Quinn proves behavior score is broken, and Valve responds
Three-time major champion Quinn Callahan may have finally met his match in the new Dota 2 behavior score system.
Valve has taken many steps to make Dota 2 a less toxic game, but devious players will always find a way to abuse it. In the case of Gaimin Gladiators mid laner Quinn, that means being unfairly targeted for doing literally nothing at all. After more than a dozen matches with full commitment and zero interactions, the legendary player has been unfairly targeted by his fellow players.
To test the new behavior score system, Quinn decided to queue up 15 matches straight on stream. For each game, he did not communicate at all with his teammates and players his absolute hardest, no “Quinning” allowed. In a perfect world, this should result in no reports with maybe a few commend trades. But unfortunately for the TI-bound star, we do not live in a perfect world.
Despite never even having the chance to be toxic, Quinn’s behavior score dropped 800 points in just 15 matches. At that rate, he could become unable to participate in ranked games at all after 100 more games. The player believes that the reports were due to either past matchmaking toxicity or his fame as a player, with both leading to unjust reports. He claims that the system could ruin top-level matchmaking by randomly punishing players for no real reason.
Valve changes behavior score after Quinn test stream
Just days after Quinn finished up his behavior score test, Valve changed the system to help top players avoid unfair targeting.
In another stream, Quinn explained how he believes the new system would completely destroy top-level matchmaking. At that tier, players generally report one another much more liberally. Quinn predicted that this would decrease everyone’s behavior score to the point where no one would even be able to play ranked, which triggers below 3,000 conduct. It seems someone from the development team was paying attention, and something has definitely changed for the better.
It’s not clear exactly what the company changed, but it appears to have taken Quinn’s criticisms seriously. The pro player reported that much of his lost conduct had been restored and that individual reports no longer have as much of an effect. Only time will tell if these changes will produce a healthy matchmaking scene for pros, but the early signs are positive.