Reports out of control

General Discussion
1

Talking to a GM, apparently people literally just report you for Pinging now too.

Like, you ping twice, “SHTU UP” .
Play a lot? This accumulates into a suspension then a ban.

What is literally wrong with this game now-a-days…

People don’t want you to Talk,
Don’t want you to Ping,
Don’t want you to give-up (even if they’re AFKing, flaming or feeding and no surrendered button),
Don’t want you to talk tactics or suggestions to flip the game in your favour (counts as ‘talking’ or ‘being mean to me’ or ‘pointing out our flaws’)
And ‘have fun! … or get banned.’

What even is this anymore.

21 Likes
2

Don’t worry, if didn’t flame or been afk for the entire game it is unlikely that you will be punished. A lot a unjust reports could be solved with bad play report(which will be ignored when the player is below a lvl ).

3

I didn’t know we had a ping for “shut up” ?

1 Like
4

You ping twice.

Rage-kids scream shut-up and report you for Spam.

8 Likes
5

Don’t take offense from this but generally speaking if you’re consistently getting reported for actions you’re doing that you may not consider are immediately bannable/reportable, then there’s a high likelihood of your own actions being the cause of your ban, not a fault in the system.

There are a lot of people who have been banned and mention this on the forums a lot, and it could be that the system is broken and people are entirely innocent, sure, but don’t assume immediately that it is. There are a lot of ways to be toxic, and honestly people don’t want a discussion on how they’re playing poorly or whatever in a game.

I’m not going to say this is a good system, or that you should be one way or another, because some guy will most likely mention some political agenda, SJWs, care bears etc. What I will say is for the benefit of your own communication, it’s best not to do things that would tick people off, even if you aren’t using swear words so you think you’ll avoid reports.

People are ignorant, and people get frustrated. The last thing they want to read is someone criticising their play after they’ve made a mistake, especially if they can see flaws elsewhere. Even if it is entirely constructive people don’t want to hear it more times than not. I’m not saying anyone should report for this or that they’re justified, but you have to be doing something that upsets people to get reports.

Also for pinging, absolutely you can be reported for that. The amount of games I’ve played with someone who’s silenced who instead ping spams like crazy is unbelievable. It’s like they can’t be toxic in chat anymore so they take it out by spam pinging the map and clogging up information.

And no, no one wants you to give up. No matter how hopeless a game may be I never rest my character or walk away from the computer, and I’d report anyone for doing so even if it was towards the end of the game.

If you really want tactical communication your best bet is either having a pre-made team, or grinding your MMR high enough that your average player is willing to have these tactical discussions (if you don’t want the grind you’d have to make a new account).

There are some exceptions to the rule, like a popular streamer/figure being mass reported in a coordinated attack or whatever, but the likely hood of the average player being innocently banned from malicious targetted reports is extremely low; you have to be doing something to annoy other players.

I used to watch guides years ago all the way back in league of legends which talked about the mentality of players and how to become better and skilled at the game, and the same message there rings true for this and other mobas; blame yourself for everything, not others. What can you do better? It’s a very zen way of looking at things.

TL:DR you must be upsetting players in some way to be picked up by any sort of automatic ban system. It is not a static number where you’ll inevitably be banned if you’ve played long enough, but most likely based on consistency and time between bans/amounts received. Even if you think that whatever you are doing is technically fine, which it absolutely can be, you might want to reflect on why it’s happening to you instead of latching onto similar players who are banned and blaming the system.

This is just some advice of what you can change instead of just blaming the system entirely. You can discuss the semantics of what should or shouldn’t be bannable all you want, but changing how you communicate will probably help you in general. You could also avoid communication entirely like Akasut suggested in your other thread, which would work, but that’s a dirty fix.

2 Likes
6

I report ping-spamming as spam. I’m not talking communication pings where teammates are trying to tell you their intentions and so forth. Or 2 pings “danger! danger!”. No, I’m talking maximum allowed ping amount pinging the same thing, when one or two pings would have sufficed. If people don’t react, you can try again 5-10sec later so it is not spam. Continuous pinging a teammate for no reason (really, inherently there are no feasible message to interpret from that) is also spam, intended to troll, trigger, harras, annoy said person. Report is going out.

It is not big rocket science, most people have learned since the Internets mainstream inception in the 90s THAT WRITING IN CAPS LIKE THIS MEANS YOU’RE YELLING. And we don’t accept that. Neither should we accept people pingspamming.

And 2 pings in this case, by default doesn’t mean spam. You (topicstarter) contact a GM to get clarification, which probably means you did something which caused a reaction by team member. You state 2 pings, if you got reported for that, then the reporter is possibly in the wrong. If you lied about it being 2 pings, when it was infact 4, then the report was probably justified.

The real issue is that silenced players are allowed to pingspam, something they really like to do, as their other tools have been taken away from them. That is another discussion though.

Anyone remember Rainbox Six: Raven Shield? Zulu Go Go Go. Zulu Go Go Go. Zulu Go Go Go ?

4 Likes
7

Well the context of pings can also frustrate people, even if it was 2. Like if someone was consistently pinging twice over a long period of time everytime they made a mistake could be annoying for players.

I find that a lot of silenced players will give reaction pings onto somone else whenever they die, as if to say it’s this person’s fault im dead. Doesn’t have to be the maximum number of pings allowed, it’s still annoying and isn’t constructive. It’s like oh the silenced illidan is dead, he’s now pinging repeatedly someone…as usual.

It’s obvious when a ping is helpful or not, and they can be useless, but there are people who actually spam pings and overuse them, and those who ping negatively.

Not that I report anyone for pinging unless it’s actually spam, it doesn’t bother me unless the map/information is being blocked (in which case I usually block their pings anyway), but just be aware of the ways you could frustrate people. If you truly are being reported for pings…you either have to be using/abusing them way more than they should be used, or they’re not relevant pings.

8

Upsetting people in itself is not against the ToS, nor should it be. Because it’s people’s own choice to become upset over any number of reasons, even those that are completely within the bounds of the game and its rules. Only actions that are violating the ToS should result in a punishment, ever!

To name an example where this is problematic: I have over 5k ranked games played, but get consistently matched with newbies who have less than 200 games. This creates situations where, due to my experience, I’m making plays that are considered normal in higher leagues, such as making trades, or avoiding a fight (like when you’re 17-20 because people don’t soak). Newbies don’t understand these plays (how could they – they’re newbies!) and get upset. They then report me, and incite the rest of the team to report me too. It’s that easy to get a ban in the automated system.

This leads us to the real problem: the automated reporting system without GM supervision. It’s junk and needs to be eliminated. We need real-life GMs.

In the earlier days of WoW, they had an army of GMs, who were mostly eloquent, friendly and helpful, ready to help any player with whatever issue they might have, even reports of bullying and such. If Blizz can pull that off for millions of WoW players, they can surely pull it off for HotS. Question is whether it makes sense as an investment, profit-wise. But I don’t care about Blizz’s balance sheet. I’m a player and have a player’s interests.

4 Likes
9

One of the biggest issues IS the lack of communication.

Someone constantly dying to 1v4.
“Hey let’s go in together this time :)”
Them: <silence. Repeats. Repeats. Also reports you end of match for speaking"

Or the most common
“Need help at objective.”
“stfu”

Or like someone mentioned. Someone is playing a healer. Never heals or focuses on dpsing or just soloing in a lane during objectives or a team fight. People die. Someone pings them for help once, twice or spam - doesn’t matter. Same result. They report you because ‘i don’t care’.

The mentality of a lot of the gamers here now is “I don’t care I’ll play how I want. Even though it’s a TEAM game and i am making us lose and wasting 20 mins. Not because i was out played or made a mistake. But because i dont care. And I’ll report you if you dare to disagree with me.”

People just use the report feature the instant someone dares to speak or ping and if you play a lot like me it all accumulates. And you can tell this is real because SO MANY people complain and report about this…

I run into a FAR superior amount of people who play this game and really, really don’t care about other players - which ‘should’ be against ToS. Again, I’m NOT talking about someone who makes a mistake, is new, or trying a hero out for the first time. It’s the huge lack-of-care about fellow gamers that has ruined the report feature and games, because they get away with it, so it becomes the ‘norm’ and the ‘weird’ is to type or ping.

Often. VERY often. Heroes that just don’t play them as intended, like not healing to solo a lane, or a tank getting merc-camps for no reason. FAR more than some random guy who begins screaming for no issue in a game, that is honestly, so, so rare for me to see. Actual, ‘real’ toxicity.

Not mistakes. Not new players. Just lack of care.
THIS could be considered “Non-participation.”
Zero communication can be considered “Non-participation”
Replies with “shut up” to getting pinged once can be considered Abusive Chat.
Standing still, looking around, moving… standing still… moving… Ignoring objective going somewhere else, could be considered “AFK”

But it never is.

The people who ARE punished are the people asking or pinging; ‘why are you letting us die? Or why are you just stood in a bush we needed you? Why didn’t you help us with objective? Why are you hitting minions instead of shielding us, Tassadar?’

Or - pinging top lane ‘Defence’ because a Lane-pusher and Merc-camp are slamming a lane… no response… no one goes… ping again… no response. Type “top getting pushed”, no response… ping… Ping… ping ping ping- Oh they finally move- Oh, too late. Top lost… Also report you for pinging and ‘abusive chat’. This happens A LOT… A LOT. Just ZERO communication or responding, and then often replied eventually with “reported.”

It’s this kind of mentality that makes the Report system so utterly flip-flopped.

  • People NOT playing the game properly, throwing it for others - Fine.

  • People asking for help, pointing out why someone is throwing or AFK or not helping or pinging Danger / Defend / Help - Reported.

6 Likes
10

I usually see the pattern when you ask something and someone replies stfu then it means they are well aware of their wrongdoings, best thing to do when that happens is to simply ignore it, if it persists then just block it.

If someone is obviously toxic for no reason I report as chat abuse.
If someone constantly complains about something I report for griefing, whey are people playing a game when all they do is complain ?
If someone pings too much I simply write, please stop spam pinging, if that doesn’t stop them then I report spam.
If you get reported for Pinging twice, here’s an advice:
Report them for sending false reports. (Under spam)

11

Perfect example in the game I just played.

Apparently I am close to being perm-banned.

Deckard. Team fight on Objective in Watchpoint map.
He stood in our KEEP, behind a gate, throwing about 1 to 2 potions near the GATE - didn’t come NEAR the team fight. We all die.

“Deckard where we you?” said one.
“Deckard we need you to help” said me.
Him: “f**king pus*ies.”
Me: “Er, okay, but you need to help us with team fights so we win?”
Him: “how bout stfu and reported”

So there is another report in my name, threatening my account now 8) Because of someone who was basically Non-Participation, and Abusive Chatting.

THAT is what is screwing my account.

Because I play so often.
And so often it’s usually me saying something normal.
Them responding with something toxic.
THEM reporting ME abusive chat.
And THEN IT COUNTS.
Repeat until punished (because of how often I play).

THIS is the issue people have with the report system right now.

6 Likes
12

Agree, but the Culture War is in full swing in the US and online, and it will spread to Europe as well. Politicians, governmental institutions, companies, media, videogame developers preach delusional political correctness. And Blizzard and their IPs is no different, upsetting someone is in their eyes very wrong and you will get punished for it as they act on feelings instead of fact. Welcome to the 2010s :frowning:

Agree, but GMs cost money, shareholders won’t be happy to see their potential profit relocated to better Customer Support systems!

Agree, those were nice days. However Blizzard back then isn’t the Blizzard today. The name is the same, the people and policies at the same address has changed dramatically.

My man! +1

4 Likes
13

Very correct observation. I do have to say it is not every game I play that turns out this way, but just yesterday evening playing with a friend, we had another 2 man party in our game, just spinning around on their heroes in spawn, unwilling to participate. So classic 10-12min game 1-14 loss. Can’t do much than report them, move on. I would say these retard players who ruin it for others deliberately are a minority of playerbase.

And yes, you will have bad players in HotS, like any other game. I mean, go outside in your local area, observe people on sidewalk, the traffic, go to the closest grocery store, observe people. After an hour or two, I bet you, you would have spotted a dum-dum or two. There is always going to be idiots, have a game plan how to tackle them.

14

fix report system: report noob option - no penalty for the other side you are just extremely unlikely to be matched with him again

15

I agree that the automation of bans is a problem, but my point was that you are getting reported a lot and thus banned because of the way you communicate with people.

Even if it isn’t against ToS, if you make yourself unlikable it is understandable why you are targeted a lot. With your own example you called out someone who was bad and frustrated, and continued to communicate with them after they clearly demonstrated they were beyond reasoning. Does that mean you deserve a report? No, of course not, but you played into making yourself the target of this persons frustration.

You’ll notice the majority of actually good pros (not meme rage “pro” players) would not even engage into the communication of someone like this, or if they are good they would most likely have multiple accounts and smurfs from getting banned all the time.

Your problem from what I can see is that you desire communication and team work, better players, but you’re getting low tier players that aren’t providing that, and you’re attempting to talk to them, resulting in reports. This is the same in every MOBA with any sort of automated ban system, which most of them have.

You can complain about it, and it hopefully will get fixed in the future, but at the moment you need to change up how you communicate with your team otherwise you will get those bans, silences, etc. Don’t feed into the toxicity, and don’t bait yourself into communicating to someone not worth talking to.

Again like Snowdrift said, upsetting people isn’t against ToS and you can argue against bans all you want sure, but if you stop upsetting people you’ll probably have a much happier experience in general and avoid bans. Remember that a lot of the time telling someone they’re doing something wrong just frustrates them more and usually causes them to play worse, which usually means saying nothing is sometimes better, or if you are good with your words and talking to people you can present information in a way that doesn’t directly target or frustrate an individual.

Also just as a side note, people don’t randomly report for no reason, and you have no idea if you have been reported unless someone tells you, which means you are usually 9/10 times either engaged in a conflicted communication with someone to get to that, said something dumb, or alternatively playing horribly. Someone would not report for “Hey let’s go in together this time :)” if you haven’t agitated them in any other way.

The only other way someone can be consistently reported without saying anything that is negative or would annoy someone else is if they are genuinely and truly awful at HoTS; they’re bad players, make bad plays, have a awful score, don’t cooperate with the team, and possibly go AFK sometimes. That is the only exception to the rule, and there’s no fix for that other than being a better player that your team doesn’t target you for the loss. Usually these players don’t get banned however, because the only reason that potentially suits them is Refusing to Cooperate with Team, which is subjective, but I wouldn’t know about it because almost all the complaints about bans are from people who engage in negative communication.

1 Like
16

Thanks for your post. My HotS account has now been permanently banned. The GM I talked to wouldn’t say what exactly I did wrong this time. I didn’t even get the usual email. I’m not making another account, so that’s the end for me. Was fun while it lasted, played since tech alpha, over 6k ranked games.

5 Likes
17

There are no words to describe just how broken and dumb the report system in this game is, without getting banned for saying it :slight_smile:

But ultimately, yes, this is what it all boils down to - the report system encourages bad players, SJWs and special snowflakes and dumb ignorant noobs who would rather lose the game than try to learn something from a mistake someone points out. Easier to report people for “Abusive Chat” and feel special, rather than admit what a dumb thing you did. Worst part is, those people getting silenced\suspended\banned only enforces their belief of how smart and special they are because they figured out how to click the report button.

You play to win and actually care about improving at the game? Get rekt by multiple reports leading eventually to your permaban. Unless you decide to bow the head to this unbelievably dumb system and just stay silent all the time. But why would you want to play like that?

This game is going to die soon, and I can’t say I’m sad to see it gone. Unless the report system gets totally revamped. Remove the stup*d (this word is apparently not allowed because of how offensive it is :))))) “abusive chat” report - if I’m offended on the internet (lol) I can just mute. Throw in a report option for bad play (limit to a number of reports per week\month\whatever so ppl don’t abuse it). Actually punish people who AFK \ feed \ are just horribly bad at the game.

I’ve actually experimented with the report system and kept tags on ppl I reported for various things, just to see what happens to them. Reported for abusive chat? Player gets silenced in max a week. Reported for AFK or feeding? Nothing happens. Easier to scroll through a chat and find proof of “ABUSE” rather than watch a game, check the stats, and see if the player was truly a source of frustration for 4 other people. It’s more important to protect a moron’s special feelings than spare 4 people the annoyance of playing with said special moron.

It’s very clear that the game in itself is becoming “toxic” (to use one of these special words that snowflakes love), protecting bad play and stup*d people while people who do their best to win and actually have a quality game receive the banhammer because they are “toxic” to the community.

I already started playing other MOBAs, will probably uninstall very soon.

3 Likes
18

Man, exactly the same things were reported so many times on Reddit, on the old forum and already here… But nothing have ever changed.

I left this game for more than a year, then my friends dragged me back - the same old issues, some new ones. So I think having all the money that can be invested in the community buildign and improving bad points Blizzard just prefer to not see the demands of their customers.

I find it disrespectful and make my moves, obviously.

19

Because everybody’s blood is being boiled to the brink with this game. Notice almost everyone here is edgy and agitated and ready to explode. The infuriating matchmaking and never-ending cycle of win lose lose lose lose lose win win lose lose lose lose lose lose lose lose lose. You can’t carry in this game, you have no control because of the fundamental of the game, which is VERY team oriented, by that I mean it depends everyone coordinated for map objectives. Not to mention limited viable hero pool and viable comps.

2 Likes
20

Just a little bit off topic but still related: my whole topic on the same issue was removed by GMs here as … “insulting”.

At the same time I see the topic about … Trump (sic!) doing well here on EU (!) HotS (!) forum… So I do not understand what is your topic doing on our forum about politics :wink:

1 Like