In Overwatch‘s latest developer update, Game Director Jeff Kaplan has addressed a number of popular community topics including toxic behavior among players and the impact of player warnings on Competitive Play. Calling combating negative behavior a “major initiative” for the team, Kaplan revealed that bad behavior is on the decline, thanks to player-reporting tools and warnings.
Blizzard isn’t done here, however. The video reveals that the developer is now going after toxic players on social media sites like YouTube, and disciplining them before they’re reported.
“We now proactively seek out social media sites like YouTube, for example, and look for incidents of very toxic behavior and track down the accounts that are participating, and action them often times before anyone’s even reported them,” says Kaplan.
We’re told that Overwatch‘s reporting tools and warnings have led to a 17 percent decrease in abusive chats during Competitive Play, and reports of bad behavior are up by 20 percent.
“We know those numbers are not as great as they could be,” acknowledges Kaplan. “We know that the problem is not solved and things aren’t perfect but it’s getting a lot better.”
For more details, check out the video above, which covers the following topics:
0:26 – Progress on toxicity
1:35 – Player warning’s effects on Competitive Play
3:05 – Hero balancing process
5:39 – Upcoming balance changes to Mercy
7:12 – Upcoming balance changes to Junkrat
7:57 – Current thoughts on Hanzo
9:11 – Update on Mei
10:57 – Thoughts on Symmetra
13:06 – Jeff thanks the community
What do our readers think of this?
