Overwatch reporting system improved with harsher penalties and notifications

Overwatch will be implementing new reporting features, both now and in the upcoming future. In the post that Lylirra made on the forums, she spoke about Blizzard’s core value about playing nice and fair, while emphasizing that the report feature is one of the most important tools for supporting this. However, they also recognize that more needs to be done in order to support this, and make Overwatch a game players feel comfortable in.

It’s a two-part process. The first part, which is effective immediately, is that verified reports of bad behavior will see harsher penalties applied. This means that players who have been proven to engage in abusive chat, harassment, in-game spam, griefing, and intentional AFKs during matches will find silences, suspensions, and even bans on their account, depending on the severity or frequency of the infraction.

The second part includes changes Blizzard wants to add over the next several months. Based on feedback provided by players, seasonal bans will be scaled, players will receive a notification if someone they reported is penalized. Players who attempt to abuse the reporting tool will also find themselves subject to penalties. Some players immediately jumped to possible abuse of the reporting system, such as reporting players for playing the “wrong” heroes or comp. Overwatch clarified that these harsher penalties would be for actual, verified bad behavior like the ones listed, rather than automated.

"verified reports of bad behavior". Keyword: Verified.

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) July 26, 2017

With a game the size of Overwatch, bad behavior is bound to happen, but it seemed to be particularly prevalent with its popularity. The harsher penalties will be welcome, as well as the improvements planned. One popular complaint is that reports never seem to go anywhere, which leads players to believe that reporting is futile. When they make a report, they don’t see any action taken. Whether it slipped through the cracks on Blizzard’s end or if they just never ran into that player again, they don’t actually see a result so it feels like there wasn’t one.{PB}

By adding in a system to notify, players will know that their reports actually had an effect and that it wasn’t all in vain. Of course, there are always trolls or people with a vendetta, so it’s nice to see that players also won’t have to worry about a flurry of false reports from someone particularly vindictive.

Rampant abuse and bad behavior can drive away players, resulting in a much less enjoyable game for everyone. The console version of the game has actually been bereft of any reporting options at all, which Blizzard hopes to rectify soon. They plan to implement a similar system to the one available on PC, along with any improvements that are planned. The console reporting system is currently being tested internally.