There’s been a lot of anger towards cheaters in the Overwatch beta who have seemingly gone punished. Blizzard have calmed down the community by reaffirming their position on cheating: anyone caught cheating will be permanently banned from the game.
This news is welcomed by the e-sports scene in particular as there have been a number of players with suspicious aiming. NeoGAF and Reddit have been watching the Overwatch Pro League to catch cheaters – so far two players (Taimou and Surefour) have been caught using aimbots. Of course, the e-sports scene isn’t the only part of the game with cheaters. As a result of cheaters, Blizzard are adding the ability to report players mid-match.
“If you believe another player is cheating or you have information pertaining to the use of hacks, bots, or unauthorized third-party software in Overwatch, please contact us at hacks@blizzard.com. Although you won’t receive a response, our dedicated team of engineers and analysts actively monitor this inbox for your reports.” wrote Lylirra, community manager at Blizzard, on the official Overwatch forums.
“In fact, thanks to reports submitted during the beta, we’ve already made improvements to the game as well as removed players who were found to be cheating. In addition, by popular request, we will also be including an option to report players for potential cheating directly through the game client. This option will be available at launch and can be accessed through the normal right click > “Report” menu.”
If the cheating is so widespread to include even ‘pro’ players, it’s clear the anti-cheat measures are not up to scratch. The community have asked Blizzard to include the overwatch system Counter Strike: Global Offensive uses. The overwatch system works by having players report cheaters in game. The video is sent to another player who will watch over the match and determine whether the suspect has been cheating. While it’s not a perfect system, it’s certainly better than nothing.
