The Value of Recognizing Certain Gameplay Behaviors: Efforts to Shape Sociotechnical Ethics with Systematized Qualitative Evaluation Metrics

• In Event: Working and Playing under Regimes of Platform Capitalism

Abstract

Without intervention by development teams at Blizzard Entertainment, many people involved in and around the first-person, multiplayer video game Overwatch believe that ‘player toxicity’ will eventually corrode and compromise the bonds that currently bind together an international player community across 6 continents. To address this concern, the development team behind Overwatch implemented a player-driven qualitative assessment metric known as the ‘Endorsement System.’ The Endorsement System assigns every player in Overwatch with a number that represents a uniform rank from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rank a player can achieve. Players ascend in rank by receiving endorsements from other players and participating as an evaluator of other player’s social behavior in the game, explicitly rewarding players for participating in the mass surveillance of individuals they match with. Players also descend in rank at irregular intervals when they leave games prematurely and fail to receive endorsements from other players. Players now debate what it means and should mean to maintain an endorsement level, and some frame the problem of ‘player toxicity’ in relation to the effectiveness of the System as a technology for regulating social behavior. This paper analyzes the popular reception of the Endorsement System according to press outlets and popular forum posts on Blizzard.net and Reddit.com, and it considers how developers frame popular discourses around player toxicity as a phenomenon that requires both social and technological solutions.

Author

• Iris Bull, Indiana University - Bloomington