- Author: Spannah
- Date: May 31, 2022
- Updated: May 31, 2022
- Expansion: World of Warcraft
With the release of Patch 9.2.5, Blizzard have updated their ways of combatting in-game toxicity in several ways:
- Social Contract: players that attempt to log in will be greeted with a Social Contract that outlines the behaviors that Blizzard deems unacceptable. Players will need to accept this Social Contract in order to log in, and may be prompted to do so again in the future.
- Reporting: the in-game reporting function has been “modernized” to better and more accurately combat in-game toxicity. If a player is punished following your report, you will also be receiving a thank you message a few weeks down the line.
- Streamlined System: Blizzard’s system and penalties have been “streamlined” to act quickly, accurately, and more severely if needed.
While the Social Contract and reporting improvements are plenty self-explanatory, it is not yet clear how the newly “streamlined” systems and penalties will affect in-game toxicity and disruptive behavior. Additionally, World of Warcraft is no stranger to its report function being abused and exploited in order to “mass report” players and have them automatically banned, which resulted in players having to spend days to appeal a wrongfully issued ban. It remains to be seen how these new improvements will affect the game and the player experience.
For more information, check out the official post:
As a part of our ongoing efforts to foster a fun, fair, and safe game environment for our community, we’re implementing some improvements to the system with the 9.2.5 update. We know how important it is for our players to be a part of a safe and supportive community, and we want to help foster that by providing you with tools and information you can use to help promote and create it alongside us.
JUST THE START
Creating a positive experience in World of Warcraft is important to the entire team. As a part of helping drive that focus, we’ve pulled together a multi-disciplinary team to look at varying aspects of what we can do to help make things better. The 9.1.5 content update allowed us to provide additional updates to our reporting system that enable more visibility to player reporting by sending thank you messages to players who reported others for violating our code of conduct. Additionally, most players who are close to being actioned within the game are now receiving a warning message. This is only the start of what we have in store, and the 9.2.5 content update provides some further improvements to the system.
NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT
When players first log in to World of Warcraft after the 9.2.5 content update goes live, they will be greeted by the new Social Contract. This contract will need to be read and accepted before a player can continue into the world of Azeroth. The contract outlines behavior that will help make your experiences more positive and provides an outline of behaviors that are not acceptable within the game. While you should only need to accept it once, there may be a future point where you’ll need to reaccept the contract to continue playing.
REPORTING PLAYER BEHAVIOR
We’ve modernized how reporting works in-game, making it even easier to report disruptive or poor player behavior.
- Right-click the player’s name in chat or other applicable area.
- Click ‘Report Player’.
- This will open a popup allowing you to select the appropriate reason for the report as well as allow you to add additional details.
- Click ‘report’.
You’ll receive a notice acknowledging your report and thanking you for your help in making Azeroth a better place to be. Should action be taken against the reported player, you’ll receive an additional thank you message in the weeks following your original report.
STREAMLINING THE SYSTEM
We’ve also taken some time to further streamline our system and penalties, allowing us to act more quickly, accurately, and (if necessary) more severely depending on the in-game violation.
LOOKING FORWARD
These updates are merely the beginning of our efforts to provide a better place to spend your time. We know that Azeroth is special to many of you, and we want to make sure it continues to be a place you want to call home.
About the Author
