Heroes Of The Storm Seeks To Silence Abusive Players

By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted: September 8, 2015

Some people who play MOBAs are jerks who love to abuse other players -- teammates and opponents -- in chat. This should come as no surprise to anyone. But Blizzard's taking an unusual step to try and literally silence these kinds of players in Heroes of the Storm.

When the next patch hits, you'll be able to report players for a wide range of different behavior, including abusive chat, feeding, and chat spamming. If a player receives enough negative reports for abuse or chat spam, he or she will be silenced for 24 hours, unable to send messages through most channels. The next time that player gets dinged, the silence duration will be doubled... and then doubled again... and then doubled again, with no upper limit. As the blog post on the new feature puts it,

This means that players who receive multiple silence penalties may find themselves unable to chat for a very, very long time.

It may not be perfect, and there will still be abusive players who manage to circumvent the rules somehow, but hey, at least they're trying!

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In this article: Blizzard, Heroes Of The Storm.

About the Author

Jason Winter, News Editor
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

derpina 8 years ago

HotS had a chat? Been playin since CB.... No one chated. Why do these companies not have a "chat off" button? Oh yeah... Marketing. Its a scam to intice you like a passive aggressive taunt to play their game.
What toxic moba is?
Low pingers.
Afkers
Leavers.
Feeeders.
Recently: Bots.

Jafarson 8 years ago

what about russians???????????? they will still type shit in RUSSIAN and no one will get it....
lol is better in one thing... they have russian server for russians. Hots needs too

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BogusTruth 8 years ago

Silencing would do well against those who spam or abuse their social privileges in game, HOWEVER Feeding? You don't have to chat to feed. Just ban them.

Or better yet give them their own hate filled server. Don't let them join the ranks of those who just want to play and have fun. Just Shadow ban them to a different server for a certain amount of time. Repeat offenses gets them permanently banned.

Old solution i had was to put a clause in the terms and conditions that if you were found with irrefutable evidence that you are abusing your privilege as a gamer (casual, hardcore, participant, or otherwise) then you fine them in game coin and supplies OR if you really want to make them hurt ip ban them until they pay a modest but potentially cumulative fine (5.00 - 10.00+ USD) depending on how many time they keep breaking the rules.

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