Hard as Valve try to improve their game, it seems to have all gone down the drain. In the recent update to Dota 2, Valve has introduced a reporting system to prevent toxicity. However, it apparently had the reverse effect on the community.
Role stealing has long been a problem for casual Dota 2 matches. Consequently, Dota 2 players are notorious for their toxic behavior of “mid or feed”, “carry or 2 carry”, “mid or tiny airline”. Many Dota 2 matches used to end in tears as some players couldn’t adjust with the role.
In an effort to balance out the role distribution, Valve has introduced the role queue for ranked matches. Apparently, it was welcomed with open arms from the community with the expectations of reducing the amount of toxicity in each game. However, role stealing still existed for extremely bad-mannered players.
In a tougher approach to the problem, Valve has recently introduced the reporting feature right in-game. Dota 2 players can now report other people directly in-game even after they just picked a hero. It would be labeled as “Did Not Play Selected Role”. In theory, this should act as a threat against any toxic behavior of stealing roles.
Where effort goes down the drain
However, this is where all goes wrong. Instead of serving a better community, it has turned into a battle of reports among players. The report button is free so every time one player has an argument with another, it is turned into their weapon. Many people have taken to Reddit to complain about the recent flood of reports they faced with.
Even some support players also got reported with their picks. Could it be due to their argument in-game?
What is even worse, some players also received reports every time they lost a game, while “trading commend” was a common term when winning.
The worst news for Dota 2 players is that reports in the game count toward behavior scores. The lower behavior score, the higher the chance you may get banned from Dota 2 permanently. At this rate, many people will get banned from Dota 2 for no apparent reason.
All in all, what Valve intended for the system was never like this. It was meant to improve the game as a whole, not turning Dota 2 into a battle of reports. Let’s see if Valve has some ideas coming up to solve the prevailing problem.
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