Last week we suggested that Dota might be getting harder. Well, that could be about to change… In a bid to improve the overall Dota experience for everyone, Valve has taken some pretty dramatic steps. In their October 10th update, Valves removes chat for toxic players.
But what constitutes toxic? And exactly what privileges have been taken away? Find out all this and more as we explore this bold new strategy in Dota 2.
Chat Has Been Removed?
Yes, but only for a certain demographic of players. We’ll go into that in a bit more detail shortly.
The removal of the chat feature involves denying access to all forms of chat for those Valve deems toxic. This means they will no longer have access to either voice or text chat during a game of Dota 2.
The intended effect is to stop players who are extremely toxic from ruining the experience of others. Valve themselves have implemented this feature both as a protection measure and as a warning system. This should act as a deterrent for players who are close to or below the threshold, hopefully encouraging them to improve their behavior.
Who Will Be Affected When Valves Removes Chat for Toxic Players?
The threshold we’re talking about is determined by an individual’s behavior score. (We told you that you should be paying attention to yours.)
For those of you that don’t know, your behavior in Dota is ranked between 0 and 10,000. This is a measure of how well behaved you are during your interactions with other players. It is measured, in part, by the number of reports and commends you receive, including both amount and frequency.
Your behavior score will drop dramatically if you are particularly toxic, don’t play as part of a team, are abusive and for a variety of other reasons. In this new update, Valve removes chat for toxic players who fall below 3000 behavior score.
Assuming players were evenly distributed this would be nearly one-third of the player base. However, this is obviously not the case. Those falling below 3000 represent but a minority of the individuals playing Dota 2. It’s definitely a bold step.
We might, if we were so bold, assert that 3000 is too low. Dial that up to the 4000/5000 region and you’re in business, Valve.
Are There Any Other Major Changes?
As it happens, yes.
The revelation that Valve removes chat for toxic players could easily overshadow any other news that came out of the October 10th update. However, there are a few other important bits and pieces that you definitely need to be aware of.
Valve continues to impose what they refer to as ‘ban waves’ in the background. These are designed to target not only low behavior score players but also players who are boosting, smurfing or exhibiting exploitative behavior. Kudos to Valve for their no-nonsense approach to tomfoolery here.
In addition, players may now be presented with a post-match survey at the conclusion of their games. This survey is designed to draw out more detailed information regarding a player’s experience of the match (and game in general).
This feature isn’t going live for a few days though, while Valve iron out the bugs. Furthermore, Valve understands that winning often equates to a better, more enjoyable experience than losing (unless your game featured Techies – then no one is having a good time). With that in mind, they have taken steps to ensure surveys presented to the losing team are weighted appropriately in their equation.
SILENCE!
It’s no secret – we’ve all been in games where we just wished the ground would swallow one particular player. Well, we’re getting the next best thing thanks to the ban waves and revocation of privileges. As always, you can read all of the changes in the Continued Matchmaking Updates post on Valve’s website.
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