hence that's really not the hill I plan to die on
Barakov
Member
It's honestly kind of amazing how bad everything with this game has gotten. The very fact that they're doing this is extremely offputting. It's one thing to police behavior in the game but once you go to other venues(twitter, youtube etc.), that's when you cross the line. Then again this seems more like them paying lip service to the people complaining about this stuff because honestly, this game doesn't seem any worse than CoD or whatever else is out there. I can't remember the last a game went from being extremely fun to play to being a chore to play.
Azathoth
Neo Member
That's how I interpret it too but at this point they should probably put out another statement clarifying so this can be put to bed.
Phoenix RISING
Banned
Yes.
If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
I was at an FPS tournament two weeks ago and you were automatically disqualified for any profanity or "teabagging."
The winds of change are coming.
jadedm17
Member
Yea, too true; I strongly prefer a good single-player experience nowadays to the hassle of multiplayer.
I just finished Zelda and Mario, the games I moved to after enjoying Destiny 2 a whole two weeks. (Over 1000 hours in D1 for reference.)
stargateheaven
Member
as i said earlier in the thread. He clearly means videos of toxic players. Not comments.
KevinKeene
Banned
I wonder what it is about the US-online gaming culture that creates such a hostile environment. Just to be clear, I think people are generally overreacting to trash talk taking place during online-matches. But I simply don't remember ever encountering something like that in German online groups. Maybe very young kids would trashtalk like that, but anyone age 18+ cares more about the game, not about insulting others. Sure, you'll find the rare asshole doing that, but it seems like it's standard behavior on english-speaking servers.
TheSadRanger
Banned
It's been going on for a long time in U.S gaming. I wish I could find it on youtube but X Play used to do this segment back in the day where they would record people on Xbox Live being toxic on Halo 2 and just play the audio for it.
OH-MyCar
Member
I'm an ex-Overwatch player because I got sick of teammates tilting if we weren't running the "optical comp" of the week, but punitive measures are never going to do a thing. Look at every Blizzard property since the beginning of time; they've had banwaves and nothing changes. I remember deciding to exclusively play with friends on Diablo II, nearly 20 years ago.
If they want to reduce "toxicity", it has to come at the game level. I can't imagine many (ex) players like myself being too angry over some extra long queue times to be flagged in-game for "laid-back, friendly games only" (or something comparable). Of course it'd get trolled, it's the internet, but at least that's a start in building a community among like-minded players instead of just assuming quickplay should be acceptable for everyone not playing comp.
If they want to reduce "toxicity", it has to come at the game level. I can't imagine many (ex) players like myself being too angry over some extra long queue times to be flagged in-game for "laid-back, friendly games only" (or something comparable). Of course it'd get trolled, it's the internet, but at least that's a start in building a community among like-minded players instead of just assuming quickplay should be acceptable for everyone not playing comp.
I think it's pretty rare.
I've put months worth of gaming into so many games and rarely came upon people who were belligerent.
I've played on PC and PS3, wiith so many games, and probably the worst people were just those talking about how high they were. Oh, and those just playing music or leaving their mics to feedback into infinity.
Swearing, being racist? Extremely rare, to the point that i can barely recollect it happening.
The first time I ever actually heard about how bad foul mouthed online play was was when Xbox Live first started and i had already been playing online for like 7 years by that point. So even today, considering how rare it has come up for me, i think it's only an XBL problem still.
ilfait
Member
I think a practical solution could be an option box for people who want to play in a safe space, where "toxicity" can be defined and controlled by Blizzard. That way you don't have to ban players who have already paid you to play your game, and you don't have to exclude people who aren't averse to a little virtual chaos.
Or you know, an ignore function that stays persistent forever?
Still, i've found it incredibly rare, so even with assholes who feedback forever i don't really care, since they usually play without doing that.
Sailent
Banned
I think that this thread really shows how Gaf has gone rogue.
Everything related to erradicate toxic behaviour should be encouraged, not criticized and to take a dump on it.
This thread is oozing with people who doesn't want to be banned for being sexist, racist, homophobic or a stupid fuck in general.
Don't bring the "take it like a man" in here, or "what a bunch of pussies". It's stupid, they could TEACH other people how to RESPECT other people by aplying these kind of bans. I cannot see anything wrong with this. And if you do, well... I have bad news for you.
And if you cannot control yourself, play while having open the notepad, and whatever stupid shit you're about to type, save it to you. No one ones a "teammate" of that kind. No one. Not even the toxic.
Everything related to erradicate toxic behaviour should be encouraged, not criticized and to take a dump on it.
This thread is oozing with people who doesn't want to be banned for being sexist, racist, homophobic or a stupid fuck in general.
Don't bring the "take it like a man" in here, or "what a bunch of pussies". It's stupid, they could TEACH other people how to RESPECT other people by aplying these kind of bans. I cannot see anything wrong with this. And if you do, well... I have bad news for you.
And if you cannot control yourself, play while having open the notepad, and whatever stupid shit you're about to type, save it to you. No one ones a "teammate" of that kind. No one. Not even the toxic.
KevinKeene
Banned
What a scary posting. You want to 'eradicate' certain speech you don't like, and you use a cheap attack at what happened to apply 'strength' to your posting.
Nothing should 'eradicated'.
Sailent
Banned
Yeah try to turn that around me...
Trying to put an end to hate speech is now bad, a cheap attack and I'm applying strength to my post. It seems now I'm a dictador because I want these kind of comments out of online games.
Also "Certain speech", call it what it is, hate speech. If someone calls me "faggot" "nigger" "bitch" "retard", I want that person banned.
Your post only reinforces my primary point.
Any more questions?
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nkarafo
Member
AFAIK, all games give you the tools to do it yourself. You can ignore, block, etc, every player who gives you this kind of trouble. So i don't know what's the problem.
Sailent
Banned
This thread is about blizzard taking action against the toxic community as a whole. Not just in game.
Also, I already know I can block, ignore or report these kind of people. Thanks for the heads up.
The problem is the community. If we do not teach respect and raise awareness about social issues, it doesn't matter that I report 1 person, there's going to be 1000 more.
GreatnessRD
Member
lol, casuals
nkarafo
Member
Eh, i don't know what Blizzard means with the word "toxic". It ranges from literal nazis to people who don't agree with the made up pronounces. I mean, i also don't agree with the latter... Am i toxic enough? I know i am for certain communities. So, should i get banned? Who knows, they never defined anything.
That's why i mentioned how any individual can block/ban/ignore other individuals and report them. Since it's a completely subjective matter and people feel differently about things, it's the only foolproof way. Just remove that person who makes you feel bad from your life. And maybe, if that person gets enough reports, then he may also get some further punishment like a ban from the game. It's the only foolproof way and the only thing any online game needs.
So i don't agree with Blizzard policing people outside their game but whatever, it's their game, they can also do whatever they want.
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KevinKeene
Banned
And I'd want people banned for reasons I like.
We're talking about cursing inmidst of a heated online-match. I myself find heavy cursing silly and wouln't use it, but I'd laugh about it/shrug it off or, if it's that bad, block that player. But I don't go assume that because of blurting out something offensive during a game where you shoot each other to death, that player is racist/homophobe/etc..
And I most certainly don't want to 'eradicate' speech. You as an individual are free to break off contact with people who's speech you don't like. But you don't get to choose FOR them.
DonF
Member
When I saw the developer update about this I thought that blizz checks occasionally stream or videos uploaded to youtube, where people are trolling. There is people dumb enough that uploads videos like "trolling in competitive". I mean, look at this... super annoying. But I don't think that they are policeing social media as their main way to ban. Their report system has to be their main way.