Blizzard Announces 'Overwatch' Discipline Tracker for Rule-Breaking Pros

Blizzard is now keeping track of Overwatch pros who violate its competitive rules through a discipline tracker that's being kept up to date for all to see.

Overwatch pros have made headlines in 2018 for disciplinary reasons after they broke some of Blizzard's esports rules. Some of these had to do with verbal insults directed at other groups of people while others resulted in players being banned for boosting accounts, a term that means they played on another players' account to win games and push them up higher on the competitive ladder.

Situations like these will now be recorded on Blizzard's discipline tracker that'll be in effect for the first time during the 2019 season. Blizzard said that throughout 2019, a record of "players who are disciplined for infractions of the Overwatch League rules of competition and code of conduct" will be kept up with that shows who the player is, the team they play for, and the infraction they're responsible for as well as the resulting punishment. First updated on Friday, seven different players are already on the tracker for violations such as account boosting, toxicity, intentionally losing games, account sharing, and obstructing league investigations. These types of infractions don't happen in pro games either and instead happen in normal games where players' conduct is monitored just as it would be during a sanctioned competitive match.

Blizzard explained that every new player who joins the Overwatch League undergoes an investigation and that the league would continue reviewing players' conduct during 2019 to distribute punishments when needed.

"As players join the Overwatch League, the league office conducts a full review of their conduct and, where appropriate, takes disciplinary action," Blizzard said. "While the league reviews each case on its own, key factors informing the level of discipline include both the severity and recency of the actions under review. During the season, the league office will continue to evaluate infractions and take action as needed."

The current list of players on Blizzard's discipline tracker doesn't include anyone who's not under a contract with an Overwatch League team. Blizzard also added that anyone who plays for the Overwatch Contenders League – the competitive group beneath the official Overwatch League that feeds into the Overwatch League as players move up – "are generally not subject to further discipline upon joining the Overwatch League."

Blizzard's Overwatch League disciplinary tracker can be seen here with seven players listed so far.