Overwatch Will Force You To “Play Nice” With Harsh New Trolling Penalties

Overwatch‘s officially-promoted public image and the experience of playing the game online are often two very different things. The front presented by Blizzard is upbeat, welcoming, and progressive, but the game’s actual players can be aggressive and downright abusive. Well, it seems Blizzard is finally pulling a McCree and vowing to clean up Overwatch‘s dirty one-horse town, with new tougher penalties for trolling, griefing and other offenses.

Here’s what Blizzard had to say about the crackdown on their website:

“‘Play nice, play fair’ is one of Blizzard’s core values. We believe that our in-game reporting and player penalty system is one of our most important features, and it’s something we want to invest in significantly over the next year. To this end, effective immediately, we will be issuing increased penalties to players in response to verified reports of bad behavior. In Overwatch, that means anything from abusive chat, harassment, in-game spam, match inactivity (being intentionally AFK), and griefing. If you see someone engaging in any of these types of behaviors, report them. Players in violation will be silenced, suspended, or even banned from the game as a result.”

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But what about consoles? There’s currently no way to report trolls on Xbox One and PS4, which is where some of the most immature behavior is found. Well, that’s about to change, too.

“We also remain committed to bringing a reporting system to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As console players ourselves, we know it’s been frustrating to not have this functionality on your platform. We are actively working on the feature and have many elements of undergoing internal testing right now. Our goal is to implement similar reporting options as are currently available on PC, and any improvements made to PC between now and when it’s available.”

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In a recent BBC interview, a Blizzard spokesperson clarified some of the behavior that will be punished, and it’s not strictly screaming slurs and anatomical words at people – subtler griefing is also off-limits.

“It’s too easy online to do, and say, what you want and not get any consequences for it. Cracking down on that so it’s a more fun experience for everyone – especially for newer players – is really good.

You get people who go into matches just to annoy other people because they think it’s funny. One character, Mei, has an ice wall she can bring up, and some people set up ice walls to trap other players on their own team – or stop them getting a line of sight to shoot. Stamping out that sort of behavior is also a good thing.”

About time, I say. Makers of multiplayer shooters have turned a blind eye to a culture of abysmal behavior for years – it’s nice to hear that companies like Blizzard and Call of Duty: WWII developers Sledgehammer Games are finally stepping up to do something. Will it work? Who knows, but at least they’re trying.

Overwatch is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. You can check out WWG’s latest coverage of the game, right here.

[via BBC News]