Jeff Kaplan Would Rather that Leavers Just Didn't Play Overwatch at All

Zarathustra[H]

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RAGEQUIT! Or, well, don't.

Overwatch players leaving competitive games before their conclusion, either to intentionally throw a match, or because they are unhappy with their team, or maybe just because they lagged out, or were called to the dinner table, has apparently become a big enough problem that Blizzard is considering increasingly harsher penalties for doing so, up to and including permanently banning accounts from joining competitive games.

While I am not an Overwatch player, I have definitely experienced this frustration in other games, and I can understand the frustration when players leave a game before finishing it. That being said, I was also once a kid who would get in trouble if I didn't immediately come to the dinner table when called, and haven't always had as reliable internet as I do today. I hope they find a way to exclude those who habitually ragequit or try to throw games by leaving without hurting those who are not doing so intentionally.

"Our philosophy has been that we would rather not have leavers playing the game at all (especially in Competitive Play). We keep increasing the penalty for leaving and will continue to do so," Kaplan wrote. "We're in the process of implementing a new policy which would take into account how many Competitive Seasons you have been banned from and at a certain point, prevent you from playing Competitive ever again."
 
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I just picked up Overwatch on the sale last weekend, and have only logged about 5 hours, and I can already say that I think this is a good idea. The game is competitive as hell, if you're down a person, it may as well just end the match and re-start the matchmaker.
 
I get it for ranked play. Otherwise... stuff happens. I've seen a bunch of laggy players (and they can affect you too sometimes if you're close to them). Not their fault they have shitty internet, or blizzard's servers can't keep up.
 
OCCASIONALLY i have to make my kids log for dinner...dinner is in 10 minutes after this game (which has like 2-3 minutes left) shut down the computers so we can all eat...

Invariably... dinner is ready and...they ignored my "shut it down"...so i give them a count of 10 to log...then i pull the network connection to the internet.

my kids (3) love the game (12 12 and 15) and are quite good at it, esp my daughter.
 
OCCASIONALLY i have to make my kids log for dinner...dinner is in 10 minutes after this game (which has like 2-3 minutes left) shut down the computers so we can all eat...

Invariably... dinner is ready and...they ignored my "shut it down"...so i give them a count of 10 to log...then i pull the network connection to the internet.

Sounds like you have a respect issue. May need to re-establish dominance by peeing on their stuff.
 
Invariably... dinner is ready and...they ignored my "shut it down"...so i give them a count of 10 to log...then i pull the network connection to the internet.

Yup. This seems to be a unifying experience of parenting these days. You give the kids plenty of heads up, and they still don't sign off in time, and you have to be the "bad cop".
 
I don't give a crap if someone DC's in quick play. In competitive play, that's another thing. Maybe they should implement something like what CSGO has going. Except make the first offense like an hour and compound harshly after that. The game is so dependent on having all players a single DC is almost guaranteed loss. Not like CSGO where one player can carry hard and win it for the team.
 
Apparently Blizzard is becoming Riot Games. Every competitive game community is going to have toxic players, get over it, it's a game. If someone wants to ragequit fine, they're usually past the point of no return anyway and end up spreading their toxicity to the whole team.
 
Sounds like you have a respect issue. May need to re-establish dominance by peeing on their stuff.

Thanks for the laugh! Funniest thing I've read all day.

On topic though, if you rage quit, just don't play! Though practice makes perfect and you just got to eat the losses to climb up.
 
Thanks for the laugh! Funniest thing I've read all day.

On topic though, if you rage quit, just don't play! Though practice makes perfect and you just got to eat the losses to climb up.


I'd say just make quitting before the match is over count as many more losses. These people tend to care about stats right? If leaving the game early counts as 10, or maybe even 50 losses, I bet they'd be less likely to do so.
 
I know in WoW if you're doing 3v3, and someone dies on your team. Its not uncommon to just throw the match there instead of dragging it out for both sides.
Is this the same as in overwatch, drag out a game when someone is down knowing you're going to lose?
 
I seriously doubt they'll be able to implement a system toward the leaver that wouldn't hurt innocent people that might have just lost their pwer or whatever but I do believe they could easily QUEUE the game again at any point in a match if a leaver has been gone say 3-5 minute or however long it is that might ruin the match. JUST QUEUE A NEW GAME WITH THE SAME PEOPLE MINUS THE LEAVER. It's not that hard is it? The leaver whatever the circumstance was if he comes back can freekin wait until the next game to get back in or go on to another game.

/2 cents
 
This has been a problem since the original star craft (or older)... They need a technical solution, simply asking players to abide by their crap doesn't really work...
 
The problem is that when you are playing a competitive game other people depend on you to perform and so if you have a bad internet connection or a Pentium4 computer, please don't play competitive. I hate when people take forever to load and the game starts and they are still not moving.
 
Ive said it before and I will say it again. One of the better options, IMO, is to make the leaver take the penalty. Typically, you gain/lose about 25 SR on average so about 150 SR per game change (more or less, depending). The leaver should take the entire penalty for team, meaning he loses all the SR that his teammates would have lost.

In addition, the banning process is a joke. I think its like 10 minutes first offense? How about an hour, or two. Then, repeat offenders much longer just like CS:GO. Also, keep the cooldown much longer with each offense extending the cooldown for having it removed.

As far as players with crappy internet, go play quick play. Comp is designed for players who want to work together and win. If you keep disconnecting, thats not really fair to everyone you play with. I understand not everyone has badass internet, but why should others suffer because of your shit connection.

And with the kid topic, fuck that. These spoiled fucks these days. Get the fuck out of the house while you are banned and get some sun.
 
I think that people take this shit WAY too seriously. Most gamers should not be ranked and in ladders. Its a stupid way to keep your users busy. Most players should not be playing competitive mode. Too many people take it as an ego thing 'I have to play comp or im not a 'serious' gamer.'
 
I think that people take this shit WAY too seriously. Most gamers should not be ranked and in ladders. Its a stupid way to keep your users busy. Most players should not be playing competitive mode. Too many people take it as an ego thing 'I have to play comp or im not a 'serious' gamer.'
Its not that at all. Not all serious gamers play competitive games, and not all competitive gamers are "serious". For me at least, the challenge is more. You play quick play vs. competitive and you can see the difference. While not all comp players are great as there are millions, the skill rating does a decent job (not great) of keeping people separated. Provides a higher level of gaming for those who want it while providing it across all skill levels.

I am not a "serious gamer" anymore but 15-20 years ago I was. I still enjoy competitive gaming though, its just how some of us are wired. I compete at work even though its not really a competition as with everything else. Am I the best at everything that I do competitively? No, but the raised bar is something that feeds me.

That said, at one time in my younger days, I could compete with the best players in the world (and did). Im too fuckin old to do that now though, reflexes are getting slower :) Plus home life.
 
Seems like the local client should be able to tell if the player truly rage quit(game drops while other internet stuff working fine) or had some kind of connection issue. Store the result and report to Central Command the next time the player connects in. Too many rage quits and player gets flagged as a rage quitter. Put check box in match maker on whether to allow rage quitters in your match.

Too many lost games to connection issues, flag player as poor internet. Same type check box in match maker.
 
Seems like the local client should be able to tell if the player truly rage quit(game drops while other internet stuff working fine) or had some kind of connection issue. Store the result and report to Central Command the next time the player connects in. Too many rage quits and player gets flagged as a rage quitter. Put check box in match maker on whether to allow rage quitters in your match.

Too many lost games to connection issues, flag player as poor internet. Same type check box in match maker.
Should it matter why/how they left?

If you have shitty internet, dont play comp.
 
I'd say just make quitting before the match is over count as many more losses. These people tend to care about stats right? If leaving the game early counts as 10, or maybe even 50 losses, I bet they'd be less likely to do so.

You would have to be able to distinguish between a random disconnect and a forced quit, but otherwise I agree.
 
OCCASIONALLY i have to make my kids log for dinner...dinner is in 10 minutes after this game (which has like 2-3 minutes left) shut down the computers so we can all eat...

Invariably... dinner is ready and...they ignored my "shut it down"...so i give them a count of 10 to log...then i pull the network connection to the internet.

my kids (3) love the game (12 12 and 15) and are quite good at it, esp my daughter.

Heh yank that wifi router right out of the jack and hide it. Mandatory Family Fun Time! LOL

Or remotely admin down their ports... hee heee
 
Might I add another reason?

"... or, maybe they need their diapers changed."

Rage quitting sucks, whether competitive or just a friendly get together. It is a game. There is nothing to get mad about playing a game. Some people really need to grow up. Yeah, I think the approach is excellent.
 
Overwatch should ban those who also afk or don't even try. I've seen assholes who just stop playing outright. No thanks!

Toxic players are also an issue. Here's to hoping they curb some of that.
 
As someone who has poor home net options but likes to game I do not believe that blizzard has no way to tell if someone is rage quitting or truly losing their net connection.

As for the "if you have bad net u shouldn't play" comments, I will say that's not a very fair way to think of it. Sometimes you use what you have. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to play.

Finally these people who are so focused on their win / lose for "competitive" reasons I say your not a very good player if that's how you keep your ratio up.
 
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I'm all for harsher penalties in any team based game for ranked ladders for repeat leavers. Sorry but if you know you have shit internet, stay out of ranked. Everything else is just poor planning on your part and frankly I don't care.
 
Ive said it before and I will say it again. One of the better options, IMO, is to make the leaver take the penalty. Typically, you gain/lose about 25 SR on average so about 150 SR per game change (more or less, depending). The leaver should take the entire penalty for team, meaning he loses all the SR that his teammates would have lost.

In addition, the banning process is a joke. I think its like 10 minutes first offense? How about an hour, or two. Then, repeat offenders much longer just like CS:GO. Also, keep the cooldown much longer with each offense extending the cooldown for having it removed.

As far as players with crappy internet, go play quick play. Comp is designed for players who want to work together and win. If you keep disconnecting, thats not really fair to everyone you play with. I understand not everyone has badass internet, but why should others suffer because of your shit connection.

And with the kid topic, fuck that. These spoiled fucks these days. Get the fuck out of the house while you are banned and get some sun.

This works until you lost internet and are forced to wait to queue again. If there is one that that infuriates me about WoW's dungeon/raid queue system is that if you get booted by jerks from a 5man, you end up waiting up to 20 minutes to queue again. Oh, if blizz's servers screw up? You're waiting 20 minutes. 30 minute queue only to get booted by raging whiners or a group of people only to be stuck with a wait timer isn't fun.
 
And you wonder why I HATE multiplayer games where you have to deal with strangers.
 
I have about 1400 hrs all in comp play at mid-masters level every season, I really dont find leavers to be that big of a problem. If you look at the OW forums it is the only reason anybody seems to lose a match, but I'd say I only encounter a leaver maybe once every 30 games or so, which is like once every 10 hours, or every 3-4 days depending upon how much you play. *shrugs* just not a big deal to me honestly.
 
Most people leave a game if their teammates are shitty to them. Team deserves a loss if they can't be entry level human beings. However people that serial afk should be punished accordingly. Some people only get to play one or two games a night after a miserable day at some shitty job they break even with. If they can't enjoy those games, then you lose your good customers/gamers too.
 
I'd say just make quitting before the match is over count as many more losses. These people tend to care about stats right? If leaving the game early counts as 10, or maybe even 50 losses, I bet they'd be less likely to do so.

I've never played the game in question... but i can relate massively to the frustration as its teh same in most all COD's. The worst part? The network code and host selection methods in COD are that bad... that its almost ALWAYS the guy that has host that rage quits... (although thats probably just my bad luck, i have so much of it in MW3 lol) and it takes the whole server out.

They need a Seriously well thought out method to punish for this intentional stuff. I'm sure if some smart people put their minds to it they could think of a situation where it wouldn't punish legit connection hangs and d/c's or the odd time people have to leave. I'm sure if they are so smart to write such a complex game with millions of lines of code that they can tell when someone quits to dashboard or turns the console off mid game and how often compared to amount of times they leave from a lobby etc.
 
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