One Tricks, Hero Picks, and Player Politics: Highlighting the Casual-Competitive Divide in the Overwatch Forums

This chapter by Courtney Blamey investigates the developer’s moderation of Overwatch by analyzing the game’s official Blizzard forum discussions (2016–2019). The moderation put in place by Blizzard allows players to address, for instance, toxicity by reporting or avoiding players, while also rewarding positive play experiences. By analyzing the player discourse around these moderation systems, the data gathered yields a rift between casual and competitive players, resulting in conflicts in what players might expect and want from their play experiences. I conclude that varying expectations and standards of play feed into a community’s conflicts alongside the failure of moderation in curtailing unwanted behaviors.

Previous
Previous

Return To Sender

Next
Next

Level Up 2022