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[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Fact remains, there are plenty of reasons to solo queue even if solo queue has inherent problems.

It's your initial blanket statement that people had issue with.

Fair enough, I should have expanded on my personal reasons to avoid solo queueing.

Playing with a team, all in a party, all with mics, all working together to build a viable team composition is one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I've had. That's how I usually play.

So whenever I solo queue and people who main cool genji refuse to play anyone else and shout racist horseshit down the mic, well, I don't usually solo queue for a long time after that.

For me solo queueing is awful in comp.

 

[Firebrand]

My kid was asking me if he could get overwatch the other day so we could play it together on PC. I've played it on Playstation without much issue but now I don't think I'll be doing the PC with him if the community is like that.

You can disable the chat in both text and voice I believe. If you're playing on two computers you can keep the group chat.

 

[uberTerminus]

What I have heard so far is that game makers should regulate chat. My question is can they do so?

 

[BossLackey]

Anonymity + pieces of shit

It really is a shame that this problem will never go away.

 

[Woorloog]

What I have heard so far is that game makers should regulate chat. My question is can they do so?

Of course they can. The question is, are they willing to spend money to that?

 

[bababoooey]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

 

[pashmilla]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

-__-

 

[Xeteh]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

Helpful and insightful.

You're right, it totally isn't a problem when people try to say the most hateful things they can to strangers because you can ignore it.

Shut it down people, we've solved it.

 

[HStallion]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

A lot of people care quite a bit. Just because it's a game doesn't really negate the issues. If I call your girlfriend a slut over and over again at the movie theater you going to just ignore it because it's just the movies?

 

[MKIL65]

who.cares.

We've had 10 pages of discussion, and you're asking this?

 

[Mael]

And people wonder why I can't be bothered with online gaming beyond friends I know IRL....

 

[Zeouterlimits]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

Lots of us. Clearly!

 

[Strakt]

A lot of people care quite a bit. Just because it's a game doesn't really negate the issues. If I call your girlfriend a slut over and over again at the movie theater you going to just ignore it because it's just the movies?

What people don't understand is you can't do anything if its ONLINE. Are you going to waste all your energy arguing with someone behind a monitor? Why not take whatever positive energy you have and spread it to the rest of the team instead of dealing with the negative asshole on the team. I will never understand the comparison of someone doing it online in a video game vs someone doing it publicly in front of other people. People care, but the fact is that there is nothing you guys can do aside press the mute and report button. It is up to the developer of the particular game (in this case Blizzard) to come up with new technology that warns/bans the user which will most likely never happen due to false bans. If you don't want to be a victim of people being mean on the internet, find yourself a group of friends and play with them, that way you have a premade of people who won't be negative. If you play solo, then play the game, and don't enter voice chat. If you want to enter voice chat as a solo player, then be prepared to mute toxic people. Its simple as that.. nothing more to it. Don't waste your energy on people you will never physically see or meet. If its too much to handle, then i seriously question whether you should be on the internet in the first place.

 

[KarmaCow]

And people wonder why I can't be bothered with online gaming beyond friends I know IRL....

I can't blame people for not wanting to be subjected to harassment but it's a shame that online chat is being ceded to the bigots and idiots.

 

[Nepenthe]

The most disappointing thing in threads like these are the lengths with which people go to in order to victim blame, downplay the issue, tell women to ignore it, and in general just live up to every single stereotype in the book in the face of the abominable.

Gamers once again proving they're fucking sorry.

 

[Mael]

I can't blame people for not wanting to be subjected to harassment but it's a shame that online chat is being ceded to the bigots and idiots.

We've had this discussion times and times again since before 2007.
Each and every time I know that people kept talking about awesome it was and everything.
the only experiences I ever had was replete with abuse and shitty behavior.
Excuse me if that pretty much push me out of interacting with anyone I don't know at all.
To think of actually paying for that is akin to asking me to pay for having the privilege of having strangers spit on me.
Yeah, not paying anytime soon for online thank you.

 

[Nickle]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

The girl?

 

[Vildiil]

I've always found the PC Overwatch community to be horrid and I cannot wait until servers come along and I can try and build my own community free of assholes.

 

[Nepenthe]

The girl?

She should learn to shrug off rape threats.

But don't call me a sexist. My feelings matter.

 

[UltimateUnknown]

Why would anyone in their right mind ever go into public chat in game, especially in Overwatch? That place is filled with a minefield of toxicity.

I normally play with my friend with party chat between us and even then I get hate messages every once in a while if our team loses in competitive and I'm playing a tank or healer (I mostly play these characters to help the team). I will end up as a top player at the end game screen and STILL get blamed for our team losing just because I was playing a support character.

As much as I love Overwatch as a game, a large chunk of people playing this game are truly deplorable.

 

[HStallion]

What people don't understand is you can't do anything if its ONLINE. Are you going to waste all your energy arguing with someone behind a monitor? Why not take whatever positive energy you have and spread it to the rest of the team instead of dealing with the negative asshole on the team. I will never understand the comparison of someone doing it online in a video game vs someone doing it publicly in front of other people. People care, but the fact is that there is nothing you guys can do aside press the mute and report button. It is up to the developer of the particular game (in this case Blizzard) to come up with new technology that warns/bans the user which will most likely never happen due to false bans. If you don't want to be a victim of people being mean on the internet, find yourself a group of friends and play with them, that way you have a premade of people who won't be negative. If you play solo, then play the game, and don't enter voice chat. If you want to enter voice chat as a solo player, then be prepared to mute toxic people. Its simple as that.. nothing more to it. Don't waste your energy on people you will never physically see or meet. If its too much to handle, then i seriously question whether you should be on the internet in the first place.

So ignore the issues because it's a game? You basically said the same thing as the guy I was responding to but in more elaborate terms.

 

[Ensirius]

I've always found the PC Overwatch community to be horrid and I cannot wait until servers come along and I can try and build my own community free of assholes.

It has put me off the game, no joke.
The game is fantastic, the community is fucking horrendous.

 

[Planisphaerium]

when i solo que I dont even voice chat, its annoying as shit listening to all these kids whining and blaming teammates for losses. not fun at all. you know something is wrong when people dont even want to play competitive because of the toxic idiots. its worse on pc because idiots rage on voice chat and in game messages.

 

[Strakt]

So ignore the issues because it's a game? You basically said the same thing as the guy I was responding to did but in more elaborate terms.

Ok, so tell me what are the options.

ONLINE

Option A: Be toxic back to the toxic person and waste 20 mins of not only your time, but the other 4 people on your team (and losing competitive rating if ranked) and never see that person again. This will most likely cause even more toxic behavior from that individual.

Option B: Mute, Report. Spread some positive energy to the other 4 individuals on your team, and try to win the game... then never see that person again

Option C: ??????????????????? There is no option C because there are only two options.

IRL

Option A: Ignore the asshole in the theater who called your gf a slut because you're the bigger man

Option B: Get up and kick his ass (Most likely option)

Option C: Call the movie theater's security and tell them he is interrupting the movie

Option D: Everyone else in the place hears him and intervenes

Option E: Your GF kicks his ass

These are my options. What are yours?

 

[Ambient80]

I see/hear this not just on OW but any MP game. What can companies do? Like ok we can report them but unless they have a whole huge team dedicated to listening to or reading chats and taking action, there's not much that can be done. That just doesn't seem feasible. Obviously a ban is ideal, or at the very least a sort of permanent "squelch" so they can play but not speak or chat beyond emotes. I just don't know how they can actively monitor the situation without hiring a gigantic team solely dedicated to that.

 

[QuantumZebra]

My daughter loves playing Splatoon. If it had voice chat I would make her turn it off. Right now she loves games and thinks gamers are cool people. She'll learn the truth someday but for now I enjoy that she can have fun with her favorite game and not have to have "Thick skin".

That's what worries me.

My 4 and 5 year old daughters both LOVE video games. My wife is a bigger gamer than I am.

My wife refuses to use voice chat (she is an old school PC gamer dating back to the EverQuest hayday, so she's seen it all).

I worry for my girls when they get older and want to interact online.

 

[HStallion]

Ok, so tell me what are the options.

ONLINE

Option A: Be toxic back to the toxic person and waste 20 mins of not only your time, but the other 4 people on your team (and losing competitive rating if ranked) and never see that person again. This will most likely cause even more toxic behavior from that individual.

Option B: Mute, Report. Spread some positive energy to the other 4 individuals on your team, and try to win the game... then never see that person again

Option C: ??????????????????? There is no option C because there are only two options.

IRL

Option A: Ignore the asshole in the theater who called your gf a slut because you're the bigger man

Option B: Get up and kick his ass (Most likely option)

Option C: Call the movie theater's security and tell them he is interrupting the movie

Option D: Everyone else in the place hears him and intervenes

Option E: Your GF kicks his ass

These are my options. What are yours?

You are hung up on the real life example I used to shoot down that one guys dumb comment. So your solutions are be shitty back to shitty people or ignore it and maybe flag people?

Edit: I'm also not looking for an absolute solution to the issue but your dismissive just deal with attitude is pretty shitty.

 

[MKIL65]

If its too much to handle, then i seriously question whether you should be on the internet in the first place.

Clearly you must have a lot of experience with receiving death threats and other kinds of discriminatory behaviour, if you're just telling people to suck it up...

 

[QuantumZebra]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

 

[Strakt]

Clearly you must have a lot of experience with receiving death threats and other kinds of discriminatory behaviour, if you're just telling people to suck it up...

No I'm giving you the ONLY two possible current options in a game like Overwatch. Clearly, no one can provide any other options or valuable feedback to add to the discussion.

 

[Strakt]

You are hung up on the real life example I used to shoot down that one guys dumb comment. So your solutions are be shitty back to shitty people or ignore it and maybe flag people?

If it were me, I'd choose option B, because I know better than to waste my time with a toxic person. So once again, what other options are there? You and the other guy replying to my post clearly have no valuable options or feedback to add. I provided my solutions to the problem, what are yours?

 

[7DollarHagane]

ffs, there should be a zero tolerance policy with this shit.

One warning and if it happens again permaban. Come on Blizzard/Sony/Microsoft...

And not just Overwatch, everywhere.

So do you expect a Sony or Blizzard employee to listen to the audio from every report?

Or do you think that will never be abused to report the Hanzo player on your team that never pushed the payload?

 

[HStallion]

If it were me, I'd choose option B, because I know better than to waste my time with a toxic person. So once again, what other options are there? You and the other guy replying to my post clearly have no valuable options or feedback to add. I provided my solutions to the problem, what are yours?

I wasn't looking for solutions, you brought them up. I just think your dismissive deal with it/ignore it attitude is far too prevalent and part of the problem.

 

[Nepenthe]

No I'm giving you the ONLY two possible current options in a game like Overwatch. Clearly, no one can provide any other options or valuable feedback to add to the discussion.

The quoted part of your post is not about your solutions which everyone can read are being disingenuously suggested in order to reiterate how insurmountable you think the problem is, but rather this idea that ironically telegraphs privileged fragility that if you feel any negative feelings from online sexual harassment then suddenly you're not equipped to handle the Internet.

 

[Strakt]

I wasn't looking for solutions, you brought them up. I just think your dismissive deal with it/ignore it attitude is far too prevalent and part of the problem.

Because the "ignore it attitude" is the only positive outcome? I don't know about you, but I personally want only positive things in my life.. and if someone is being negative, its not hard at all to simply just ignore them or cut them out of my life.

 

[Mael]

Because the "ignore it attitude" is the only positive outcome? I don't know about you, but I personally want only positive things in my life.. and if someone is being negative, its not hard at all to simply just ignore them or cut them out of my life.

So you're saying people should just cut voice chat at all?

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

guys it's a game..it happens if there's a girl on rainbow six,cod,prob happened in condemned 2..possibly fifa...

point is it happens everyday,all the time.mute the person and keep on playing.

who.cares.

Always the Jr. Members

 

[Strakt]

So you're saying people should just cut voice chat at all?

Theres a mute button, its a very useful tool. Not hearing one person talk won't be game changing. Unless you get put into a group with a 5 man premade all being toxic towards you, then yea cut voice chat for that one game.

 

[Nepenthe]

Because the "ignore it attitude" is the only positive outcome? I don't know about you, but I personally want only positive things in my life.. and if someone is being negative, its not hard at all to simply just ignore them or cut them out of my life.

Good for you.

Other people who want to participate in gaming the same as anyone else don't have that luxury, because their identity paints a target on their backs, because gaming culture is a collective failure in terms of being inclusive to minorities.

So instead of being smarmy and giving solutions in a half-assed effort to spread positivity, maybe instead just leave a statement of solidarity. At least that way you can give the illusion of caring.

 

[HStallion]

Because the "ignore it attitude" is the only positive outcome? I don't know about you, but I personally want only positive things in my life.. and if someone is being negative, its not hard at all to simply just ignore them or cut them out of my life.

So my girlfriend should just ignore dudes calling her all manner of shit? She should just ignore the messages sent after a match is over calling her a whore and telling her to kill herself? She should ignore the fact that people saying they would rape her happening all the time? I should just keep focused on the positives?

 

[Mael]

Theres a mute button, its a very useful tool. Not hearing one person talk won't be game changing. Unless you get put into a group with a 5 man premade all being toxic towards you, then yea cut voice chat for that one game.

It's an experience you can have on any and all game that have voice chat.
So you're basically saying cut voice chat really.

 

[Basketball]

There really is not anything you can do other than report and mute.

I'm black so I heard these punkass kids throwing nigger around like it's the 27th letter of the alphabet when I was playing BF3 a lot.
Reporting does work but the problem is they always come back or 2 more losers pop up in their place.
If it's a community made mostly up of 11 to 17 boys then welp.

 

[Strakt]

Good for you.

Other people who want to participate in gaming the same as anyone else don't have that luxury, because their identity paints a target on their backs, because gaming culture is a collective failure in terms of being inclusive to minorities.

So instead of being smarmy and giving solutions in a half-assed effort to spread positivity, maybe instead just leave a statement of solidarity. At least that way you can give the illusion of caring.

I mean people play video games to have fun right? You can either play the game for the gameplay and ignore the assholes.. or you can just sit there and feel bad about yourself (but that wont get anyone anywhere). You can think my effort is half-assed if you want to believe that, but its real talk and the reality of things AND the only possible way to have a positive gaming experience.

"The illusion of caring".. this just makes me believe you're overly sensitive to things.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

If it were me, I'd choose option B, because I know better than to waste my time with a toxic person. So once again, what other options are there? You and the other guy replying to my post clearly have no valuable options or feedback to add. I provided my solutions to the problem, what are yours?

I would say bring attention to an issue is also an option. As a male, I never really think about how females are treated online, because it's not something I experience. This thread's existence has brought this issue to my attention, and so I thought about how would I react if I was the person being harassed and I've come to the conclusion that if I happen to hear someone being harassed, I'm going to speak out against it and try to set an example to others to be better.

Sometimes complaining can result in positive change, even if it's only one person changes.

 

[joecanada]

Because the "ignore it attitude" is the only positive outcome? I don't know about you, but I personally want only positive things in my life.. and if someone is being negative, its not hard at all to simply just ignore them or cut them out of my life.

yeah but the issue here is sure maybe if it happened once a month you could tell your daughter hey there are bad people out there and you have to do this here report, mute, move on.... still sucks but seems manageable perhaps.....

However the real life experience of some people is that it is almost constant, like every other game to every game. So now what do you tell your daughter , most people are assholes? just avoid chat altogether? as another poster here stated I don't know why you would pay to be shit on (spit as they said) constantly. I guess that's the answer really if more and more people turn off chat either companies like Sony will have to notice or developers will realize their team based game is not working as intended like, at all.

If I had a daughter just based on this thread alone I would never ever buy overwatch for her and that's a fact.

 

[Nepenthe]

The real solution- honestly- is gimping communication features in games to premade statements and symbols, and to let people use hardware-based or third-party chat clients to talk with their teammates and friends. The fact is, after this many years, gamers can't be trusted to not either be shitstains or bystanders to shitstainery. The behavior is too entrenched and will never change. As much as I'd like to talk to people more freely in z Mario Kart 8, I feel this is a proper trade-off for never having been called a nigger or threatened with rape.

 

[Strakt]

So my girlfriend should just ignore dudes calling her all manner of shit? She should just ignore the messages sent after a match is over calling her a whore and telling her to kill herself? She should ignore the fact that people saying they would rape her happening all the time? I should just keep focused on the positives?

It's gonna happen regardless. Therefore, yes she should ignore them and not take them seriously. While its very unfortunate she gets called that, what else can she do? You open a support ticket with blizzard, they'll say the same thing.. mute and report them. A bunch of kids saying random shit to her just means they have bigger problems in life and take it out on other people. If it affects her to the point where its hurting her IRL, then yes, she should just stop playing the game, or not enter voice chat.

 

[7DollarHagane]

The real solution- honestly- is gimping communication features in games to premade statements and symbols, and to let people use hardware-based or third-party chat clients to talk with their teammates and friends. The fact is, after this many years, gamers can't be trusted to not either be shitstains or bystanders to shitstainery. The behavior is too entrenched and will never change. As much as I'd like to talk to people more freely in z Mario Kart 8, I feel this is a proper trade-off for never having been called a nigger or threatened with rape.

No, the option is to have quick access mute or opt out functions for voice chat.

There is no reason to remove a feature most people use responsibly because of the minority of awful kids and trolls.

 

[Sabercrusader]

I never really had to deal with harassment like that since I'm a white male and I still mute all or join a party with friends instead. That only works because I don't really play team games competitively and if I do, it's normally with friends. This is terrible though and I hate that it's so bad for women that they literally can't even speak without being drowned in insults. It's embarrassing to be honest.

 

[Strakt]

I would say bring attention to an issue is also an option. As a male, I never really think about how females are treated online, because it's not something I experience. This thread's existence has brought this issue to my attention, and so I thought about how would I react if I was the person being harassed and I've come to the conclusion that if I happen to hear someone being harassed, I'm going to speak out against it and try to set an example to others to be better.

Sometimes complaining can result in positive change, even if it's only one person changes.

In the hundreds of competitive overwatch matches I've played.. this has never helped me personally. You speak out against a toxic player, and they just start yelling all sorts of racist shit, afk in base, and anything else that comes into their 12 year old brain. I found it better to just mute and tell the team to mute him, and communicate with the rest of your team.. that way not everyone on your team is tilted and at least you can still bring some positive energy to the rest of your team