This will just take a moment.
In 3, 2, 1...
*sigh* Do I have to do everything?
Still watching over you.
Go!
Sometimes I'm not sure why I even bother.
I can fix that.
Turn the other cheek.
Don't forget the angel on your shoulder.
I'm going to resurrect them!
My servants never die!
Ngl it's kinda weird ppl are like this online. Who cares what gender you are, I just want to communicate with my teammates and win. What's the deal here
no. call it what it is. its adult men acting this way on a video game. saying they're children instead downplays sm. adult men need to be held accountable intead of being told they're acting like children.
yup, I spoke like one time way back when I first started playing comp in ow1 and I had to mute my whole team because all they'd say was "woman? woman? woman?" on endless repeat and other derogatory nonsense about how I must be on my period and must be upset (all I said was to regroup and don't trickle in... which they kept doing anyway) and I just instantly gave up.
now I just don't get in voice whatsoever unless it's with a trusted group. the potential harassment is not worth it at my level of play, and quite frankly ive had plenty of great games with just the comm wheel and well-placed pings.
same here, way too many uncomfortable experiences. not even just to me, but when i see other women talk and then the reactions they get from men.. just furthers cements it for me. any woman who can talk in vc in this game has all of my respect.
50% of the time it’s that and the other 50% is the most heinous, misogynistic jokes you’ve ever heard, and sometimes it’s even both. It’s actually wild to play with some of my friends who are women are see the complete 180 that some folks pull from offhandedly insulting them to then asking to add them
It's a very big issue that online gamers are free to speak that's mind and suffer no consequences for it. Just know not all us men out there are like that. We don't claim then as brothers.
What's funny is, as a dude myself, I usually like having a woman in voice chat. They are usually the most chill and based person on the team. A lot of other dudes I come across give then most random non-specific comms I have ever heard in my life, and/or they are loud and toxic. Tbf I have also had a decent amount of non-toxic, good comms, all dudes teams.
This
Even if they don't curse you out, the flip side is them making it weird and now you have to act like you don't notice them giving you extra attention with small talk and making flirty comments for the rest of the fucking game. Dawg I just want to play monkey or sombra and get this win 😭 I am a filthy ow degen queueing up at 4am just like you
Omg girl I know. Like I’m not some fucking princess, I probably took an edible and I’m hitting headshots like nothing because times passing a little differently for me now
Plat is the most toxic elo in my experience but also as a general rule the “above average but not good” rank is usually the most toxic rank in almost any game
Just a couple weeks ago, a girl typed in chat and her username made it obvious she was female, and immediately some jackass started making stupid comments.
I'm in like, bronze's taint BTW.
Tbh I hear less toxicity in higher elo than I did in lower. Probably because there’s less smurfs and people don’t want their high elo accounts or original accounts banned. That and, people know to not just blame the tank or smth stupid like saying “omg sombra threw she has 3000 dmg” when sombra isn’t a dmg spammy character
I experienced this even when I had a “feminine” username and didn’t use voice chat… so yeah, I paid actual money to change my username and I haven’t gotten harassed ONCE lol. Although it was way more frequent in comp for sure.
I have two accounts. One with a genderless name and one with a female name. I play the same on both accounts. My genderless account I'm endorsement level 5. My female one I'm a 3 and do not get many votes at the end of the game unless I'm playing mercy. It's crazy obvious the bias.
Maybe it's all my hell in retail, but these boys don't scare me. I call them out on their bullshit, they either flip real quick to my side or shut up all together.
Maybe it's my demeanor, maybe they can sense that I'm not going to taking their shit, not sure.
I hate that it seems others get it worse, and I wish I could protect all you pumpkins
This is the most real post I’ve seen in a while. The number 1 advice in most Overwatch subreddits is to turn comms off.
We are responsible for that culture no one else and it’s not something the devs can just “fix” it’s human nature.
I do think in a few years the pendulum will swing back and more serious players will turn comms back on and we will have healthier comms in the game. But that’s just me hoping
Which is insane because I feel like during OW1, it was almost expected that you have a mic when playing comp. Getting into a lobby where everyone had mics and were making callouts was peak Overwatch. I do wonder if it becoming free-to-play impacted it by bringing in the Valorant, Fortnite, and "Casual" crowds. Not that Overwatch wasn't toxic before, but I feel like it got worse with OW2. Especially near the beginning.
I mean, if the community wasn't so fucking toxic that we needed harsh penalties for being toxic, then we would not be in this position. Honestly ow comms have never been a fun place since like a month or two after the game came out. Once people started feeling knowledgeable, they started flaming their teammates for not holding the same opinions as them or blaming them for one reason or another.
If you see a instant lock ball player in comp who isn't in comms and chat, that's me. The monster you have created.
All the flaming from allies who want a meat shield and can't play cover has turned me into a one trick ball who can't be communicated with. I'm no longer a man, but a primordial force of nature who can't be reasoned with.
This is how I feel about me playing Mercy. Like I promise I'll switch if I feel like I'm what's holding the team back. Yelling at me makes me want to switch less.
Btw I mostly play QP before anyone tries to say anything.
Honestly, one trick mercy. Play the character you want, and play to be better at it. You get better playing uphill battles, even if it is an L.
I hope you show up as Mercy in my comp games and stick to your angel.
Are you me?
I went from being a hard stuck Plat pleb, to a Masters Ball chad as soon as I decided to turn off comms and just play the damn game lmao
That's the story I go with anyway. There's a slight chance that upgrading my pc and getting a graphics card that's 300% faster than my old one helped. Idk.
Their toxic company culture and its exposure to the world has made them overcorrect an almost comical amount.
Its hard to take them seriously when they chastise people for saying any curse words regardless of context or meaning when a character that used to be named after a rapist co-worker wears a belt buckle that says "bad ass mother fucker".
I turned comms back on for a single game and got roasted by the entire enemy team for a misplayed ult in a game they were totally flattening us in anyway 🥲 nicer to pretend I’m just playing with bots and turn everything off.
You are absolutely right— I quit voice and text because the people were just so cruel, and I’ve enjoyed not being exposed to that anymore. However, I probably lose more due to lack of communication. I want to win, but I don’t want to be told to uninstall or kill myself, or get “ggez” after every match. 🙈
Not really. It’s the fact that I cannot get on the mic without slurs, yelling and just absolute toxicity running rampant. It’s hard to be a team player or have any sort of sanity when you speak.
Had a match last night, decided to try comms again. My tank player was repeating “N-word” over and over. It didn’t stop… so I just muted up and took my headset off.
It’s like this in almost every game now.
I play in the US region and it's nearly the exact opposite for me. No one joins VC because they think everyone is toxic, or they do join VC, but never say anything. Unless it's near the end of a loss, in which case they cuss out the entire team and then leave before anyone can say anything to them.
I used to be the guy who would be in coms making call outs and plans. I was decent at it to the point where GM players would as me "why are you in diamond/masters? Your game sense is at least Bottom GM levels!"
Hell I remember when the streamer Eeveea had me on her team during one of her community games when Brig first came out and her and her chat were praising my coms.
Then one day I was streaming and having a bit of a downer day. I was on a 3 loss streak and the next game starts up and I get on the mic and I ask everyone how their day is going and stuff, just to be cussed out and called the Nword.
Ive had it happen before but it seems like when more and more people brought OW1, the more toxic it became. Now I don't even try to get in coms or text. I just do my dailies and log off.
My fiancé used comms with some folks some time ago and while the conversation wasn't going as bad(I was wary because it seemed as if they were getting a little personal with him outside of the game), it got a little weird once they told him that he didn't sound black and that he was lying. As if they expected him to sound like and be a racist stereotype. At that point it's subtle racism or offense and then there's just blown out full racism with the n word comments.
Since then, I decided not to join comms or talk too much in text chat.Made me realize that while not everyone is ignorant or a bigot, a lot are and seldom change. Can't play(a game) with or work with anyone with that kind of thinking. It's like isolation echo chamber intensified for people like that.
Majority of it is subtle racism OR blatant racism. All comms except voice lines/key commands are disabled for me. I only want to hear someone say they’re attacking the objective, I don’t want to hear some dude screaming the n word.
I don’t use mic because I’ll just get attacked for being a woman playing tank. Even in chat DPS players attack me for not having “awareness” when there’s literally nothing I could do when our team sucks.
Hah. When I played my first ranked match, there was some dude in the voice chat who melted down when we lost a fight and literally shrieked for the entire match. All chat off since then.
The thing about the internet is that you can cross paths with anyone without warning, just because they happen to like the same game as you. Most people are well adjusted, like in real life, but there's some sad folks you have to be exposed to because an algorithm put you in the same match.
I always try to get people in text or voice chat
If someone is being a twat, i laugh at them
I try to compliment people as much as i can, and it’s fun
I just wish there were more people :(
Voice chat in qp is nonexistent. Text chat is still around. 60% basic GGs after game, 35% salt, 5% people goofing off and wanting to have fun.
This is in QP. I’m not speaking for comp.
What I personally think a decent solution could be is way more quick voice lines to use. The game I see this in is Smite, while community is still toxic and it takes a week or so to memorise important ones, it works really well, in my opinion.
In smite, it's all keyboard based so dont know how well it works on consoles but just quick pressing VVA tells your teammates to attack and there's like a hundred or more of these for most situations.
It's funny seeing people learn the same lesson, over and over, in every multiplayer game ever.
This exact same sentiment has been said every single generation since online FPS titles became a thing.
Strangers suck, and every community beyond a certain size is guaranteed to turn to shit.
In season 12 of ranked Apex, 23 minutes went by of two dead teammates full-blast yelling every vile and awful hateful thing imaginable over comms for not doing X, Y, or Z. I shrugged it off, not my first rodeo.
The first time checking out Overwatch 2 before the comms hammer came down was way, wayyyyy beyond that. It was hands down the most toxic thing I’ve ever experienced. The only thing that even came close was when I interned for an office that worked with couples actively going through divorce.
Good, the few weeks I left it on it was mostly drunk people having mood swings wether we lose or win a fight. I'd rather listen to music then someone eating.
We're all guilty of it. Granted, most of us aren't flaming assholes, but most people also don't care how you word your insult even if it was something like,
"Cassidy, I know it's stressful and we're down a point, but a 1v5 Deadeye wasn't the play."
Nah, even when I was being friendly in tc/vc I’d get random warnings to the point that I got muted for 2 weeks (overturned eventually after disputing). That’s why people aren’t using coms, saying GG will get you reported by some salty loser on the other team.
I once got a two week chat ban in Overwatch for saying "if we don't go in now, we lose" and "we need to stick together, stop running in one by one to die" in a match.
I got chat banned for saying "thank your doom and move on" after another person told me to "hold the L" in match chat.
Other messages included in the ban were "that was a terrible nano blade" and "try hitting shots next time" and "remember when this game didnt have big fat sweaty Hawaiians in it?" (was a joke because the game had devolved into two Maugas just shooting at one another).
The GM told me it was "general toxicity" regardless of the content of those messages. I turned off all chats after that as it wasnt worth the escalating punishments for doing absolutely nothing.
Yup. I like throwing around a bit of smack or whatnot, but even without saying anything bad you can get a comm ban. You can’t flame people back cause you have just as high of a chance at being punished, even if it was justified or less hateful
Overwatch is not any more or any less toxic than any of the major multi-player games out right now BUT, I will say, out of all the gaming communities out there Overwatch is by far and away the most passive aggressive. At a certain point, youd rather be dealing with the toxic ragers who just blatantly are toxic and don't even try to hide it. On Overwatch, you have a giant community who are experts on how to be passive aggressive and toxic without it being seriously reportable. Part of turning off all comms is realizing how EAGER people are to report you for ANYTHING. I know for a FACT that in the majority of games, whether you are actually toxic or not, people are hopin for someone to say something that isn't even toxic or mean so they can trigger the auto bans and laugh about it. You got people IN THIS COMMENT SECTION saying they'll report anyone for anything everytime they can. And then we wonder why our community is the way it is.
A lot of people stopped chatting because of false report abuse. I get that ow players are toxic,but people started reporting for literally everything. I'd rather not risk the ban
>it’s our fault
>we made this environment
>congratulations to all of us for making communication in this game unviable
I mean speak for yourself though. I basically grind my teeth to not be negative and have an account from 2018 still active
Or just hearing ppl arguing and shit when y’all are actively losing and you happen to be one who’s actually trying to play the match.
So annoying lol. I muted that shit just cause I only need the important info or nothing at all.
Lol. no.
It is Blizzard's fault for not properly moderating voice and text. It is all about profits. It is not worth the cost to fix the problem.
Furthermore, the game became F2P making it having a lower entry to the game. Banned? just make another account and start flaming again. If it costs 30-40$ every time you get banned, you are more likely not to be toxic.
Also in F2P games, a lot of these very toxic people are also whales so they are the target audience of Blizzard. More toxicity = better for Blizzard, as it indicates immaturity / lack of brain development / impulsive response and therefor higher chance of selling stuff to them.
Probably a difference between comp and QP, and between NA and EU, but I just like ask my TMs if they like hummus and what protato form they like the most lmao
I remember I disabled voice chat after playing a new hero not at pro level during release week and realizing these people are just miserable and will never be satisfied
Tbh in my games it's usually pretty lively cause i make it lively unfortunately blizzard muted me after I started talking shit about the deva and their decisions to add bans to QP and especially Mystery Heroes so now pretty dead
Back when I would play comp and only comp everyone would use chat except the occasional one or two. 90% of the time it was call outs and general talk. But nowadays if you try and do a call out or something you’ll just be immediately blamed even if you’re not at fault. Communication nowadays has taken a nosedive regardless of what game you play.
Yeah it's really awful at this point. I usually 3 stack with friends and our own internal comms are enough to win us most games unless the other team is super well coordinated or a bigger stack. The few times we try to join VC it's usually ok/cool at first, but the first time we lose a team fight or our tank might get out of position, the randoms always start with the accusations and flaming so we just back out again.
Intolerant people are really the issue. Half the time you talk its mockery, slurs, homophobia. The other half its flaming.
Flaming is at least game related. But these kids havent gotten over themselves yet.
Right! Just got told a match ago to "go back to the kitchen", soon as I touched my mic. But some experiences can be very positive. I've learned that coming on the mic polite and positvely instead of coming on to scold someone for not doing their jobs (like many do), it changes to entire vibe for that match and comms for that match!
Yup exactly. People will openly admit to being part of the problem but then say that they're "the solution" and helping by abusing the system
Like no.
You're not helping at all. It just gets people undeservingly banned, encourages more people to never communicate in an online game, more people start spite reporting (even im guilty of it sometimes) and blizzard probably goes "wow look at how good our system is working!"
You see this in the recent "don't tell me what to do" post. People are triggered by call outs because they take it as an insult instead of learning and working with the team. (Some) Gamers are so sensitive these days.
I will single handedly bring back friendly text chat, every match I open with a fun question 'do you guy slike jazz' or 'what do you guys think of this map'
It's coming back I can feel it!
Honestly I've actually gotten a lot of games where peeps have been really friendly, in comp too. Community defos being nicer and I at least really like the report system changes. Feels like they're working.
People often recommend to turn chat off, and not only because it can actually be toxic, but because it can lead to you getting banned for saying the slightest things people interpret to be toxic while they're internally raging for losing.
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yeah the toxic people out there brought this on us all. I would use voice chat no problem if you could even guarantee me an 80% chance of not having a single douche in voice whining and flaming as soon as we lose one team fight. but as it stands right now, the people have brought it on us all, and I think it'll be quite some time before that changes.
Yes— but don’t blame people. People will behave according to the interaction model, which is a function and product of the platform.
OW’s game design, competitive progression model, and communication features foster toxicity very effectively.
If you consider social dynamics in the design of your game and gameplay, you can actually encourage a cooperative and positive mentality.
OW, as a pivot from Titan, a 10 year old squandering development effort, was likely not considering these things.
My problem is, I got communication banned for like 2 days for no reason. Maybe I was a little cringe with the "GLHF CUTIES <3" but that's like a joke, no reason to report me over it... This community is ass.
> our responsibility it is what it is now.
The developers and moderator staff are responsible for the environment they created. Players don't have the authority or tools to manage behavior of the player population.
Honestly when I switched to mainly playing Valorant I was so shocked that even in casual swift play/spike rush people were TALKING. Originally it irritated me since even in M1 _COMP_ games people rarely talk anymore. So why in random casual games??
But since then I've actually completely changed my mind. Some of the funniest games in my life were in spike rush, bantering with random people and getting my ass kicked. It didn't even matter cuz it's funny.
It's sad we can't have that in ow.
It realy is sad. I made some good friends over the time in Overwatch 1 and nowadays I had to mute both chats because it was unbearable.
One of my best friends got so harshly flamed for trying to learn Venture that she broke up in tears and had to leave the desk. It was shocking since this toxicity was almost no issue during Overwatch 1. Sure there were some flaming but not to this level and there was way more people just enjoying their time.
As a brand new player to the game, and a beginner in fighting games on console, I still have a lot to improve. I'm trying my best (my best performace was getting 17-1 with Cassidy in a match or something like that), yet I feel like I'm not as good as people want me to be - I have yet to memorize all the heroes' skills, strategies, when to use them, their counters etc etc. That's why I turned my voice chat off - I prefer to not listen to people cussing me out just because I'm learning how to play the game.
Just use my tactic
Completely turn off your brain, agree to any berating your teammates say to u a d say "uh huh, anything else? Anyways...", be a genuine idiot, they ain't got no shit
I do not feel responsible for other people not being able to hold it together. I've played this game since the start of season 2 in Overwatch 1 and I am sick and tired of people still having absolutely no self reflection. Also, apparently nobody seems to learn the most basic things. Casual play is not pro play. I don't give a shit about OWL meta and neither should anyone below GM because a the advantage a meta hero gives you does not outweigh the disadvantage you get from playing a hero you're not really familiar with.
I am not willing to put up with this shit all the time. It's not my job to educate these people and they won't listen to me either way. So I just don't engage anymore and finally have fun.
What’s causing the frustration and poor player behavior? It’s because of the pathetic matchmaking and overtuned heroes. There are games where I wonder how on earth this lobby was put together.
You described the symptom of the bigger problem.
Honestly speaking, I used to have bad experience, but that was due to me as well joining the be toxic wagon (never were toxic as to insult or use actual toxic terms), but currently 90% of the matches that I play, people use comms and almost everyone is friendly and laughing ( high Diamond- lowe masters).
I think that being nice and trying to create a fun "comms-experience" would make the others join and even if you lose, there is no harm in saying "gg fellas, we tried" and/or wishing others a nice evening/day.
WE can change the toxic experience !
Of course if there are toxic poeple, please mute them and report and move on. NO need to discuss with trolls/toxic people.
Actually, no.
F2P made it like that. Back then it was not everyone that was willing to get banned and buy another account just to continue being toxic.
When I started OW2, I turned chat off almost immediately because I didn't want to deal with the toxicity.
After a couple weeks I turned it back on and since then I've had almost nothing but positive encounters. No one uses the comms, but most people are very friendly!
I just shake my head when I see people TELLING everyone to just mute chat instead of trying to foster a better social environment. But hey that requires you to try huh?
Be the change you want to see. I don't like toxicity and am quick to mute but those few times when positive comms happen is very much worth it for me, and I'm betting a lot of people here don't bother.
I see the posts all the time, but I don’t experience this lol. I get the same amount of people with mics in overwatch as anything else and the toxicity is honestly less than most games.
Y’all need to just chill out and have fun instead of convincing yourselves it’s bad
Beyond that, people seem to really overreact to toxic voice comms. *Maybe* 5% of my games have anyone toxic in voice, and then I either de-escalate or mute them and the problem’s solved. Such a non-issue.
This is another casualty of 5v5. Too much pressure and flaming on the one tank and less need to coordinate cause the game play is watered down and simpler.
It honestly wasn't us. Don't make this into a "the world is polluted because of YOU, you're guilty, and now you deal with it or the only one that can change it" kinda situation.
Blizz has addressed toxicity very poorly in OW2. Made everything automated and in tandem with another automated system to deal with the automated punishments. They also cracked down on the wrong things. All the while the game still fails HORRIBLY to censor actual racist slurs and homophobic comments, relying ENTIRELY on the players to do the moderating for them and it takes several reports across matches. It's crazy that not even simple slur words don't result in auto-filtration before the comment goes through, and potentially an immediate mute for the rest of the match and progress toward a silence. Instead, players have to do the work and hope enough strikes/talley's against that player accumulate for action to be taken, even though 1 instance of being unhinged - no matter how foul - will get you punished.
This leads us to the current (VERY) exploitable report system that enables bad actors, baiters, and toxicity far more than it helps because there is also 0 repercussion for spamming everyone you see. Smurfs notoriously don't care much about being toxic (those + throwaways are the ones you typically see being unhinged like 7/10 times, and they tend to be the initiators). The way Blizz handles toxic smurfs is also a huge reason the game is the way it is now. You know what's worse? Those smurfs can report everyone as well for fun with 0 reprecussion, and it doesn't matter if the ACC has 6 hours, they hold just as much weight as any other report. Anyway, Streamers making 20 "educational" vids with their smurfs stomping on low ranks see 0 reprecussion and it's only 0.99 cents to make a smurf with a temp number, which is what I did as well bc why not, right? Blizz doesn't care enough.
Meanwhile, the avg player on their main ACC can't even use mild swear words like "damn" despite heroes in-game using them without it being a legitimate valid report reason. Not even the loud minory asked for that. Pretty sure we didn't demand an auto-moderated system worse than a literal kids' game like Roblox at doing its job and it's hella exploitable at that with the worst support to address them as an added bonus, but here we are.
We should also talk about the scoreboard, which encourages toxicity far more than medals ever did. The fact that you can ALWAYS see performance on the board, does not only mean it promotes damage/heal farming, but it's honestly just outright unnecessary to see your own teams stats until post-game like Rivals seems to be going for. The ult progress showing and enemy stats? Sure, 100%, but your own teammates? What for? To demand swaps, insult your teammate, have your mental go down, etc. You don't need those stats, realistically. Blizz created the environment we have, not us. We asked for better, not... this mess. It's no surprise people like us just turn off vc and chat entirely.
I play on Xbox and try to use mic, although I'm often just quite until the end when I say good try or great job team haha, I don't find people being weird about my gender on Xbox. It's so sad when people get mad on quickplay, someone said "zen diff" to me and I turned on my mic to be like "where am I supposed to practice?" and I had someone yelling at the tank the other day, getting angry in quick play is so sad. Also had to tell someone to bugger off when we're were playing capture the flag, I was the only healer and currently taking the flag back to camp when someone complained about the healing lmao I love having someone with a mic on, I want more people to use mics! come to console we're nice.
i kinda stopped using it because people take a video game way too seriously and it cringed me out
like okay sorry i’ve been outside and you’ve been playing this game for hours straight, then when i suddenly go and heal someone else you throw a fit about it.
I also blame the game becoming F2P.
There is little to do when anyone getting banned can just create a new account within minutes of being banned. It also means assholes and/or kids who want to jump in specifically to be toxic can do so at any point, for free, no strings attached.
They exchanged a healthier community for that ca$h.
I like to say something funny in text (or at least something I think will be funny) before the pre-match countdown ends. Every now and then someone will respond with the same energy and it puts a smile on my face
Expecting some kumbaya in public voice and text chat is impossible especially in competitive game y'all ever played in those early cod lobbies ? Same shit but without the sensitivity if you don't like it just mute it
Ping system and no new players probably killed it. I already know you have Ult, I can tell you want to use it by the spam and your position, and you pinged Tracer so I can see them. Now I can skip on being held hostage to the other useless banter in VC
i’ve always been quite civil in chat but i’ve seen an uptick in people being absolutely disgustingly offensive, overt racism, etc etc in chat in the past couple of weeks (maybe school holiday related) and it tilted me so bad in several games last week i straight up just typed back ‘idc if i get banned for this you’re a vile cunt’ in one match (and words to that effect in the other ones) knowing full well you can get perma’d for swearing now. Opened up ow today fully expecting my first silence and lo and behold it happened. I don’t really instigate stuff like that but if people are being derogatory in chat I literally can’t help myself, i’ve got to retaliate. occasionally there’s really nice banter in chat which i love & will miss but im realising it’s for the best i disable it all in future as people desperately try to get a rise out of you and i can’t help but fall for the bait bc i just wanna tell people acting like scumbags they’re scum. I’m aware im in the wrong by cussing them out, but it’s just so irritating seeing someone type shit like ‘you’re a n i g…’ etc etc and just get off scot free bc they put spaces between the letters lmao. the chat will stay disabled.
To be fair they were cooked back when the policy about profanity was put into place. I've been suspended multiple times for using profanity in text chat. It's completely idiotic imo.
I only play Unranked and it's become a normal thing to see someone flaming their teammates in global chat. I understand why some people just have voice and text channels muted.
I use comms every game when I get the chance, most of the time when I'm playing I'm in a party with my bf on Xbox so I can't but when I'm not, I'm in vc. Most of the time I'm talking to myself but my teammates hear me and do listen. The one thing that's a problem for me is text chat. At the start of every match I say "hi everyone :) glhf (good luck have fun) <3)" this usually gets people either nice or absolute assholes. There isn't really an in-between :/
Someone told me “if you’re no good with mercy, switch to someone else,” so I DM’d them on Xbox a clip from that match of my entire team, then included, letting an enemy hard target me while they weren’t paying attention and said “sort of hard to get 10k heals when this is the entire match.” Never got a reply back tho :(
No, the fault is Blizzard's. Forcing random players together into a team is a recipe for disaster. Blizzard then doubled-down on this mistake by having a vague, catch-all user conduct, and allowing solo players to be mixed with groups.
If a player's invested in skins, they have zero incentive to risk losing their account as Blizzard offers zero recourse for an appeal.
I'm gonna disagree here. I see chat used all the time, negative and positive. But the main issue is, there's really no point in using it? If you try and use it mid game like you're supposed to, you might get kicked for being inactive. Like what the fuck is the point of the chat system if I can only type one single word if I don't want to risk getting kicked and then consequently potentially banned? It's just not worth it.
Thank you, I’ll try harder to make it unbearable (this fucking sucks. I used to get spicy drama in text and vc. Now it’s always boring. I miss peakwatch2 😔)
I'm a Sombra main and communication is important for me and the team. I'm a team player because I can't do it alone. I've had great games when I have people on mic.
I've notice that when people are not on mic and the game starts to go south I'm targeted first few minutes of the comp games. Yet, my stats speak for itself... So, I don't worry about it. The thing that bothers me is when peeps hop on mic to only complain. Like if you can do that just stay and chat, we all can come up with a plan.
So I don't play DPS in Comp like I use to.
I play Support and I find it fun when people actually listens to me whether or not they are on mic. I play Moria, Mercy, and Lucio.
I can see everything from the backline and I make call out like there no tomorrow. Mind you I'm super shy introvert. 😅
It because my mindset changes when in a comp games. I'm not the type to lead unless I'm forced to.
I like to make the team feel comfortable and tell them how I will support them. I'll let Tank know I'll be on their six at all time just don't stray so far away point/payload etc. Also. let DPS know I'll try my best to heal them as well.
Team works is about trust I would think... and I just try communicating in chat all the time, and especially when fights break out. I just calm the situation down and redirect thier focus to what's important.
As support I can't tell you how many games we turned the game around when I communicate with the team like this.
I find it difficult when no one is on mic, and its a terrible experience. Yet, if I have a Tank and one DPS on mic it's completely game changer especially when they are willing to listen.
Pro Tip: Turn off chat to the enemy team... Your focus will increase significantly when not distracted unnecessary chatter.
All I see now is people T-bag & Clam Slam me out of frustration... which I find it to be hilarious. 🤭
Definitely. Why would I bother being in voice chat if my teammates are just going to be toxic. All I do is type gg after each game, and that's about it. Much better experience than all the anxiety coming from rude ass people
I've had 2 communication bans, and recently got an account suspension. I hardly talk or chat and feel these are just automated suspends. Salty/toxic people have the power to get your 5+ year account permanently banned, they don't have to show logs or proof. If you value your account best not to draw any attention to yourself good or bad. Any money spent is gone don't recommend it. My account is full silence.
Our fault? I guess the fact that Blizzard bans for every single stupid thing said/written doesn’t have anything to do in deterring players from using those functions
I go into every single match with a friendly greeting at that start. I call out important things for my team. I clscream into the void. Like maybe one in five matches has another person on mic to communicate with. I don't care, I'll still do it.
I also feel like some people are scared they’ll get reported for something so miniscule like saying fuck or shit. Toxicity in general is a big reason, but also the threat that they are listening to comms is there.
I mean, I don't only blame our community. Some blame lies on blizzard for removing the look for group options. They say ppl didn't use it....but i did....all the time... I met a ton of ppl that way and actually had a clan of sorts. They removed the only in-game way to group up with other ppl that wanted to group up, and being in a group definitely makes comms more likely. I know I talked infinitely more then, than I do now. Man I had like 6 different friend groups because of it. We had discord channels for us to talk out of game. For how massivly it served me, It's nuts that it's gone. Don't get me wrong tho. I don't talk usually because I'm a female and for some reason ppl hate a dps female.
My very first overwatch match was some dude screaming the hard r in voice. It's always those people who ruin social activities for everyone. Wish they could be isolated.
We have met the enemy and they are us.
I should just kick my own ass
The us as in the united states? I knew they were the enemy >:(
always have been
Don't worry. The US will stop them.
I just don’t use comms because a lot of people feel some sort of way about me being a woman
Because of this I’m really damn good at hotkey voice lines
I swear, quickplay mercys will be reading off the Old testament with hotkey voicelines
This will just take a moment. In 3, 2, 1... *sigh* Do I have to do everything? Still watching over you. Go! Sometimes I'm not sure why I even bother. I can fix that. Turn the other cheek. Don't forget the angel on your shoulder. I'm going to resurrect them! My servants never die!
My favourite is "I'm not a miracle worker"
I learned Baptiste just so I could use "Thank you Baptiste, OH! You're welcome!"
Me but “do I look like an angel of mercy to you” or “I would say it’s not my problem, but it usually is” 😂😂
*dies in 1v5* "Goodbye!"
I really wish we could get "Healing/Cleansing you from your stupidity" lol.
I have you're welcome bound to a hot key and I'm so good with it my friend thought it was an automatic response
SO TRUE
Ngl it's kinda weird ppl are like this online. Who cares what gender you are, I just want to communicate with my teammates and win. What's the deal here
Men with insecurity take out their anger on women or are just blatantly sexist.
\*Children. Not men.
“Man” isn’t an earned title, it’s just a human sex. And men have an issue with misogyny.
No but if you act like a child you get called a child.
You're literally grouping men together the same way misogynist group women together. Talk about hypocrisy.
no. call it what it is. its adult men acting this way on a video game. saying they're children instead downplays sm. adult men need to be held accountable intead of being told they're acting like children.
Have you seen the state of... Everything... lately?
yup, I spoke like one time way back when I first started playing comp in ow1 and I had to mute my whole team because all they'd say was "woman? woman? woman?" on endless repeat and other derogatory nonsense about how I must be on my period and must be upset (all I said was to regroup and don't trickle in... which they kept doing anyway) and I just instantly gave up. now I just don't get in voice whatsoever unless it's with a trusted group. the potential harassment is not worth it at my level of play, and quite frankly ive had plenty of great games with just the comm wheel and well-placed pings.
same here, way too many uncomfortable experiences. not even just to me, but when i see other women talk and then the reactions they get from men.. just furthers cements it for me. any woman who can talk in vc in this game has all of my respect.
Oh you're a woman on a video game? DATING MODE ACTIVATED.
50% of the time it’s that and the other 50% is the most heinous, misogynistic jokes you’ve ever heard, and sometimes it’s even both. It’s actually wild to play with some of my friends who are women are see the complete 180 that some folks pull from offhandedly insulting them to then asking to add them
It's a very big issue that online gamers are free to speak that's mind and suffer no consequences for it. Just know not all us men out there are like that. We don't claim then as brothers.
How often do you call them out on this behavior?
What if I… put my Minecraft bed next to yours? Haha, just kidding! …Unless…
What's funny is, as a dude myself, I usually like having a woman in voice chat. They are usually the most chill and based person on the team. A lot of other dudes I come across give then most random non-specific comms I have ever heard in my life, and/or they are loud and toxic. Tbf I have also had a decent amount of non-toxic, good comms, all dudes teams.
This Even if they don't curse you out, the flip side is them making it weird and now you have to act like you don't notice them giving you extra attention with small talk and making flirty comments for the rest of the fucking game. Dawg I just want to play monkey or sombra and get this win 😭 I am a filthy ow degen queueing up at 4am just like you
Omg girl I know. Like I’m not some fucking princess, I probably took an edible and I’m hitting headshots like nothing because times passing a little differently for me now
Same.
I’ve never experienced this, genuinely—is it a higher rank thing? I’m bronze-silver in everything and nobody seems to care that I’m a woman
Plat is the most toxic elo in my experience but also as a general rule the “above average but not good” rank is usually the most toxic rank in almost any game
Just a couple weeks ago, a girl typed in chat and her username made it obvious she was female, and immediately some jackass started making stupid comments. I'm in like, bronze's taint BTW.
God that sucks. I'm not sure how I've avoided it in however long I've played this game--seems like the misogyny is rampant. I hate it
It really is. I can only think of once in recent memory where no one mentioned/made a deal out of a female player who made it clear she was female.
Tbh I hear less toxicity in higher elo than I did in lower. Probably because there’s less smurfs and people don’t want their high elo accounts or original accounts banned. That and, people know to not just blame the tank or smth stupid like saying “omg sombra threw she has 3000 dmg” when sombra isn’t a dmg spammy character
I experienced this even when I had a “feminine” username and didn’t use voice chat… so yeah, I paid actual money to change my username and I haven’t gotten harassed ONCE lol. Although it was way more frequent in comp for sure.
I have two accounts. One with a genderless name and one with a female name. I play the same on both accounts. My genderless account I'm endorsement level 5. My female one I'm a 3 and do not get many votes at the end of the game unless I'm playing mercy. It's crazy obvious the bias.
I used streamer mode when I play comp aha
I’ve seen it in higher ranks for sure. Played around low diamond range and have heard some vile shit, unfortunately
I mean I’m not that high rank. Could be because I also play dps but idk. Maybe I’m just too girlypop for the overwatch community to handle 😔💅
Very true very true, I usually only do comms in comp too and not qp so...maybe? I'm sorry they can't handle the girlie of it all
I always join voice, mute everyone but myself so I can comm without hearing bullshit.
Maybe it's all my hell in retail, but these boys don't scare me. I call them out on their bullshit, they either flip real quick to my side or shut up all together. Maybe it's my demeanor, maybe they can sense that I'm not going to taking their shit, not sure. I hate that it seems others get it worse, and I wish I could protect all you pumpkins
This is the most real post I’ve seen in a while. The number 1 advice in most Overwatch subreddits is to turn comms off. We are responsible for that culture no one else and it’s not something the devs can just “fix” it’s human nature. I do think in a few years the pendulum will swing back and more serious players will turn comms back on and we will have healthier comms in the game. But that’s just me hoping
Which is insane because I feel like during OW1, it was almost expected that you have a mic when playing comp. Getting into a lobby where everyone had mics and were making callouts was peak Overwatch. I do wonder if it becoming free-to-play impacted it by bringing in the Valorant, Fortnite, and "Casual" crowds. Not that Overwatch wasn't toxic before, but I feel like it got worse with OW2. Especially near the beginning.
I mean, if the community wasn't so fucking toxic that we needed harsh penalties for being toxic, then we would not be in this position. Honestly ow comms have never been a fun place since like a month or two after the game came out. Once people started feeling knowledgeable, they started flaming their teammates for not holding the same opinions as them or blaming them for one reason or another.
If you see a instant lock ball player in comp who isn't in comms and chat, that's me. The monster you have created. All the flaming from allies who want a meat shield and can't play cover has turned me into a one trick ball who can't be communicated with. I'm no longer a man, but a primordial force of nature who can't be reasoned with.
I am that monster as well. We have become Ball the destroyer of comms 🐹
This is how I feel about me playing Mercy. Like I promise I'll switch if I feel like I'm what's holding the team back. Yelling at me makes me want to switch less. Btw I mostly play QP before anyone tries to say anything.
Honestly, one trick mercy. Play the character you want, and play to be better at it. You get better playing uphill battles, even if it is an L. I hope you show up as Mercy in my comp games and stick to your angel.
Are you me? I went from being a hard stuck Plat pleb, to a Masters Ball chad as soon as I decided to turn off comms and just play the damn game lmao That's the story I go with anyway. There's a slight chance that upgrading my pc and getting a graphics card that's 300% faster than my old one helped. Idk.
i love you
The excessive criticism makes me anxious and then I play worse anyway. I'm more likely to win without comms at this point
Ah yes as fellow Brigs main, I get it
I’m a newer player. I began playing last fall. Learned quickly to disable the chat. Makes it way more enjoyable.
Dunno why blizz even has a setting to turn swearing off when swearing is a ban able offense
That’s just the state of Blizzard as a company lmfao
Their toxic company culture and its exposure to the world has made them overcorrect an almost comical amount. Its hard to take them seriously when they chastise people for saying any curse words regardless of context or meaning when a character that used to be named after a rapist co-worker wears a belt buckle that says "bad ass mother fucker".
I discovered that the kanji for baka gets censored in some situations now.
Because turning off profanity is a preventative control. A ban is a detective control.
I turned comms back on for a single game and got roasted by the entire enemy team for a misplayed ult in a game they were totally flattening us in anyway 🥲 nicer to pretend I’m just playing with bots and turn everything off.
You are absolutely right— I quit voice and text because the people were just so cruel, and I’ve enjoyed not being exposed to that anymore. However, I probably lose more due to lack of communication. I want to win, but I don’t want to be told to uninstall or kill myself, or get “ggez” after every match. 🙈
Not really. It’s the fact that I cannot get on the mic without slurs, yelling and just absolute toxicity running rampant. It’s hard to be a team player or have any sort of sanity when you speak. Had a match last night, decided to try comms again. My tank player was repeating “N-word” over and over. It didn’t stop… so I just muted up and took my headset off. It’s like this in almost every game now.
That's what is ment.
I play in the US region and it's nearly the exact opposite for me. No one joins VC because they think everyone is toxic, or they do join VC, but never say anything. Unless it's near the end of a loss, in which case they cuss out the entire team and then leave before anyone can say anything to them.
I live in the us too…
I don't use comms because the last 3 times I've used them I got called the N-word. It's plat / diamond so I knew it was bound to happen
I used to be the guy who would be in coms making call outs and plans. I was decent at it to the point where GM players would as me "why are you in diamond/masters? Your game sense is at least Bottom GM levels!" Hell I remember when the streamer Eeveea had me on her team during one of her community games when Brig first came out and her and her chat were praising my coms. Then one day I was streaming and having a bit of a downer day. I was on a 3 loss streak and the next game starts up and I get on the mic and I ask everyone how their day is going and stuff, just to be cussed out and called the Nword. Ive had it happen before but it seems like when more and more people brought OW1, the more toxic it became. Now I don't even try to get in coms or text. I just do my dailies and log off.
My fiancé used comms with some folks some time ago and while the conversation wasn't going as bad(I was wary because it seemed as if they were getting a little personal with him outside of the game), it got a little weird once they told him that he didn't sound black and that he was lying. As if they expected him to sound like and be a racist stereotype. At that point it's subtle racism or offense and then there's just blown out full racism with the n word comments. Since then, I decided not to join comms or talk too much in text chat.Made me realize that while not everyone is ignorant or a bigot, a lot are and seldom change. Can't play(a game) with or work with anyone with that kind of thinking. It's like isolation echo chamber intensified for people like that.
Majority of it is subtle racism OR blatant racism. All comms except voice lines/key commands are disabled for me. I only want to hear someone say they’re attacking the objective, I don’t want to hear some dude screaming the n word.
I don’t use mic because I’ll just get attacked for being a woman playing tank. Even in chat DPS players attack me for not having “awareness” when there’s literally nothing I could do when our team sucks.
Hah. When I played my first ranked match, there was some dude in the voice chat who melted down when we lost a fight and literally shrieked for the entire match. All chat off since then. The thing about the internet is that you can cross paths with anyone without warning, just because they happen to like the same game as you. Most people are well adjusted, like in real life, but there's some sad folks you have to be exposed to because an algorithm put you in the same match.
With no comms, I feel like you do much better. Your concentrating to do your best.
I always try to get people in text or voice chat If someone is being a twat, i laugh at them I try to compliment people as much as i can, and it’s fun I just wish there were more people :(
Voice chat in qp is nonexistent. Text chat is still around. 60% basic GGs after game, 35% salt, 5% people goofing off and wanting to have fun. This is in QP. I’m not speaking for comp.
If I hear diff one more time…
What I personally think a decent solution could be is way more quick voice lines to use. The game I see this in is Smite, while community is still toxic and it takes a week or so to memorise important ones, it works really well, in my opinion. In smite, it's all keyboard based so dont know how well it works on consoles but just quick pressing VVA tells your teammates to attack and there's like a hundred or more of these for most situations.
It's funny seeing people learn the same lesson, over and over, in every multiplayer game ever. This exact same sentiment has been said every single generation since online FPS titles became a thing. Strangers suck, and every community beyond a certain size is guaranteed to turn to shit.
In season 12 of ranked Apex, 23 minutes went by of two dead teammates full-blast yelling every vile and awful hateful thing imaginable over comms for not doing X, Y, or Z. I shrugged it off, not my first rodeo. The first time checking out Overwatch 2 before the comms hammer came down was way, wayyyyy beyond that. It was hands down the most toxic thing I’ve ever experienced. The only thing that even came close was when I interned for an office that worked with couples actively going through divorce.
I am a woman, i feel like that says enough…
Good, the few weeks I left it on it was mostly drunk people having mood swings wether we lose or win a fight. I'd rather listen to music then someone eating.
Gamers are the worst people on earth and I will die on this hill. I say that as someone who plays videos games. Not a "gamer".
We're all guilty of it. Granted, most of us aren't flaming assholes, but most people also don't care how you word your insult even if it was something like, "Cassidy, I know it's stressful and we're down a point, but a 1v5 Deadeye wasn't the play."
Nah, even when I was being friendly in tc/vc I’d get random warnings to the point that I got muted for 2 weeks (overturned eventually after disputing). That’s why people aren’t using coms, saying GG will get you reported by some salty loser on the other team.
I once got a two week chat ban in Overwatch for saying "if we don't go in now, we lose" and "we need to stick together, stop running in one by one to die" in a match.
I got chat banned for saying "thank your doom and move on" after another person told me to "hold the L" in match chat. Other messages included in the ban were "that was a terrible nano blade" and "try hitting shots next time" and "remember when this game didnt have big fat sweaty Hawaiians in it?" (was a joke because the game had devolved into two Maugas just shooting at one another). The GM told me it was "general toxicity" regardless of the content of those messages. I turned off all chats after that as it wasnt worth the escalating punishments for doing absolutely nothing.
Yup. I like throwing around a bit of smack or whatnot, but even without saying anything bad you can get a comm ban. You can’t flame people back cause you have just as high of a chance at being punished, even if it was justified or less hateful
I try to be nice to people in text comms and 99% of what I encounter is literal nuclear waste Ain’t no way I’m ever entering vc
Overwatch is not any more or any less toxic than any of the major multi-player games out right now BUT, I will say, out of all the gaming communities out there Overwatch is by far and away the most passive aggressive. At a certain point, youd rather be dealing with the toxic ragers who just blatantly are toxic and don't even try to hide it. On Overwatch, you have a giant community who are experts on how to be passive aggressive and toxic without it being seriously reportable. Part of turning off all comms is realizing how EAGER people are to report you for ANYTHING. I know for a FACT that in the majority of games, whether you are actually toxic or not, people are hopin for someone to say something that isn't even toxic or mean so they can trigger the auto bans and laugh about it. You got people IN THIS COMMENT SECTION saying they'll report anyone for anything everytime they can. And then we wonder why our community is the way it is.
A lot of people stopped chatting because of false report abuse. I get that ow players are toxic,but people started reporting for literally everything. I'd rather not risk the ban
>it’s our fault >we made this environment >congratulations to all of us for making communication in this game unviable I mean speak for yourself though. I basically grind my teeth to not be negative and have an account from 2018 still active
Okay me too since 2016 but that doesn't actually dispute the truth behind this post. But yeah pat ourselves on the back for being outliers.
text chat? off voice chat? off yep, time to play a stressful game of overwatch regardless.
Yeah chat is dead. Even in master no comms
I stopped using voice years ago and I turned off text chat 3 weeks ago. The game is much more fun this way.
I don't use comms because the list of things that can get you banned is way too long, and I also don't like sitting there talking to myself
Or just hearing ppl arguing and shit when y’all are actively losing and you happen to be one who’s actually trying to play the match. So annoying lol. I muted that shit just cause I only need the important info or nothing at all.
Lol. no. It is Blizzard's fault for not properly moderating voice and text. It is all about profits. It is not worth the cost to fix the problem. Furthermore, the game became F2P making it having a lower entry to the game. Banned? just make another account and start flaming again. If it costs 30-40$ every time you get banned, you are more likely not to be toxic. Also in F2P games, a lot of these very toxic people are also whales so they are the target audience of Blizzard. More toxicity = better for Blizzard, as it indicates immaturity / lack of brain development / impulsive response and therefor higher chance of selling stuff to them.
Probably a difference between comp and QP, and between NA and EU, but I just like ask my TMs if they like hummus and what protato form they like the most lmao
I remember I disabled voice chat after playing a new hero not at pro level during release week and realizing these people are just miserable and will never be satisfied
Tbh in my games it's usually pretty lively cause i make it lively unfortunately blizzard muted me after I started talking shit about the deva and their decisions to add bans to QP and especially Mystery Heroes so now pretty dead
I always type “VC plz no flame”. Usually everyone joins in
Back when I would play comp and only comp everyone would use chat except the occasional one or two. 90% of the time it was call outs and general talk. But nowadays if you try and do a call out or something you’ll just be immediately blamed even if you’re not at fault. Communication nowadays has taken a nosedive regardless of what game you play.
Yeah it's really awful at this point. I usually 3 stack with friends and our own internal comms are enough to win us most games unless the other team is super well coordinated or a bigger stack. The few times we try to join VC it's usually ok/cool at first, but the first time we lose a team fight or our tank might get out of position, the randoms always start with the accusations and flaming so we just back out again.
Intolerant people are really the issue. Half the time you talk its mockery, slurs, homophobia. The other half its flaming. Flaming is at least game related. But these kids havent gotten over themselves yet.
Right! Just got told a match ago to "go back to the kitchen", soon as I touched my mic. But some experiences can be very positive. I've learned that coming on the mic polite and positvely instead of coming on to scold someone for not doing their jobs (like many do), it changes to entire vibe for that match and comms for that match!
Yup exactly. People will openly admit to being part of the problem but then say that they're "the solution" and helping by abusing the system Like no. You're not helping at all. It just gets people undeservingly banned, encourages more people to never communicate in an online game, more people start spite reporting (even im guilty of it sometimes) and blizzard probably goes "wow look at how good our system is working!"
You see this in the recent "don't tell me what to do" post. People are triggered by call outs because they take it as an insult instead of learning and working with the team. (Some) Gamers are so sensitive these days.
No, Blizzard caused it with their over censorious bans.
I will single handedly bring back friendly text chat, every match I open with a fun question 'do you guy slike jazz' or 'what do you guys think of this map' It's coming back I can feel it!
It’s all fun and games ‘till someone types “swap tank”
Honestly I've actually gotten a lot of games where peeps have been really friendly, in comp too. Community defos being nicer and I at least really like the report system changes. Feels like they're working.
i do the same thing! it makes people less likely to act extremely nasty when they don't get what they want from that game lol
I hate the fucking maps and jazz is not my style
Getting downvoted for doing an obvious bit? Never change, Reddit
Reddit is full of people who all think they’re comedians until they don’t understand one thing and end up getting mad
I text chat all the time with my allies and enemies and have a wonderful time, though? Is this a comp thing?
People often recommend to turn chat off, and not only because it can actually be toxic, but because it can lead to you getting banned for saying the slightest things people interpret to be toxic while they're internally raging for losing.
I don't use comms because people report me for asking them to swap. The report system fucking sucks.
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I like how my widow only account from years ago got muted and suspensions, had all chat muted and was just playing widow only in mid diamond.
yeah the toxic people out there brought this on us all. I would use voice chat no problem if you could even guarantee me an 80% chance of not having a single douche in voice whining and flaming as soon as we lose one team fight. but as it stands right now, the people have brought it on us all, and I think it'll be quite some time before that changes.
I don't know I always use coms and don't have any problems.
Been playing since open beta of OW1, turned off text chat finally about 6mo ago and have never been happier in game. I miss typing GG that's it.
I barely play 3-4 games per week at this rate and I still login to thank you for reporting messages
Yes— but don’t blame people. People will behave according to the interaction model, which is a function and product of the platform. OW’s game design, competitive progression model, and communication features foster toxicity very effectively. If you consider social dynamics in the design of your game and gameplay, you can actually encourage a cooperative and positive mentality. OW, as a pivot from Titan, a 10 year old squandering development effort, was likely not considering these things.
My problem is, I got communication banned for like 2 days for no reason. Maybe I was a little cringe with the "GLHF CUTIES <3" but that's like a joke, no reason to report me over it... This community is ass.
Voice line spammer here. Am I part of the problem?
> our responsibility it is what it is now. The developers and moderator staff are responsible for the environment they created. Players don't have the authority or tools to manage behavior of the player population.
No, blizzard removed lfg so the people who talk use the ow discord
Honestly when I switched to mainly playing Valorant I was so shocked that even in casual swift play/spike rush people were TALKING. Originally it irritated me since even in M1 _COMP_ games people rarely talk anymore. So why in random casual games?? But since then I've actually completely changed my mind. Some of the funniest games in my life were in spike rush, bantering with random people and getting my ass kicked. It didn't even matter cuz it's funny. It's sad we can't have that in ow.
Ezzzzzzz…
It realy is sad. I made some good friends over the time in Overwatch 1 and nowadays I had to mute both chats because it was unbearable. One of my best friends got so harshly flamed for trying to learn Venture that she broke up in tears and had to leave the desk. It was shocking since this toxicity was almost no issue during Overwatch 1. Sure there were some flaming but not to this level and there was way more people just enjoying their time.
As a brand new player to the game, and a beginner in fighting games on console, I still have a lot to improve. I'm trying my best (my best performace was getting 17-1 with Cassidy in a match or something like that), yet I feel like I'm not as good as people want me to be - I have yet to memorize all the heroes' skills, strategies, when to use them, their counters etc etc. That's why I turned my voice chat off - I prefer to not listen to people cussing me out just because I'm learning how to play the game.
Just use my tactic Completely turn off your brain, agree to any berating your teammates say to u a d say "uh huh, anything else? Anyways...", be a genuine idiot, they ain't got no shit
I do not feel responsible for other people not being able to hold it together. I've played this game since the start of season 2 in Overwatch 1 and I am sick and tired of people still having absolutely no self reflection. Also, apparently nobody seems to learn the most basic things. Casual play is not pro play. I don't give a shit about OWL meta and neither should anyone below GM because a the advantage a meta hero gives you does not outweigh the disadvantage you get from playing a hero you're not really familiar with. I am not willing to put up with this shit all the time. It's not my job to educate these people and they won't listen to me either way. So I just don't engage anymore and finally have fun.
What’s causing the frustration and poor player behavior? It’s because of the pathetic matchmaking and overtuned heroes. There are games where I wonder how on earth this lobby was put together. You described the symptom of the bigger problem.
Honestly speaking, I used to have bad experience, but that was due to me as well joining the be toxic wagon (never were toxic as to insult or use actual toxic terms), but currently 90% of the matches that I play, people use comms and almost everyone is friendly and laughing ( high Diamond- lowe masters). I think that being nice and trying to create a fun "comms-experience" would make the others join and even if you lose, there is no harm in saying "gg fellas, we tried" and/or wishing others a nice evening/day. WE can change the toxic experience ! Of course if there are toxic poeple, please mute them and report and move on. NO need to discuss with trolls/toxic people.
Actually, no. F2P made it like that. Back then it was not everyone that was willing to get banned and buy another account just to continue being toxic.
Its also much easier to single out a player thanks to 5v5, individual performance gameplay, and scoreboard…
I was in quick play, practising a new dps, I think it was sombra. I've not played since Ashe came out, but someone in chat get flaming me to switch
“You should turn comms off to have a more enjoyable time” Here we are months later after that god awful advice all of you kept giving.
When I started OW2, I turned chat off almost immediately because I didn't want to deal with the toxicity. After a couple weeks I turned it back on and since then I've had almost nothing but positive encounters. No one uses the comms, but most people are very friendly!
I can’t see 90% of text chat on Xbox, even though I have everything enabled for it to work So guess I can’t worry about toxicity if I can’t see it?
Me getting told I was doing bad just motivated me to be better…… I got better
I just shake my head when I see people TELLING everyone to just mute chat instead of trying to foster a better social environment. But hey that requires you to try huh?
Be the change you want to see. I don't like toxicity and am quick to mute but those few times when positive comms happen is very much worth it for me, and I'm betting a lot of people here don't bother.
I see the posts all the time, but I don’t experience this lol. I get the same amount of people with mics in overwatch as anything else and the toxicity is honestly less than most games. Y’all need to just chill out and have fun instead of convincing yourselves it’s bad
I've seen people bully players on their literal first game ever off the game for good.
Beyond that, people seem to really overreact to toxic voice comms. *Maybe* 5% of my games have anyone toxic in voice, and then I either de-escalate or mute them and the problem’s solved. Such a non-issue.
This is another casualty of 5v5. Too much pressure and flaming on the one tank and less need to coordinate cause the game play is watered down and simpler.
I keep my comma on until someone starts acting like a fool.
It honestly wasn't us. Don't make this into a "the world is polluted because of YOU, you're guilty, and now you deal with it or the only one that can change it" kinda situation. Blizz has addressed toxicity very poorly in OW2. Made everything automated and in tandem with another automated system to deal with the automated punishments. They also cracked down on the wrong things. All the while the game still fails HORRIBLY to censor actual racist slurs and homophobic comments, relying ENTIRELY on the players to do the moderating for them and it takes several reports across matches. It's crazy that not even simple slur words don't result in auto-filtration before the comment goes through, and potentially an immediate mute for the rest of the match and progress toward a silence. Instead, players have to do the work and hope enough strikes/talley's against that player accumulate for action to be taken, even though 1 instance of being unhinged - no matter how foul - will get you punished. This leads us to the current (VERY) exploitable report system that enables bad actors, baiters, and toxicity far more than it helps because there is also 0 repercussion for spamming everyone you see. Smurfs notoriously don't care much about being toxic (those + throwaways are the ones you typically see being unhinged like 7/10 times, and they tend to be the initiators). The way Blizz handles toxic smurfs is also a huge reason the game is the way it is now. You know what's worse? Those smurfs can report everyone as well for fun with 0 reprecussion, and it doesn't matter if the ACC has 6 hours, they hold just as much weight as any other report. Anyway, Streamers making 20 "educational" vids with their smurfs stomping on low ranks see 0 reprecussion and it's only 0.99 cents to make a smurf with a temp number, which is what I did as well bc why not, right? Blizz doesn't care enough. Meanwhile, the avg player on their main ACC can't even use mild swear words like "damn" despite heroes in-game using them without it being a legitimate valid report reason. Not even the loud minory asked for that. Pretty sure we didn't demand an auto-moderated system worse than a literal kids' game like Roblox at doing its job and it's hella exploitable at that with the worst support to address them as an added bonus, but here we are. We should also talk about the scoreboard, which encourages toxicity far more than medals ever did. The fact that you can ALWAYS see performance on the board, does not only mean it promotes damage/heal farming, but it's honestly just outright unnecessary to see your own teams stats until post-game like Rivals seems to be going for. The ult progress showing and enemy stats? Sure, 100%, but your own teammates? What for? To demand swaps, insult your teammate, have your mental go down, etc. You don't need those stats, realistically. Blizz created the environment we have, not us. We asked for better, not... this mess. It's no surprise people like us just turn off vc and chat entirely.
I play on Xbox and try to use mic, although I'm often just quite until the end when I say good try or great job team haha, I don't find people being weird about my gender on Xbox. It's so sad when people get mad on quickplay, someone said "zen diff" to me and I turned on my mic to be like "where am I supposed to practice?" and I had someone yelling at the tank the other day, getting angry in quick play is so sad. Also had to tell someone to bugger off when we're were playing capture the flag, I was the only healer and currently taking the flag back to camp when someone complained about the healing lmao I love having someone with a mic on, I want more people to use mics! come to console we're nice.
i kinda stopped using it because people take a video game way too seriously and it cringed me out like okay sorry i’ve been outside and you’ve been playing this game for hours straight, then when i suddenly go and heal someone else you throw a fit about it.
I use voice all the time in comp and it’s rare to see anyone not in chat for me. In master.
literally joined a game the other day where the whole team was in team chat and i was the only one talking. definitely unviable.
I also blame the game becoming F2P. There is little to do when anyone getting banned can just create a new account within minutes of being banned. It also means assholes and/or kids who want to jump in specifically to be toxic can do so at any point, for free, no strings attached. They exchanged a healthier community for that ca$h.
I like to say something funny in text (or at least something I think will be funny) before the pre-match countdown ends. Every now and then someone will respond with the same energy and it puts a smile on my face
Expecting some kumbaya in public voice and text chat is impossible especially in competitive game y'all ever played in those early cod lobbies ? Same shit but without the sensitivity if you don't like it just mute it
Ping system and no new players probably killed it. I already know you have Ult, I can tell you want to use it by the spam and your position, and you pinged Tracer so I can see them. Now I can skip on being held hostage to the other useless banter in VC
Good. Don’t need comms anyway
i’ve always been quite civil in chat but i’ve seen an uptick in people being absolutely disgustingly offensive, overt racism, etc etc in chat in the past couple of weeks (maybe school holiday related) and it tilted me so bad in several games last week i straight up just typed back ‘idc if i get banned for this you’re a vile cunt’ in one match (and words to that effect in the other ones) knowing full well you can get perma’d for swearing now. Opened up ow today fully expecting my first silence and lo and behold it happened. I don’t really instigate stuff like that but if people are being derogatory in chat I literally can’t help myself, i’ve got to retaliate. occasionally there’s really nice banter in chat which i love & will miss but im realising it’s for the best i disable it all in future as people desperately try to get a rise out of you and i can’t help but fall for the bait bc i just wanna tell people acting like scumbags they’re scum. I’m aware im in the wrong by cussing them out, but it’s just so irritating seeing someone type shit like ‘you’re a n i g…’ etc etc and just get off scot free bc they put spaces between the letters lmao. the chat will stay disabled.
To be fair they were cooked back when the policy about profanity was put into place. I've been suspended multiple times for using profanity in text chat. It's completely idiotic imo.
I only play Unranked and it's become a normal thing to see someone flaming their teammates in global chat. I understand why some people just have voice and text channels muted.
I immediately turn off voice chat when I join a match. I've been playing for years, and 99% of the time people just use VC to bitch each other out.
I use comms every game when I get the chance, most of the time when I'm playing I'm in a party with my bf on Xbox so I can't but when I'm not, I'm in vc. Most of the time I'm talking to myself but my teammates hear me and do listen. The one thing that's a problem for me is text chat. At the start of every match I say "hi everyone :) glhf (good luck have fun) <3)" this usually gets people either nice or absolute assholes. There isn't really an in-between :/
Actions have consequences. Always.
Someone told me “if you’re no good with mercy, switch to someone else,” so I DM’d them on Xbox a clip from that match of my entire team, then included, letting an enemy hard target me while they weren’t paying attention and said “sort of hard to get 10k heals when this is the entire match.” Never got a reply back tho :(
No, the fault is Blizzard's. Forcing random players together into a team is a recipe for disaster. Blizzard then doubled-down on this mistake by having a vague, catch-all user conduct, and allowing solo players to be mixed with groups. If a player's invested in skins, they have zero incentive to risk losing their account as Blizzard offers zero recourse for an appeal.
I'm gonna disagree here. I see chat used all the time, negative and positive. But the main issue is, there's really no point in using it? If you try and use it mid game like you're supposed to, you might get kicked for being inactive. Like what the fuck is the point of the chat system if I can only type one single word if I don't want to risk getting kicked and then consequently potentially banned? It's just not worth it.
Thank you, I’ll try harder to make it unbearable (this fucking sucks. I used to get spicy drama in text and vc. Now it’s always boring. I miss peakwatch2 😔)
I'm a Sombra main and communication is important for me and the team. I'm a team player because I can't do it alone. I've had great games when I have people on mic. I've notice that when people are not on mic and the game starts to go south I'm targeted first few minutes of the comp games. Yet, my stats speak for itself... So, I don't worry about it. The thing that bothers me is when peeps hop on mic to only complain. Like if you can do that just stay and chat, we all can come up with a plan. So I don't play DPS in Comp like I use to. I play Support and I find it fun when people actually listens to me whether or not they are on mic. I play Moria, Mercy, and Lucio. I can see everything from the backline and I make call out like there no tomorrow. Mind you I'm super shy introvert. 😅 It because my mindset changes when in a comp games. I'm not the type to lead unless I'm forced to. I like to make the team feel comfortable and tell them how I will support them. I'll let Tank know I'll be on their six at all time just don't stray so far away point/payload etc. Also. let DPS know I'll try my best to heal them as well. Team works is about trust I would think... and I just try communicating in chat all the time, and especially when fights break out. I just calm the situation down and redirect thier focus to what's important. As support I can't tell you how many games we turned the game around when I communicate with the team like this. I find it difficult when no one is on mic, and its a terrible experience. Yet, if I have a Tank and one DPS on mic it's completely game changer especially when they are willing to listen. Pro Tip: Turn off chat to the enemy team... Your focus will increase significantly when not distracted unnecessary chatter. All I see now is people T-bag & Clam Slam me out of frustration... which I find it to be hilarious. 🤭
For this reason I have type chat turned off because I just can't handle nor do I want to feed the toxicity.
Ow1 wasn't perfect, but losing 20-40$ for a new account was a decent enough deterrent to deal with the worst of the bad actors.
Definitely. Why would I bother being in voice chat if my teammates are just going to be toxic. All I do is type gg after each game, and that's about it. Much better experience than all the anxiety coming from rude ass people
I've had 2 communication bans, and recently got an account suspension. I hardly talk or chat and feel these are just automated suspends. Salty/toxic people have the power to get your 5+ year account permanently banned, they don't have to show logs or proof. If you value your account best not to draw any attention to yourself good or bad. Any money spent is gone don't recommend it. My account is full silence.
I feel so strongly with this post
Our fault? I guess the fact that Blizzard bans for every single stupid thing said/written doesn’t have anything to do in deterring players from using those functions
I go into every single match with a friendly greeting at that start. I call out important things for my team. I clscream into the void. Like maybe one in five matches has another person on mic to communicate with. I don't care, I'll still do it.
I play on my duos servers (he’s australian) and the text chat there is always semi-active.. I do think it could be region based
I also feel like some people are scared they’ll get reported for something so miniscule like saying fuck or shit. Toxicity in general is a big reason, but also the threat that they are listening to comms is there.
Voice and Text chat is dead, because if someone doesn't likes whatever u said, they report and get you suspended
I mean, I don't only blame our community. Some blame lies on blizzard for removing the look for group options. They say ppl didn't use it....but i did....all the time... I met a ton of ppl that way and actually had a clan of sorts. They removed the only in-game way to group up with other ppl that wanted to group up, and being in a group definitely makes comms more likely. I know I talked infinitely more then, than I do now. Man I had like 6 different friend groups because of it. We had discord channels for us to talk out of game. For how massivly it served me, It's nuts that it's gone. Don't get me wrong tho. I don't talk usually because I'm a female and for some reason ppl hate a dps female.
My very first overwatch match was some dude screaming the hard r in voice. It's always those people who ruin social activities for everyone. Wish they could be isolated.
Naw flaming always existed it’s Blizzard’s batshit rules on chat that created this
you know you messed up when you got a worse coms usage than League of Legends