How to Report Someone Using the Overwatch System

The Overwatch review update, potentially set to regulate negative behavior, has finally been incorporated into Dota 2 by Valve. The “community review” system is going to allow “good-standing members of the community to verify the validity of reports flagging disruptive actions within games.” 

Here is how you can report someone using this new Overwatch feature. 

RELATED:  The Dota 2 Overwatch Review System Explained

Ways to report players using the new Overwatch system

Players can now report others directly during the match using the scoreboard or by selecting a player and clicking on the flag on their hero portrait. 

A report can be issued against a player for the following reasons:

1. Ability Abuse- This will allow users to report a player who is exploiting his hero’s skill, like Tiny deliberately tossing a teammate into the enemies. 
2. Feeding- This reason will be used if a player is deliberately getting himself killed. 
3. Suspicious Movements/ Casts- If a player suspiciously moves around the map and you suspect him stream sniping, this reason can be chosen.
4. Scripting/ Hacking- Scripting is basically a computer doing actions for you in the game, instead of you actually pressing the buttons. A common one is if someone blinks within a certain range of your hero, the script will execute automatically hex/eul/silence them without your inputs.
5. Griefing- If a player is intentionally feeding, harassing his teammates, and disrupting them from playing the game, this reason can be used. 

You can also select when the player committed the aforementioned actions- Just Now, Around 1 min ago, and Around 5 mins ago. 

You can report a specific player as many times as needed within one game. It will only consume one Overwatch report regardless of how many times you report that player in the game. However, the total number of these Overwatch reports will have a limit for every player. This has likely been incorporated to stop players from mass and unnecessary reporting. 

Who will review these reports?

Once you send these reports in, they will be reviewed by specific players.

Select Dota 2 players will be picked out by the Game and will have the option to review a case. The reviewers will be able to review these reports and then decide from the given options: guilty, not guilty, or insufficient evidence for either. 

Reviewers will earn an accuracy score for their efforts, and those who falsely convict will receive a lower score, eventually losing the ability to participate in Overwatch at all. 

Initially, it looks like Valve will be enabling the review system only to a small pool to gather a pool of reliable reviewers, starting next week.

Overwatch reports will now also be distinct from the communication reports. Reports for communication abuse will still be issued on the post-game screen. Earlier, the penalty for communication abuse was that a player would be barred from speaking or typing in particular games. But now, the penalty has received an alteration. Now, “communication bans will now mute deserving players by default.” So, other players can decide for themselves if they want to unmute that particular player or not. 

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The Dota 2 community will be hoping that Overwatch revolutionizes the game’s reporting system and massively reduces negative behavior and disruptive gameplay.