An Overwatch 2 player has been banned over seemingly innocent in-game communication.
Blizzard has been known to be quite strict when it comes to monitoring voice chat in an attempt to punish toxic players. This usually means slurs, swear words, insults, and more. But one Overwatch 2 player has revealed that they were banned for “being a positive person.”
On Reddit, the player showed screenshots from their interaction with Blizzard. In the since-deleted post, he showed some of the phrases that Blizzard considered inappropriate:
Blizzard stated in the email correspondence that it was “harsh” but they had to ensure that his teammates are able to enjoy the game.
In the Reddit thread, many players speculated what caused Blizzard to punish the player for complimenting his teammates. Some believed it was the use of the word “f—” even though it was not used in an offensive context. It could have been an automatic response.
“To be honest, they shouldn’t even have bots do ban work. We get so much of this s— because of their severely flawed internal systems and they do nothing to rectify it,” one player wrote.
Another player felt that it was over the use of “GG.” In the past, Blizzard made headlines for banning “GG EZ” from chats. For the past year, players have been commenting that they’ve been banned from Overwatch for saying “GG” and “GG EZ,” with Blizzard claiming it’s “abusive” language.
GG EZ has been considered offensive in the gaming community because it’s a sarcastic way of saying that the other team didn’t do well and it was easy to beat them. A lot of gamers feel that it’s a bit over the top to ban this phrase but it could be seen as bullying or being toxic.
Some also felt that the player was reported by people in the game, which lead Blizzard to react. OP said that he felt he was possibly reported for playing Cassidy, but it’s unclear if this is what led to the ban.
It’s currently a mystery what truly led Blizzard to find the gamer’s language offensive.
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