Bringing Down the Banhammer: Understanding the Impact of Competitive Players on Moderation Tactics in Overwatch Courtney Blamey A Thesis in The Department of Communications Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Media Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 2019 © Courtney Blamey, 2019 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Courtney Blamey Entitled: Bringing Down the Banhammer: Understanding the Impact of Competitive Players on Moderation Tactics in Overwatch. and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Media Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final Examining Committee: _______________________________ Chair Dr. Yasmin Jiwani _______________________________ Examiner Dr. Stefanie DuGuay _______________________________ Examiner Dr. Fenwick McKelvey _______________________________ Supervisor Dr. Mia Consalvo Approved by _________________________________________________ Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director ____________2019 ________________________________________ Dean of Faculty ABSTRACT This thesis investigates how the need for player moderation tactics in Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment, 2016) has shifted following the introduction of competitive and professional matches. With a player’s season rank heightening stakes when playing competitively, so too does the need to avoid toxic players impacting their win rates. Alongside this, the analysis of forums and developer updates examines what values (Flanagan and Nissenbaum, 2014) are embedded in the implemented moderation tactics, and players are responding to the tactics in community forums. This will provide a clearer insight on what data Blizzard developers are using to inform the design choices behind their moderation tactics. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to the never-ending source of support that is my family. Especially my parents, Difna and Nicholas, who encouraged me to chase my dreams, even if it means I’m across the Atlantic for a little while longer. And to Jojo, who never fails to make me ugly laugh when I need it most. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. Mia Consalvo for all her guidance, compassion and knowledge throughout the process of composing this thesis. Thank you to my amazing committee, Dr. Stefanie DuGuay and Dr. Fenwick McKelvey, for challenging and inspiring me along the way. To the hilarious, thought-provoking, ceaselessly enthusiastic mLab crew, thank you for being a great source of support. Also, to the amazing ladies Aurelia, Nina, Smriti and Miriam for Wine Wednesdays and sangria any day. Thank you to the fantastic staff in the COMS department at Concordia for everything you have taught me over the last two years. I’d also like to thank Dr. Kelly Boudreau and Dr. Ashley ML Brown for inspiring me to delve into the world of game studies right at the start of my academic career. To the Load of Hay crew for always providing entertainment of the highest calibre. Finally, to my wonderful other half, Joel. Thank you for listening, knowing when I needed to take a break – and all the half-drunk cups of tea. I love you. iv Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Literature Review and Method ............................................................................................. 10 “Why can’t we be friends?” ................................................................................................. 22 MODERATION .......................................................................................................................... 26 AVOID THIS PLAYER .............................................................................................................. 41 AVOID AS TEAMMATE ........................................................................................................... 43 ENDORSEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 48 LOOKING FOR GROUP ........................................................................................................... 53 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................... 58 “Play Nice, Play Fair” ......................................................................................................... 60 FORMAL SYSTEMS.................................................................................................................. 62 PRIORITISING THE “PRO” ..................................................................................................... 65 REPORT SYSTEM BLUES ........................................................................................................ 68 “VOID” AS TEAMMATE .......................................................................................................... 72 LOOKING FOR TROUBLE ...................................................................................................... 73 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................... 77 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 79 AN AWARD FOR PARTICIPATION ........................................................................................ 81 ALL THINGS IN MODERATION ............................................................................................. 82 THE COMPETITIVE NATURE OF IT ALL ............................................................................. 83 ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS .............................................................................................. 84 THE FUTURE OF MODERATION? ......................................................................................... 86 GLOSSARY ......................................................................................................................... 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 92 LUDOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 98 APPENDICES..................................................................................................................... 99 v INTRODUCTION My experience playing online multiplayers has never been relaxed. I somehow manage a simultaneous state of panic and utmost focus, trying to both help out my teammates and make sure I avoid getting hit from behind. I want to be the perfect teammate. Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment, 2016) is a team-based multiplayer online first-person shooter, set on a “near- future” Earth (Blizzard Entertainment, 2018a). It was the first game I played online with friends. For at least a year after launch I was playing regularly with the same group of friends on the Xbox One. We each found the heroes we were comfortable playing, our team dynamic worked in some matches, and less so in others. Overall, we enjoyed playing together, and it was a great way to let off steam in the evenings after work. Over time, our schedules changed, and big life events started to happen in my friend group. I moved to Canada to pursue my master’s degree, and the time zone difference meant that slowly, we stopped playing online together. Then, for a class project I picked Overwatch up again in February 2018 (this time on PC) and something was different. I was playing with a different set of friends, who were equally as enjoyable to play with, but there was more pressure to perform this time. Overwatch on the Xbox One only has voice chat available to converse with your teammates, and we had used a private voice chat group through the Xbox Online service. For the PC, both text and voice chat are available. My friends and I were in a private voice chat group, but three other players on our team were strangers making use of the text chat to converse with us. In one particular match a message popped up: “What is Lùcio doing?” I was playing the hero Lùcio – a healer from Brazil who uses music to heal or speed up teammates. What followed was in essence, a telling off, from this other player. For context, we were playing in “Quick Play1”, the non-competitive mode, where there is no ranking system, just the chance to gain experience points (XP) to increase one’s overall player level. I asked my friends if I was doing anything 1 Bolded words are defined in the Glossary section. 1 wrong, it had been a while since I played after all, but neither had any criticisms for me. This player then also switched to a healer, insinuating that my skills were clearly not up to par. The match ended and I was left feeling disheartened. Another match rolled through, and another player pointed out my mistakes when playing a different hero. It was a couple matches later that we stopped playing and I could not shake the night’s experience. Was I playing so poorly to be the only one called out? Twice? Had I been letting my friends down this whole time? This player’s level was significantly higher than mine. My account was brand new (in order to purchase Overwatch on PC) and I