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Jeff Kaplan Releases Some Statistics on Official Overwatch Forums on Support System Performance
The chorus of tech companies is so predictable.
We would like to reduce the toxicity in our community, but we do not know how. Where do we begin? We tried a bunch of algorithms but that made no difference. No, we have not thought of paying the moderation staff; that's what the algorithms are for. Maybe the community should do the moderation? Oh, of course, of course. some of them are part of the problem! How about a different algorithm …
Twitter. Facebook. Reddit. Google. Valve. It's always the same story.
Meanwhile at Blizzard, Jeff Kaplan and the team took a different approach to reduce toxicity in Overwatch : The Endorsement System
The Idea Is simple. Instead of giving bad shots to the bots – though the reports and bans are of course still in effect – Blizzard would very much like you to approve Overwatch players who are not jerks. Give a boost to this friendly teammate; congratulate the opposing player for being a gracious loser; Tilt your hat to the team full of guys who have not abused their female counterpart.
It seems like something so stupid and basic, but it works clearly. Toxicity is decreasing in the Overwatch competitions in the regions of the Americas and Korea, respectively 26.4% and 16.4%. At the same time, the number of abusive players is down 28.8% in the Americas and 21.6% in the Korean region. (We do not have figures for other regions like Europe because Kaplan confirms that they "do not have all the statistics yet reported.")
"We are really excited about the community 's efforts to make OW a better place! Thank you all!", Adds Kaplan, before adding: "And we will continue to work on these features to improve them and to explore other systems in order to improve the game environment. "
So there you have it, guys. Blizzard has proven, with Overwatch endorsements, that this can be done. Not only can technology companies actively reduce toxicity on their platforms by taking action and making changes – who knows? – If you invoke some simple psychology and positive reinforcement, then it could work even better.
This is not the end of the battle of toxicity for Overwatch – or the online game in general – the imagination, but it's a step in the good direction
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