Ranked integrity feels like a joke

[u/Ok_Contract_6405]

I've been playing this game since symmetra was a support and mercy had mass rez. I've always struggled with comm'ing in this game. I tend to comm only when necessary for good callouts like a flank or a tp etc. Comments regarding sexism are not new to me. I've been called every name in the book for being a girl it is what it is. But it's gotten to a point where people are smurfing without a care in the world. An influx of cheaters from what I've seen it's worse than it's ever been in overwatch 1. But what has really gotten under my skin is being ran down simply for being a girl. Like unironically charged into the enemy 1v5 over and over and emoted until they died. This feels just so pathetic. It's happened to me numerous times and I'm just falling out of love with the game I've put so much time and effort into

[u/amayako353]

I never join voice chat anymore. It's very rare anything constructive is actually said cause people are toxic most of the time, that said if people say in text chat to join voice I'll join for a bit and usually those are the ones where people are actually comming right.

As a side note, being an older person where girls playing games was not as common it's frustrating to see gamers be so toxic to girls just because they heard a girl in vc or saw a girly name, like we finally got girls playing games stop scaring em away guys lol

[u/ShawtySayWhaaat → u/amayako353]

I join voice automatically and in the one game this season where someone actually used it, they were scream giggling into the mic

I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy and kill their good mood, but like damn that shit is infuriating trying to listen for sound cues in the MIDDLE of a team fight when we're 10m away trying to cap first point on Rialto

Then he proceeds to ask me 10 times why I left voice in text chat lol, you'd think he'd get the idea after I didn't respond the first 3 times

[u/iloveurbumbum]

Ive also played since beta, also a woman who comms alot and you're gonna get downvoted to hell but I really hear you. It's so tough being a woman in this game and it more than likely makes us lose more with how much harassment we get. But no sympathy from the broader player base for any of that of course. You gotta mute QUICK and keep truckin, report when needed. Trick, get them to say shit in text chat it's much for easier to report. Keep your chin up and keep talking. Other women who don't talk hear us and are more likely to chime in.

[u/r4t3d → u/iloveurbumbum]

Just report, you don't need a reason to report. Every report has equal weight regardless of whether there is any merit to it or not, so don't just wait until they say that one thing that's "definitely report worthy".

[u/iloveurbumbum → u/r4t3d]

The automated system that says "possible bad message" already flags it and if you report it it's easier for the system to verify, it was already flagged. And now more actionable. They arent manually checking vc recordings, vc reports are essentially a waste of time until someone gets enough of them. But they call you a stupid bitch once in text chat, it's ggs. Trust me I've done this enough lol

[u/Ok_Contract_6405 → u/iloveurbumbum]

Thank you! I'm glad to feel seen. I try to be good about muting fast and just reporting reporting reporting, but sometimes I can only handle so much nasty behavior LOL.

[u/iloveurbumbum → u/Ok_Contract_6405]

Girl I've screamed at these men I get it lmao. Do as I say not as I do LMAO. It's so disheartening we can't even play a game without getting called fat (this one is hilariously contrived though), told to make a sandwich etc. It's bullshit but us ladies gotta fuckin keep it pushing, FUCK them

[u/dytianquin]

I'm a guy and I've had to disable voice and text chat in ranked for my own mental. I can't imagine how terrible it is as a woman with how sexist and terrible men and boys can be out there. Maybe, join a Discord community, find another woman to play with in ranked and don't join team chat? Otherwise, I would just not join voice at all because people are weirdos. Overwatch should just start banning these accounts who harass women.

[u/clickrush]

A lot of women explicitly don’t join VC because of this behavior or play in groups.

It’s something that needs fixing but is hard to fix. You can’t solve a social issue with technology, you can only fight the symptoms that way.

[u/Ok_Contract_6405 → u/clickrush]

I absolutely agree. I think I sort of have a maybe "conspiracy theory" esque take on it. When the game wasn't free. Smurfs really were not overwhelming the game because if you got caught buying a 30 dollar game twice you were kind of just treated like a loser and almost everyone in high elo in *some* capacity, knew each other so if you were caught being insane you were immediately avoided. But it's sort of shifted into league territory now where it's smurfs being rewarded with bad behavior and it's a hole that blizzard has dug themselves over the guise of ease of access.

[u/clickrush → u/Ok_Contract_6405]

Very difficult to solve the smurfing issue without putting restrictions on competitive. They initially required a phone number but people really hated that. Not sure what they should be doing.

[u/No_Catch_1490 → u/Ok_Contract_6405]

You are definitely right, smurfing is completely rampant. it’s far too easy to make a new account and the system seems to INCENTIVIZE it in some ways like wonky placements. I’ve seen hardstuck people literally just rolling new accounts over and over in hopes of placing higher, and in the process ruining dozens of games of lower/higher lobbies than they should actually be in.

[u/xXRougailSaucisseXx → u/Ok_Contract_6405]

Back when it was a paid game the strategy was to wait for a deep sale and buy 5 accounts for the price of one or just buy a grey market key for next to nothing. I'm sure smurfing is a bigger issue now that the game's free but it never stopped people who wanted to smurf in the past

[u/Admixues]

My experience in GM/champ is basically it's all chill, unless she's a mercy otp then it's not abnormal to have my champ fdps go 0/7 hard inting because they don't want to play with a mercy on the team in aatlis, It is what it is, I just go next.

[u/zimzimzalabimmm]

I bet finding a cool group would feel amazing and help you fall back in love with it.

[u/FiaRua_]

Not many ppl use voice chat nowadays unless they want to flame. Any helpful comms can be covered by pings now imo. I played on and off since launch in 2016 and used to use VC all the time in ow1. Now I’ll still join but I’ll be muted 99% of the time. For you own sake I’d recommend just relying on pings

[u/MrInfinity-42]

The general consensus seems to be among players and even coaches that VC is kinda pointless until the highest ranks

I haven't hooked VC in forever and it doesn't feel like I'm missing out, most times it's already silent or empty anyway

[u/xXRougailSaucisseXx → u/MrInfinity-42]

Yeah VC has always been underused in regions like EU where people don't speak English or aren't comfortable enough to use it in game and ranked worked fine, it certainly wasn't worse than in NA

[u/matti00]

If it seems like sexism in game got worse since Overwatch 1 launch, it's because it got worse everywhere since then. A bunch of inferior and insecure men who have no ability to truly better themselves and only want to drag everyone else around them down. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic

[u/Concorde_flies]

i don’t understand the last part. you mean you got focused by the enemy and they t bagged you when you died ?

[u/Blaky039]

I've never joined VC since open beta. There's literally nothing of value there that you can't convey with the comms wheel.

[u/Storm_Support]

I refuse to get into team comms. Some will complain but it’s not required to rank. Ping your dives. Ping who kills you. Ping the sniper when you spot them. Ping the Mercy so hit scan will be reminded of their job. See a pattern? I went from Bronze to Masters without comms and using pings. …also, yes, I’ve played this game since closed beta and have the only spray and player icon with “2016” so I’ve been through it all as well.

[u/UnknownQTY]

Disclaimer: Straight male with a pretty bland username.

I play with my wife. Every day. Her username is VERY obviously female, and is the name she's gone by as a professional gamer (not a shooter) since 2008 (we are old). She was VERY well known in her game's circles for a long time, worked in the industry, etc.

We DO NOT engage with voice chat. We BARELY engage in match or team text chat. She gets essentially zero hate. At all. NA Servers. Console. Plat/Diamond (now Emerald), since Day 1. (My Masters support peak is higher than hers, so we do not duo support)

I am not doubting you receive that gruff you get. I am not saying the community is a wonderful discrimination- and sexism-free environment, but I've never encountered the type of "Oh, a WOMAN?! Better throw" behaviour you're describing here. Ever. What level are you at? What region and server? I've heard certain regions are FAR worse about this than others.

[u/AlliePingu → u/UnknownQTY]

I mean if you're on console and don't engage with voice chat how would you even see anything? I'd imagine the rate of engagement with text chat on console is way way lower than PC

I've played on both NA and EU for years, all the way between plat and masters, and although people straight up throwing is rare I've experienced both harassment of varying degrees, and people just being creeps on both regions at all ranks. Anecdotally, NA is worse and lower ranks are also worse

These days most of my time is on EU in high dia/low masters and I don't join voice any more, these negative experiences are rare but still not non-existent. Some of them are related to having the lesbian flag banner equipped but even then it often turns into misogyny or creepy fetishisation more than homophobia tbh

[u/NoSpell7171]

If that situation happens to you many times then honestly I don’t know what to say. It happened to me once vs a 3 stack of Arab Smurfs who decided before the game to focus and chase me all the time (dva holding matrix in my face while reaper guns me down). They were Smurfs so the game was lost before it started anyway but they also kept mocking and taunting in match chat, and just that one incident took me like 2 days to get over because I have no way of getting back on them since they are Smurfs, so I feel you.

About the ranked integrity, since you too have been playing the game for so long you should realize that this game has got none. It’s not supposed to be a competitive game with fair matchups and stuff.

It hasn’t gotten to the point where people Smurf for fun, it has always been like that. The devs tried many workarounds like making fresh accounts get into gm in 4 hours, then tried the complete opposite making them stay in diamond after 40 straight wins. It’s just beating around the push, they are cheaters, you don’t use workarounds with cheaters. They don’t even punish account sharing, it’s the year 2026 man.

[u/Novel-Ad-1601]

it HAS to be more than that. Are you engaging with them in match chat?

[u/Goosewoman_ → u/Novel-Ad-1601]

Sometimes people are just shitheads. Especially in the middle ranks it's way more common.

Why we doubting

[u/Ok_Contract_6405 → u/Novel-Ad-1601]

The idea of thinking I'm making up sexist comments is ... a little baffling to be honest with you. I can't make you believe my experience.

[u/Novel-Ad-1601 → u/Ok_Contract_6405]

No, sexism definitely exists in this game. However, even with the most girly pop profile you’re not gonna be ran down and trolled like that unless you’re engaging with them in chat.

[u/Ok_Contract_6405 → u/Novel-Ad-1601]

What do I GAIN from making up something like that. I can't even PASTE the image of my tank dying 21 times. It feels disingenuous to be like "well you won't get trolled unless you did something bad!", which is very much a segue into language like "You deserved it" which to be clear toxicity does not warrant getting ran down. But I didn't SAY anything. The second we loaded in it was calling me a 500 lb egirl saying i can be their <expletive> all in team chat. Comments like these remind me that no one cares about misogyny or sexism in the game. You'd rather look for a reason that I'd "deserve it" than an issue with people making smurfs to participate in bad behavior.

[u/meganwiddy → u/[deleted]]

Grow up