Blizzard has been extremely active when it comes to banning and dealing with players who exhibit toxic behavior in Overwatch. Given that the Overwatch League is off to a great start, we’re sure the last thing the developer needs is toxic players who ruin the game and community’s reputation.
So far Blizzard has mostly relied on players reporting other players for toxic behavior, but now it looks like the company is taking a more proactive approach. In the latest Developer Update video, Overwatch’s director Jeff Kaplan revealed that the Overwatch team is now searching through social media platforms for potential toxic players, identifying their accounts, and taking action against them.
This means that players who have somehow managed to not get reported, but who might post videos of them being toxic to other players during streams or YouTube upload, will now need to be on their best behavior. Of course one could argue that Blizzard policing players in this manner might be overreaching on their part, but what do you guys think?
In the meantime Kaplan has revealed that the various measures Blizzard has already put into place has resulted in a drop in abuse in chats by about 17%. He also claims that the number of players who are actively reporting toxic players are up by 20%, indicating that more players in the Overwatch community are starting to stand up against these toxic players.