how does blizzard handle threats?

[Low Hanging Fruit]

lol... chat ban for threatening people? they should ban their accounts...

It gets there. Sadly on the internet trolling works both ways. Some people actually get threatened and thus have to defend themselves. At the same time if that defense is to viable people will use the defense as an attack and just start getting people banned all over the place.

I know a guy that used to say "lets go red" means he was going to kick the shit out of someone. It could just mean lets go to the red marker on the map. Reports have to have some ground to move on. History has to be established. I mean the odds are really low someone you are playing overwatch with will be able to determine your location, get to your location, and then have the balls to carry out the attack though overwatch. If he is really that dangerous of an individual than you are more than likely fucked the moment you ran into them and not when they started screaming they are going to kill you or something.

[Woobels]

I haven't heard of someone getting an actual account ban over toxic behavior yet, so I think it's really unlikely. They increase the amount of time they mute you every time it happens though.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

lol... chat ban for threatening people? they should ban their accounts...

why? If they can't chat, they can't threaten people, the problem is removed.

[Feril]

Have Muttley's laughter ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uSTOHa4Im4 ) ready and play it through voice chat every time someone threatens you. That's the way to handle online threats, as they're just laughable baby tantrums and they need canned laughter as the perfect match.

"Entire team is babies!"
- Heavy Weapons Guy, 2007-2016

[Deleted]

today guy threaten that he would torture, rape me and kill me for picking mei and not playing what he wanted me to play wtf???

[Typhoria]

If it was voice chat good luck proving it. Highly doubtful blizzard keeps voice chat logs since the space required For audio is much higher than a message log.

[Feril]

today guy threaten that he would torture, rape me and kill me for picking mei and not playing what he wanted me to play wtf???

Threaten him back. Tell him you would help, care and listen to his problems if he plays what he wants to play. Insist on helping him through all of his threats. Maybe he'll break down and admit his problems and he can move on towards a better life? º_º

[Hotmail]

I don't know because I've never been threatened. Love the Overwatch community.

[Deleted]

can i involve police when people threaten like this? it is out of control with death threats, rape threats, makes me want to not play the game if they are not going to do anything

[Perfectdoll]

If you have the means to do so, if the threats are just over voice comms, I'd suggest recording the games and uploading them somewhere and then use the support site outside of game to report the behaviour to Blizzard. If they do it in writing, you can right-click their name, select report and then 'abusive chat' or harassment I believe there's options for. An added note that it's been consistent behaviour throughout the game from the person you're reporting will have it reviewed. Even if they don't get abusive in writing, I'd still suggest reporting them and adding the note that it's through voice comms because that will establish a record of the person being abusive.

The one thing you shouldn't do is not report because 'Blizzard won't do anything' or 'Blizzard doesn't care'. They absolutely care but they can't do anything if people don't report. Another option if they get abusive on comms and you still want to remain there for communication with the rest of the team is muting that particular player, you can do that again by right-clicking their name or by pressing P and clicking on the symbol next to the player's name.

Also, though this one should be obvious; don't answer in kind. IF someone starts hurling abuse, don't do the same to them. The absolute best way to defuse them, in my experience (at level 692) is to be kind and optimistic in turn because it tends to derail them and it helps the morale of the rest of the team, though I do have to say that it's been rare for me to come across the behaviour you describe in.

Finally... if you _do_ experience this behaviour as often as you say to the extremes you say, you may want to look at the common denominator, in this case yourself. In what situations do they occur? If it's in competitive, are you really playing to your teams strengths when you pick a certain character or are you just picking it to be a troll or are your actions perceived like that? In particular how do you defend your character choice if someone questions it? If your response is to tell them to eff off and let you play what you want, you may want to change that to something along the lines of "I know my hero selection is a bit odd, but I do well with them on this map. If it doesn't work, I'll switch off." because it establishes that you acknowledge their concerns and that you're willing to listen to them and work with your team. The same way a preemptive comment is also good to make if you pick Widow/Hanzo because it lets your team know you acknowledge their concerns and are willing to switch if things doesn't work.

[potis]

can i involve police when people threaten like this? it is out of control with death threats, rape threats, makes me want to not play the game if they are not going to do anything

Or you know.

Grow up.

Its the internet, is words on the screen affect you so much, dont go online and stick to single player games.

Yes Blizzard will do something about the person if you provide proof and its repeated offence, by the wont "Ban" someone because they raged once or twice.

Every company only brings down the ban hammer when the offence is repeated and there were warnings involved it doesnt go with

"Duurrr hurr, ban cause you swear"

[Deleted]

They don't really ban people. I've seen some very dark stuff on overwatch, he got reported by many a few games in a row, and he's still playing.

Problem is when you have that many players, you probably have so many complaints going out, they just focus on cheaters, griefers instead.

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can i involve police when people threaten like this? it is out of control with death threats, rape threats, makes me want to not play the game if they are not going to do anything

You can but they have more important matters to prioritize most likely.

Because as long as they don't know where you live, the police doesn't have any reason to think you are in any danger.

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If it was voice chat good luck proving it. Highly doubtful blizzard keeps voice chat logs since the space required For audio is much higher than a message log.

You can store like 100 hours of audio in a 10 mb file if you use the right codec for it.

I know that by law in certain areas providers are obligated to keep any data they have of users that doesn't harm their privacy for at least 2 years. I know that's in effect both in the EU and the US. Voice chat room in overwatch is theoretically a public room thus it would fall exactly under that obligation. Though they obviously can't keep track of whispers because that would be a privacy breach.

[Jessicka]

Or you know.

Grow up.

Its the internet, is words on the screen affect you so much, dont go online and stick to single player games.

It's almost like there aren't degrees of offensiveness. Stuff like death threats and rape threats are (or at least should be) up there with homophobia, sexism, racism etc. They cause people to alter their behaviour exactly as you're saying they should, which puts the perpetrators in a position of power and makes it okay to act this way, creates a norm and mode of gaining positions of power. That is to say, it rewards and gives a payoff to acting like a jerk.

That's not okay.

[potis]

It's almost like there aren't degrees of offensiveness. Stuff like death threats and rape threats are (or at least should be) up there with homophobia, sexism, racism etc. They cause people to alter their behaviour exactly as you're saying they should, which puts the perpetrators in a position of power and makes it okay to act this way, creates a norm and mode of gaining positions of power. That is to say, it rewards and gives a payoff to acting like a jerk.

That's not okay.

It does nothing.

People just need to press that Mute button or whatever mechanic the game has.

My mother has been fucked a million times since i started gaming, she also has died a million times, my father also, my aunt also it seems, i have no friends and never had sex or a gf too, all this the last 17 years i have been online gaming.

Its called "Not giving a fuck".

[Jessicka]

It does nothing.

People just need to press that Mute button or whatever mechanic the game has.

My mother has been fucked a million times since i started gaming, she also has died a million times, my father also, my aunt also it seems, i have no friends and never had sex or a gf too, all this the last 17 years i have been online gaming.

Its called "Not giving a fuck".

So you ignore it, it does absolutely nothing for anyone else and the guy just carries on.

[Deleted]

can i involve police when people threaten like this? it is out of control with death threats, rape threats, makes me want to not play the game if they are not going to do anything

You're welcome to go to the police and tell your local police officer that "NuckFuggets" said he wanted to skullfuck you in a game called Overwatch

[Deleted]

can i involve police when people threaten like this? it is out of control with death threats, rape threats, makes me want to not play the game if they are not going to do anything

Of course you can, but I doubt there's a single police officer in the world who's going to do anything about it.

[proralph]

Never been threatened by anyone, but yes you can report the player. Multiple reports will make Blizzard take some action against them.

[Tharkkun]

if people threaten you through voice chat how does blizzard handle this? will they get account closed?

The moment someone starts being a complete punk over voice I mute them. I don't put up with bullshit of adults who haven't matured out of high school.

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Or you know.

Grow up.

Its the internet, is words on the screen affect you so much, dont go online and stick to single player games.

Yes Blizzard will do something about the person if you provide proof and its repeated offence, by the wont "Ban" someone because they raged once or twice.

Every company only brings down the ban hammer when the offence is repeated and there were warnings involved it doesnt go with

"Duurrr hurr, ban cause you swear"

No one gives a shit about swearing. Death and other threats aren't warranted anywhere on this planet. If you're just messing around with your friends it's one thing. But saying it to random strangers (with context obviously) there's no reason to ever be like this. If a person can't control themselves they don't need to be playing the game. It's in the TOS.

People with toxic behavior need to go away. It's not okay. Saying it's ok is an excuse to do it yourself.

[Deleted]

EU-Overwatch is most toxic sadly. I would love to see blizzard do something about it but everyone knows they can not do much about it...
If I remember correctly, Heroes of Newerth "died" cause of bad community...