There must be something about MOBA games that bring out the worst in people. League of Legends creator Riot Games has already been dealing with a toxic player base for years, turning to everything from machine learning to rehabilitation programs to combat the issue.

Blizzard Entertainment is relatively new on the MOBA scene, with its meta crossover game Heroes of the Storm just barely past three months since official release, but the studio is already having to come up with new systems to prevent player toxicity from spiralling out of control.

“During a typical Heroes of the Storm play session, you’re sure to come across all sorts of people and personalities,” Blizzard wrote on the Heroes of the Storm blog. “Some players realize that they make a great match, and might even become friends after playing and chatting together. Some players prefer to focus on the game, and don’t utter a single word before a Core falls. As with most any online game, however, there are a few players that just don’t seem to get along with anyone.”

“Whether they’re just having an off day, or get their kicks by being mean to their allies,” Blizzard continued, “players who project a negative attitude toward others can lower team morale, and ruin an otherwise fun experience for everyone else. In order to help limit this sort of behavior, our next major patch will bring a few new reporting options to Heroes, as well as a brand new consequence for those who consistently try to put a damper on everyone’s fun.”

New reporting options

The first feature being added to fight player toxicity is a new set of reporting options that will allow players to flag users for different types of violations. The new reporting options include (via battle.net):

• Abusive Chat
  • Insults, cruelty, or ongoing harassment directed at one or more players.
  • Hate speech
  • Real life threats

• Intentionally Feeding
  • Player intentionally and repeatedly gets their hero killed in order to anger allies or feed XP to the enemy team.

• AFK/Non-Participation
  • Player is idle or inactive for an extended period of time during a game.
  • Player is present, but has given up or refuses to take part in the game.

• Cheating/Botting/Hacking
  • Suspicious behavior which indicates the player may be using third-party software or hack programs to gain an advantage during a game.

• Inappropriate Name
  • Character names or BattleTags that are offensive, insulting, bypass the mature language filter, or are otherwise considered objectionable.

• Spam
  • Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure nonsense
  • Blatant or repeated advertising for third party websites

Blizzard says that the new system takes unique hero play styles into account, so users do not need to worry about being falsely reported for Non-Participation or Intentionally Feeding if their particular hero mechanics could be mistaken for those actions. The studio also points out that it will investigate players who “frequently dish out trivial or false reports.”

Silence penalty for toxic players

With the upcoming patch, players reported multiple times under the above reporting categories will be punished with a new silence penalty, which restricts them from using certain features.

Players who have been silenced will be unable to use Allied Chat in-game or chat in Hero League Draft Lobbies, General Chat channels, or custom chat channels, and they will also be unable to send Whispers (direct messages) to non-friends. However, silenced players will still be able to chat directly with friends and reply to messages, and they can still communicate with parties they have been invited to.

“The first time a player is silenced, their chat will be restricted for 24 hours,” Blizzard said in its post. “This duration will double for each silence penalty received after the first, and there is no maximum. This means that players who receive multiple silence penalties may find themselves unable to chat for a very, very long time.

“Silenced players will be notified of the penalty’s remaining duration each time they log in to Heroes of the Storm, and a new icon will be displayed on their player portraits in the game’s menus to indicate their silenced status to others. Players that are in-game when they receive a silence penalty will be logged out at the end of that game, but will still gain any XP, Gold, or Ranked Points earned during the previous match.”

Blizzard encourages players to report users who are being abusive, even if it feels like one report will not accomplish anything. The studio says “these reports add up” and can help them keep track of habitually toxic players.

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment Inc