Listening to your teammates is vital in Overwatch. But with voice chat on, you’ll frequently run into rude, unfriendly, or even toxic players. People like this can ruin a game for everyone by distracting the team, being overly aggressive, or simply annoying.
If you’re one of the many players who have had their ears tortured by these loud voice chatters, Overwatch has a few ways to deal with this. You can switch voice chat channels, mute specific players, or even disable voice chat altogether.
Personal attacks and insults are a significant issue in online gaming, as they occur frequently. In this situation, muting can be very useful since it allows you to avoid players you do not wish to interact with, without worrying about toxicity ruining your game.
So, if you’re playing a match of Overwatch, and you’re finding that one player is being an annoying troll or just completely toxic, here’s how you can silence them for good.
Method #1: Muting a Player’s Voice or Text Chat
You can mute a specific player’s text or voice chat so that you never again need to hear someone screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs. This can be a life-saver if you’ve experienced the horror of Overwatch’s chat.
Whether it be a toxic teammate who just let the match slip from their grasp or a random stranger who can’t seem to keep their mouth shut, here’s how to do it.
- Access the Social menu by pressing the Esc key in-game and clicking on “Social” from the list of options.
- Find the player who you want to mute from the players listed.
- If you want to mute voice chat, click on the speaker icon next to the player’s name you wish to silence.
- If you want to mute text chat, click on the text icon that appears next to the player’s name whose text messages you don’t want to appear in the chat box.
That’s it; you are now an expert at muting specific players. This allows you to effectively ignore them on your or your enemy’s team and add a little silence to your game. No more distractions, no more arguing with people, and no more spam.
Method #2: Disabling Voice Chat Completely
You can also disable all voice communication if you’ve somehow ended up in a match full of spammers and toxic people who are constantly bugging and bullying you. This way, you’ll be able to block out all unnecessary noise and focus on your game.
For those who are tired of the persistent toxic players harassing you in voice chat, here is how to disable it and never hear a peep from them again.
- Click on “Options” from the main menu.
- Select “Sound” from the top menu bar.
- Toggle the “Group and Team Voice Chat” on and off according to your preferences.
So, if you’re tired of hearing toxic language while playing Overwatch, this little tweak will make you happy. It’s a fun way to silence all the chatter and can help you focus on shootin’ things up.
Frequently Asked Questions
If someone is reported for spam or abusive chat multiple times, Overwatch silences their account and restricts them from chatting with other players. This means they won’t be able to send messages in the game, but they’ll still be able to play with their friends.
Overwatch allows you to report players by accessing the “Social” option from the main menu in the game. You’ll see a list of recent players you’ve played with. By right-clicking a player, you can select the reason, add comments, and then report it.
The following chat types are abusive: hate speech or discrimination against gender or sexual orientation, racism, sexism, etc. It also involves extreme profanity, obscene language, or other language intended to hurt or aggravate others.
To ensure a positive gaming experience for all players, Overwatch has implemented penalties if you are reported multiple times for spam or abusive chat. Repetition of these punishments may result in a ban or suspension of your account.
To help maintain a positive environment, Overwatch provides you with an extensive menu of options for reporting other players, from the use of hate speech to in-game spam and harassment. You can also report them for offensive battle tags, abusive language, hacks, etc.
