Posted by Six gamers of comparative skill are matched together to form a team that requires strategy and coordination to ensure an enjoyable game and, hopefully, a victory. This is Overwatch, filled with people who understand what it takes to win and are willing to work together to make it happen while having fun.
…this is until, of course, you actually meet your fellow players online. In any given game, you might find arrogance, anger, discriminatory slurs, and an untold number of people who seem to know your mother.
Granted, a majority of the Overwatch player community aren’t bad people. However, those players that are considered toxic seem to have such a loud voice in the meta that there has been a growing issue of how to either silence them or retrain them to have better habits. Reddit threads call out heinous activity and support good plays, many streamers promote a PMA playing philosophy, and now Blizzard is stepping in to help.
According to a new Developer Update video, soon you’ll be able to influence who is and is not a member of your team. The “Avoid As Teammate” option will be available through any player’s profile and will place the offending player on a seven-day list of people you do not want to be on a team with. They may still be on the opposing team, but it’s better they be on that end of your Ult.
To temper the likelihood of anyone putting practically everyone they come across on this list, your AAT option will only apply to two players (at least, as of the time of this article). At any time you can adjust the list, un-avoiding one player to avoid a far worse offender, at your discretion.
On the other end, if you are the avoided teammate by too many people, you will receive a warning. This is your opportunity to examine what got you there and make the introspective decision that either you need to change, or you seem to get matched only with total jerks.
Depending on where you are on the tier ladder and when you play, having people avoided may increase your wait time when queuing up for a game. For those looking to grab a drink or hit the restroom, this may not be as big of an issue, but it something to consider for anyone dealing with streaming or gaming on a limited timeline.
So what do you think of this new option? Reporting will still be in effect, so anyone making too many toxic comments should still be subjected to that, but this does provide a more immediate way to streamline your experience in a more positive direction. The next I get dropped into a game halfway through, within a couple of minutes gain golds in eliminations and objective time, but am getting yelled at by one of my teammates, I may find myself using this option for my own sanity.
GGWP, everyone!
GLOSSARY (just in case)
Toxic: A player with a bad attitude. Often this person is aggressive, judgmental, and insulting to others who play in a way that they believe doesn’t best benefit him/her as an individual.
Meta: The combination of popular strategies, character selection, and community attitude prevalent at the moment in a game. Changes frequently.
PMA: Stands for “Positive Mental Attitude” and is used to describe people and games that do their best to keep a fun atmosphere and/or morale high amongst teammates.
Ult: Short for Ultimate. It is often a character’s strongest ability in Overwatch that requires good plays to charge up.
Tier Ladder: Where you are ranked in competitive games. From lowest to highest are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster.
Golds: Each match awards medals of Bronze, Silver, and Gold to players in a variety of categories to show how much you are influencing the game. Having these medals, however, does not denote skill level.
GGWP: Stands for Good Game, Well Played. Often said or texted at the end of each game to congratulate or show respect. Sometimes used sarcastically, but AAT those people.
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