‘Overwatch’ To Introduce Competitive Permanent Bans To Stop Toxic Players

In June, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan hinted that the Blizzard team was working on ways to stop cheaters and “toxic players” from ruining the gaming experience for everyone. That threat is finally becoming a reality. In a post on the company’s forums, Blizzard officially announced that there are permanent bans that will start on Sept. 27.

The Overwatch Permanent Bans

In August, Jeff Kaplan said that an overhaul of the Overwatch punishment system was coming. At that time, Kaplan responded to a person on the Blizzard forums that was complaining about “unfair” bans and suspensions. Kaplan pointed out that the person complaining had 2,247 complaints filed against them.

This led Kaplan into a huge discussion about how Blizzard wanted to make the Overwatch gaming experience more fun. This involved getting rid of the people who cheated, used unfair boosts, quit mid-game when losing, and delivered obscene and hate-filled comments to other players.

According to the new Overwatch permanent ban rules, any player who picks up three or more seasonal bans might be permanently banned from participating in Competitive Play from that point on. The player’s ability to play in that mode will disappear for good. This punishment only affects Competitive Play at this time.

According to the new Overwatch permanent ban system, a player does not even need to have consecutive season bans. All a person needs is to have three or more seasonal bans to lose the right to play in Competitive Play. The statement said a player could get a ban in Season 2 and Season 4 and then a third in Season 7 and pick up the permanent ban.

Problems With Overwatch Permanent Bans

The first problem is concerning what happens with players who might end up with the Overwatch permanent ban because of something beyond their control. This is something that Blizzard will look at. According to the rules, a permanent ban will not automatically happen on the third offense.

There will be room for Blizzard to make exceptions in extenuating circumstances and discretion will be used before banning a person from playing. However, in a June interview, Jeff Kaplan said that he would prefer that “leavers” would just quit playing Overwatch.

The second problem is that this is just punishment for the Overwatch Competitive Play levels. While that will stop people from ruining the experience when it comes to those gamers, the toxic players who cheat and try to ruin the game for others can still play without punishment in the regular battle systems.

[Featured Image by Blizzard]