Overwatch 2’s strict profanity filter is hurting the game’s longevity

Overwatch 2 is facing more scrutiny for its reporting system after a joke report ended up causing a player’s account to be banned.

The reporting system in Overwatch 2 is under renewed scrutiny after a player was jokingly reported for chatting the message: “2ez.”

Despite the report clearly being a joke, the player was still met with punishment, most likely a ban that should not have been given in the first place.

This is causing the Overwatch 2 community to take another look at this system, and wonder if some changes need to be made for balance purposes.

The game’s ban system has experienced a rough go of it lately, with several stories coming forward of players receiving bans for the smallest things. It’s led to an ongoing conversation among the community about the transparency of the process and how to fix it.

The situation has even gotten so bad that popular personalities like Asmongold have spoken out.

The issues stem from the game chat and what players are saying in it. In most situations, the person being banned said something that could be interpreted as “profane,” even if most agree it’s not.

Saying something like “2ez” is not profane, and, at worst, is lighthearted trash-talking, which most players would argue is a part of the Overwatch 2 experience. It means that whoever – or whatever – is in charge of making judgment calls is too strict with the definition.

Just looking at this new incident, the player who submitted the report did everything they could to make sure it came off as a joke, even going so far as to write a custom message, saying: “hurted my feelings.”

Yet, the report was still successful in getting the player banned, and the fact that it went through is making many wonder if the process even has people looking at the reports that come through, or if it’s a computer that handles it all.

If it’s the, then it is clear that it isn’t working the way that it needs to be and it’s having an adverse effect on the Overwatch 2 community.

There are already stories spreading around social media that trolls are abusing this system to get people banned whenever they want, even when they haven’t done anything wrong. Having that threat present in the community could be disastrous for the game.

Currently, there has been no comment by Blizzard about whether or not it’s looking to make changes. Without transparency, the fans are only going to get more upset. Worst still, it’s going to lead to people leaving the game entirely due to worrying about getting banned for nothing.

If Overwatch 2 wants to stay on top, it has to find a way to stop players from being banned for doing nothing but having fun.