I believe I have identified a core problem with the penalty system and why it puts me off playing competitively. The system is so unforgiving that I feel like I’m being treated as a criminal.
I don’t have the most stable internet connection, it’s mostly fine but sometimes it disconnects. This is not uncommon, it even happens to pros! The game code is not infallible, sometimes the game crashes. The problem is, when these things happen in competitive play, the game assumes I must be a quitter, the countdown starts. This is especially harsh at the beginning of games, when the timer hardly provides any time to recover and an honest player who has never ragequit in their life lands an SR cut and a suspension, because the program crashed as it left the menu to the game. I believe it most likely that the trolls and quitters are an overwhelmingly small minority of Overwatch players, and by being this harsh this system is unwittingly punishing far more innocent players than guilty ones. I think this shows a lack of good will and trust on the part of the developers.
My suggestions for a better design would be to extend the time allowance for rejoining matches at the start of the game to at least 30 seconds. I would also suggest an additional feature: Allow group/team members to make a vote of confidence that the disconnected player is trying to return, extending the timer for each teammate who votes. Perhaps allow for the team to agree for a pause, at least for groups of 6, as would be done in the scrim scenario. Also, if a player is consistently leaving, provide a warning which assumes they are just suffering technical problems, and suggest that they might want to visit support if they are crashing, or wait until their connection is more stable, then if it keeps happening start with the penalties.
I think this more forgiving environment, with more player input, would help to shift the feeling that empathy-less robo-ref is constantly out to get you.
I would much rather support a company who designs around the assumption that their players are good honest people who just want to play the game and not that we are all potential trolls out to spoil it. Make those people feel bad for violating your trust, because if that doesn’t get them, do you really think they care about their SR or their time?
Thanks for reading.
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Remember when they introduced gamebrowser and stated “hey we know this can be abused for afk exp farm…but we will trust you that you dont do it!”
Guess what ppl did. They know their player base pretty well.
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Meanwhile is your DCing ruining the game for others, and you are the whiner?
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Regardless of the reasoning behind you disconnecting from games, it’s your own fault for neglecting the fact that you have an unstable connection/computer which in return punishes 11 other players. It is you that is being selfish and insist on risking every match of being disconnected and indirectly ruin other peoples match, and that is why you are being punished. You are aware of the problem and yet ask of developers to make certain adjustments to the game, which will allow you to do it more often and ruin even more games.
2 Likes
Over 500 hours and I have never DC’d and I have completed every single Comp match started (even one where I was the only player left on my team).
Therefore I have little sympathy as a leaver screws over team mates in Comp whether they rage quit (idiots), their Mummy calls them for tea or they have a bad connection.
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Never dced in my life. Idc what the reason for someone leaving is… they still LEFT the game and ruined a game for 5 others. If you know your internet is bad, why do you play comp?
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I’m not asking for no penalties, I just want this system handed back to the players. I’d rather be judged by my peers than by an algorithm enforcing the will of the vocal forum users who have no sympathy for us poor plebs whose situation does not afford perfect internet and eternally stable gameplay. Let teammates vote to extend the timer for someone desperately trying to log back in after their network hiccups, and if you think this is unacceptable feel free to report them all and we’ll see how much of a majority you really are.
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They can always make improvements, what i think they should do is just pause game for 2 minutes especially during setup time there no harm done anyway, during active rounds eh debatable, and if some one dc’s crashes etc rejoins he should respawn atleast in the spawn with hero he dc’d on keeping ult charge etc after a 6 sec respawn time has kicked in.
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if you have no stable internet connection or no reliable hardware, causing crashes etc, you should stay away from comp, because otherwise you are a nuisance, burden and a huge source of anger to your team.
From me, the leaver penalty could be somewhat harsher.
how delusional and naive you are. people are ssholes in general, leave them a tiny opportunity and they’ll abuse the hell out of it, like the suggested pause function which would make an awesome griefing tool for interrupting opponents flow and play.
Your feelings are unfounded. The system isn’t there to imply you are rage quitting. It is a system to discourage from that behavior. In other words, if you feel treated as a criminal, it is not an issue with the system, but your misunderstanding of the system.