“We eat sleep and dream Overwatch, not a day goes by when we don’t think of it” — Jeff Kaplan
Jeff Kaplan, the iconic game director, has again pitched in on the pressures of being at the helm of one of Blizzard Entertainment’s most symbolic heavyweight games and talks of the struggles of toxic players in the community.
The commander in chief has often weighed in on issues both game and community related and such regular interaction has made him one of the global community’s favourite figures. Overwatch’s ‘Developer Updates’ give ‘devs’ the opportunity to address issues within the game. This can be an in-game character who is unfairly overpowered, an exploitable system or simply bug-fixes and/or tweaks to the reporting structure.
Kaplan addressed several problems in one such update named “Play Nice, Play Fair”, most notably that of poor conduct from players. Reaching out to the community in an effort to try and curb the spike in ‘toxic’ behaviour amongst the fan base, he hoped that players would “take a deep look inward” upon behaviour which has had a heavy bearing upon the franchise’s progression.
More fuel has fired the debate since Canadian Pro player Félix “XQc” Lengyel was banned for 72 hours during a ranked match on his stream after allegedly abusing the in-game reporting system. Kaplan feels that the reporting system isn’t perfect however, he feels that Blizzard are working hard to ensure that the system becomes as effective as it can for the benefit of the game’s growth and the community’s benefit.
Kaplan adds that he “feels a great sense of gratitude for being a part of Overwatch”, following on from his experience working on (arguably) Blizzard’s biggest title, World of Warcraft. “When I think about the talent of my team, all the things that they bring, their artistic, technical and audio geniuses — we have come through a real crucible” — an experience that he believes has given him a new level of respect for his work.
He continues, adding that his unbelievably talented team have such a huge role to play in keeping the game in everyone’s favour, “we eat sleep and dream Overwatch, not a day goes by when we don’t think of it”.
Being what is essentially the face of Overwatch, Kaplan talks of the pressures of heading such a dedicated team and serving such a huge community. “When I know that I’m probably not saying the perfect thing or I might be saying something that represents them poorly, when those moments happen, you feel terrible.
“The game really belongs to the community, they’ve made it their own, and they’re so passionate about it that you want to tell people what they want to hear all the time.” He notes that, whilst he likes to play to the needs of the majority, there are also people in the minority pools whose needs and interests are just as important and need equal care and consideration upon approach. Naturally, with more than 25 million online players ensuring that the community is a positive environment for everyone is a pivotal goal.
Kaplan hopes that he and his team can continue to provide the community with the level of enjoyment and service that they deserve, as they continue to tweak and refine Overwatch into the best possible game that they can.
