Overwatch's New Patch Silences Xbox One Players With Bad Reputations

Blizzard's team-based shooter Overwatch is a game with many updates. Its most recent big changes include the implementation of a Deathmatch mode in the Arcade (alongside a new specialized map), and the latest hero to join the ranks, Doomfist. Today's update adds in more shake-ups to the game, including the controversial changes to Mercy and D.Va, in addition to the new Payload-centered map Junkertown.

Yet the biggest change is the one buried in the patch notes. A change that some players likely won't be happy about.

For Xbox One players with reputation badges, those with an "Avoid Me" badge (meaning they've been reported countlessly, ideally for toxic behavior and actions like bullying players over voice chat or throwing matches) will now be muted from Overwatch's in-game team chat. The offenders will remain in the same matchmaking pool as other players, they'll just be unable to communicate with players using in-game communication at all, according to Blizzard's patch notes.

On Reddit some players are discussing the controversial move, some labeling it as outright unfair, and pointing out to the already-perceived-to-be-flawed reporting system. "On Xbox people [...] will block you/report you for playing poorly/basically anything they dislike," writes one user. "I know people who will block people just because they are good too. Basically Xbox's reputation feature is completely and utterly inaccurate."

The same user noted that there is no appeal process for being reported by other players, but Microsoft actually does have a process for appealing to wrongful reportings. Some other players are fine with the reputation-based muting, hoping it will drown out the more unsavory players that hop onto voice chat.