Overwatch Gives Gamers A Feature To Avoid Incompatible Or Abusive Teammates

Blizzard has announced that it is rolling out a new tool for Overwatch players that will allow them to avoid people that make their gameplay experience less than ideal. This less than ideal gameplay can be because the player and you clash and don’t communicate well, or perhaps the player doesn’t meet your expectations for team play and skill. To help you avoid having to deal with this sort of player Blizzard has added a new "Avoid as Teammate" option.

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If you choose to use the option, the matchmaker won't place you on a team with that player starting with the next match for up to one week. Blizzard writes, "Sometimes you don’t want to play with someone as a teammate because you disagree with their playstyle or hero choice. Sometimes your personalities or communication style simply clash. These can happen without either party being toxic."

Blizzard is also specific in pointing out that Avoid as Teammate doesn't take the place of reporting someone for things like abusive chat, inactivity, or gameplay sabotage. There are methods in place to report players for that sort of behavior. Blizzard is also trying to make it clearer for gamers when to report people and how to report them for certain types of activity. Some of the categories were vague leaving gamers unsure what to report and how to do it.

Blizzard notes that it's not gameplay sabotage if a player makes a mistake or has a bad match. It also points out that playing a non-meta Hero doesn't mean someone is taking part in Gameplay Sabotage. For a player to be reported for Gameplay Sabotage, they must be intentionally trying to disrupt and harass teammates or actively trying to lose.

Blizzard writes, "The other change we’re making to the player reporting categories is removing the “Poor Teamwork” category. Many players were using this category in a very similar fashion to the “Griefing” category, because both categories could be interpreted very broadly to include diverse types of bad behavior. This made it more difficult for us to action players appropriately."