The Overwatch team is committed that their slogan “Play Nice, Play Fair” will be realized. That said, they recently banned over 18,000 accounts for cheating and other offenses.
Last May, Josh Nash, community manager for Overwatch at Blizzard, said that they are ramping up their efforts against cheaters, hackers, and abusers.
Their cheat detection system incorporates multiple methods. It filters reports using factors like technical detections by the Warden anti-cheat software, abusive behaviors exhibited by players, and machine learning models.
While some people got banned due to the anti-cheat system, others were due to reports sent by the community.
Just recently, Andy “AndyB” Bohan, another Overwatch community manager, said that in three months, they have taken action against 24,003 accounts. In addition, the team made progress against pieces of hacking software that were used.
AndyB added that the latest ban wave has targeted 18,003 accounts as part of their ongoing commitment to improving fair gameplay.
Some of the cheating software commonly used in the game include wallhacks, aimbots, and more.
Although the Warden anti-cheat system does a relatively good job, some hack developers created workarounds to circumvent that system. Hence, a large number of cheating accounts have been identified and are still banned to this day.
Community Response
It is a good thing that the developers and community managers keep the player base in the loop about what’s happening. That said, it seems that the community is still divided regarding this issue.
User @RaysofGlory said that it is good that there are fewer cheaters in the game as it would make everything so much better.
Another user said that the ban waves are excellent but that the devs should also focus on banning smurf accounts.
User @HappyTeabag is skeptical about all of this, though. They’ve asked whether racists, sexists, throwers, and homophobes have been banned or if the devs have only removed those reported by popular streamers.
One user is saddened that the banned accounts might just create new ones and do the same things again.
But what do you think? Are you happy that the devs are making efforts to ensure that the game is fun for everyone? Do you think that they should do more?
