Blizzard Removes "Avoid this Player" Option from Overwatch

[Gennadios]

Matchmaking that pits "one of the best players in the world" against the unwashed dregs of the internet? No offense but I wouldn't want to go up against those kind of odds in anything I play nowadays. Just don't have time to git gud.

Just once I'd like to see a matchmaking system where I can happily sit in the the silver tier for all time and not have to worry about what the golds and above are doing.

 

[TilMorrow]

"Working as intended." I mean if it stops players from playing with players they want to avoid then it is working as intended. Did they really expect people wouldn't use a feature that stops them from facing someone who generally ruins their experience by dominating them all the time? Honestly they should just keep Avoid the Player feature and make it so that it's less likely you'll join a game with that player rather than flat out removing them from the potential player pool.

Either way the guy can brag he's such a good Widowmaker that people are afraid to face him and get into an E-Sports team or something.

 

[Geisterkarle]

Why does this option even exist? There's about 7 million users, even regarding the different servers the chance to be against the same guy is extremely low.

Well, espacially in the example of being at the very top, you normally "always" meet the same players. Because there are not that many!

 

[BeerTent]

Basically, the internet stepped in, and "this is why we can't have nice things." I would have killed for this system back when I played Dystopia. (To be fair, I did have something similar in the form of a banhammer, but man, I had to fill out webforms and forum posts to use that!)

It makes sense to me that if person A reported Person B for toxicity, then yeah, alter their match-making. But it shouldn't be something that's publicly known. To me, I like the idea of a "Avoid Matchmaking" function. I don't want to be paired with the toxic and the trolls. But at the same time, I've yet to come across that person in OW. I think it's largely because that to enjoy playing a MP game, I need to play with friends. People I know are dependable. People I can talk to, people I can joke with. If I don't have that social aspect, when what's the point of a MP game?

 

[RaikuFA]

Dunno. But I have been kicked in TF2 and Payday 2. Gotten DM in Awesomenauts and League telling me to kill my self and to stop playing games altogether caused it was obvious I was new. Then the threats in SF4 for losing.

And really, threats in SF4? I can get trashtalk and "you suck", but threats? That seems a bit embellished, especially since SF4 is sorta considered one of the better FGC's online considering how mainstream it is.

This was back when it first came out. Could've changed since then but I already returned it.

And have you been on SRK? Pretty bad site, full of trolls.

 

[Jadwick]

I've still got the "Avoid this Game" option though, heh heh heh.

But seriously, sounds like they didn't need to remove it just tweak it; especially since they use matchmaking. Avoid lists shouldn't be treated like bans, but preference. If matchmaking determines that all suitable games for you have people in them that have "avoided" you, it should still drop you into one.

This goes the same in the inverse, if you are "avoiding" lots of people its going to be harder for you to find a match as well.

Bring back server browsers, and show player lists! That way the onus is on the person that is blocking people not to join servers people they don't like are in.

Honestly I absolutely hate multiplayer versus games anymore. Those of which I still have installed (Rocket League is the only one I think), I've disabled voice on.

The internet is full of trolls trolling trolls. I'd like to say that it didn't always seem that way but I'd probably be wrong.

 

[Valnakrume]

I'm just gonna say this, in a game about character switching (It's been drilled into my head by every forum post, you should be switching up characters to counter threats), Jeff Kaplan talks about "One of the best Widowmaker players in the world...". So this guy mains Widowmaker solely, and people were avoiding him, and that's why he got avoided. Maybe they weren't avoiding him because of his sniping skill alone, maybe he's a total ass on the team mic, maybe he's toxic in chat, I dunno.

 

[Lightspeaker]

Maybe they weren't avoiding him because of his sniping skill alone, maybe he's a total ass on the team mic, maybe he's toxic in chat, I dunno.

He explicitly said in the linked thread something like "he's a nice guy".

That being said I see literally zero issue with avoiding someone because they're clearly far, far too skilled for their level. Its the same issue that comes up with smurfing. The problem isn't really with the avoid this player feature. The problem is that "one of the best Widowmaker players in the world" is pubstomping rather than playing on a team and scrimming.

 

[mruuh]

So, if an average gamer of today faces a challenge that requires them to get better at the game, the most popular answer is "no, bad challenge, go away challenge!" instead of getting better and finding a way to overcome it? Please stop the planet, I'd like to step off.

 

[Bobular]

I once played a game against a full team of friends when I was with random people, the result was a team with near perfect defense versus a team who though 3 Genji was a good idea.

I don't blame the grouped team for that. What I do blame them for is the constant taunting they did through out and at the end, I then selected to avoid the whole team, not due to the skill difference but because they were all assholes.

 

[saltyanon]

Avoiding someone you know you can't beat is the obvious, logical thing to do. Anyone with half a brain would know that.

No, the logical thing to do is get better and beat him.

And that's not gonna happen if you're repeatedly being matched against the guy stomping you. That's dumb, not logical. Retreating and avoiding is the first step to what you're proposing. You don't start learning an instrument by playing the most difficult songs, you start with the easier ones and gradually get better. You avoid the difficult ones until you're equipped enough to handle them.

Avoiding someone better than you is not only logical, it's also wise. Not just in games but in the real world. Retreat is a tactical choice you know.

 

[Rawbeard]

so Blizzard is removing a great detox tool because it might also hit people who aren't shits, but nobody wants to play with anyway. genius.

 

[Paragon Fury]

You mean it was working as intended?

No, players being avoided simply for being good at the game or with a class people don't want to deal with playing against (or a combination of both) is not "working as intended".

But that IS working as intended.

Like it or not, being exceptionally good at something competitive tends to also make the experience for everyone who has to deal with you exceptionally less enjoyable.

Basically the argument is that this one player's enjoyment is more important than the potentially 11 other people whose enjoyment suffers because of him.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

But seriously, sounds like they didn't need to remove it just tweak it; especially since they use matchmaking. Avoid lists shouldn't be treated like bans, but preference. If matchmaking determines that all suitable games for you have people in them that have "avoided" you, it should still drop you into one.

Pretty much this. The system still isn't as robust as it maybe should be (I came up with one a while back [http://tf2maps.net/threads/how-to-fix-steams-toxic-communities.27446/] that I'd like to see either Blizzard or Valve have a go at), but if a player is getting Avoided by that many people, one of two things is the case: The player is legitimately toxic and should be banned, or way too many users are being sore losers and trying to game the system. Having the system automatically alert the mods after a certain number of Avoids so they can monitor the player's behavior would solve the first case. If they tweaked the Avoid system so you can still get stuck with an unpopular player if they have no other options, the second case wouldn't be an issue either.

Like it or not, being exceptionally good at something competitive tends to also make the experience for everyone who has to deal with you exceptionally less enjoyable.

Basically the argument is that this one player's enjoyment is more important than the potentially 11 other people whose enjoyment suffers because of him.

I think if it's possible for one good player to have that big of an effect on the entire opposing team, that indicates a problem with the game itself. It's really never been an issue in TF2, and while I don't have any personal experience with Overwatch, I know that it's trying to be a lot closer to TF2 than, say, Counter-Strike.

 

[MoltenSilver]

You know, I can't help but think that most of the arguments people are using to defend the avoid system (which I agree with many of them) wouldn't exist if the game just had a competent matchmaker in the first place.

 

[The Material Sheep]

Dunno. But I have been kicked in TF2 and Payday 2. Gotten DM in Awesomenauts and League telling me to kill my self and to stop playing games altogether caused it was obvious I was new. Then the threats in SF4 for losing.

And really, threats in SF4? I can get trashtalk and "you suck", but threats? That seems a bit embellished, especially since SF4 is sorta considered one of the better FGC's online considering how mainstream it is.

This was back when it first came out. Could've changed since then but I already returned it.

And have you been on SRK? Pretty bad site, full of trolls.

This is what I don't understand man. You either just have a temperament that leads people to come after you, an exceptionally thin skin, or the worst luck in the world. Seriously I suck at DOTA2 and that game environment is up there as the pinnacle of people getting hateful for a loss. I played that game pretty consistently for 2 straight years and had maybe like... four or five times where someone got really personal but even then it takes just kind of laughing at them.

I'm inclined to think you've probably just had a hell of a lot of bad luck but your experience really seems to be a huge exception.

 

[RaikuFA]

Dunno. But I have been kicked in TF2 and Payday 2. Gotten DM in Awesomenauts and League telling me to kill my self and to stop playing games altogether caused it was obvious I was new. Then the threats in SF4 for losing.

And really, threats in SF4? I can get trashtalk and "you suck", but threats? That seems a bit embellished, especially since SF4 is sorta considered one of the better FGC's online considering how mainstream it is.

This was back when it first came out. Could've changed since then but I already returned it.

And have you been on SRK? Pretty bad site, full of trolls.

This is what I don't understand man. You either just have a temperament that leads people to come after you, an exceptionally thin skin, or the worst luck in the world. Seriously I suck at DOTA2 and that game environment is up there as the pinnacle of people getting hateful for a loss. I played that game pretty consistently for 2 straight years and had maybe like... four or five times where someone got really personal but even then it takes just kind of laughing at them.

I'm inclined to think you've probably just had a hell of a lot of bad luck but your experience really seems to be a huge exception.

I'll chalk it up to luck. That or I just suck so bad it really pisses them off.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

One of the reasons matchmaking systems could be better. Halo used to do a pretty good job of matching me against people of my skill level, but since I forayed into other competitive shooters, I'm finding this to not be the case. I can understand the position the 'avoid player' option puts skilled players in, but Blizzard could at least add a 'mute' option. I shudder to think what my online gaming experiences would be like if I didn't silence people.