We know who’s been naughty now, thanks to Blizzard’s new website outing Overwatch pros for violating the Overwatch League’s rules and code of conduct.
The Overwatch League’s “discipline tracker” is a public list of players who broke league rules, such as by boosting other people’s accounts or being toxic. Next to their infractions, Blizzard lists the punishment due to them. Today is the tracker’s first day online and, already, seven pros have received suspensions or fines before the next season has even started:
The Overwatch League previously released single posts when a player had done something bad. Now, there’s an official catalogue of evil deeds!
Blizzard’s post introducing the tracker reads:
“As players join the Overwatch League, the league office conducts a full review of their conduct and, where appropriate, takes disciplinary action. While the league reviews each case on its own, key factors informing the level of discipline include both the severity and recency of the actions under review. During the season, the league office will continue to evaluate infractions and take action as needed.”
This isn’t totally outlandish for sports—both the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) detail participant suspensions for doping and the like. But in esports, which is still on its path toward mainstream legitimacy, Blizzard’s list seems ahead of its time.
Gaming in front of a huge audience might be many pros’ first job. A lot of them were grinding out their skill rating in LAN cafes and their parents’ houses before they made it big. The responsibility to behave on par with their level of fame may be hard for pros to metabolize at first—but, hey, nothing like a little public shaming to put them in the mindset.
Comments
5 responses to “Blizzard Creates Official Catalogue Of Overwatch Pros Who Break The Rules”
This surprises me considering their “we’re not telling you what actions we take” approach with cheaters in their other games like WoW and Diablo. I guess that’s the difference between trying to legitimise the game as a professional sport version still being a “game”.
Ironically, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of professionalism in the world of professional gamers. No matter how big you get, the things that make you small are always gonna come to the forefront.
Pretty much the same in all sports and competitions . Expect in gaming competitions, you’re wearing a microphone almost 24/7
You are in a lot of sports now though, cricket has microphones in the stumps, refs with microphones, drone cameras. Not to mention of always being in the public spot light even when you’re not playing.
Which makes you wonder how many more “sandpaper-gate” type scandals would there have been in the past when coverage wasn’t as in depth.