Valve Upgrade Includes Ban for Misbehaving Dota 2 Players
On Sept 18, Valve outlined some major changes to Dota 2’s important ranked matchmaking system and alongside those changes, there has also been a swathe of lengthy bans imposed for players that have previously cheated, misbehaved or been what Valve called “bad actors.”
The changes were designed to improve the quality of the ranked matchmaking system within Dota 2, which has suffered for a while from some players engaging in anti-social behavior, cheating and similar. The new rules were brought in to combat this and to serve as a deterrent to the recent increase in the number of ‘smurf’ and ‘booster’ accounts reported on the scene.
Three Factors Considered in a Ban
Essentially, there are three major factors that will contribute towards a player receiving a ban;
- Having a low behavior score
- Breaking the Terms of Service with Steam regarding purchasing and selling of accounts.
- Players that are detected using cheats and exploits to gain an advantage in gameplay over other players.
Most players seem to have been banned due to the first of these issues. In Dota 2, a players behavior score can rank from 0-10,000, with the lower the score, the worse the behavior of that player within the game.
How is Behavior Score calculated?
Issues that can affect your behavior score include being rude to teammates, refusing to play as a team or exploiting or abusing one of the elements within Dota 2 to the extent that it negatively impacts on the enjoyment of the game of others. Of course, if you do the opposite and do play as a team and play fairly, your score can be boosted upwards.
A ban isn’t automatic if your score drops low. Initially, you will be placed with other low behavior ranked players in a low priority matchmaking queue and you will only play with other players who have similar low behavior rating scores.
Beyond that though, there is a point where the most disruptive of players will be banned, alongside those that cheat, boost accounts or anybody that broke Steam’s Terms of Service.
Valve Statement
Speaking about the change and the ban, Valve released a statement reading:
“We will continue to do regular ban waves for users who fall into this small percentage of the community.
Users that reach this low level of behavior in the game are too big of a tax on the rest of the community and are not wanted.”
Bans are reported to last for 20 years on the screen, but Valve has confirmed that this is simply a way that the game can cope with issuing a ban and that, in effect, the ban is a lifetime ban.
Some players affected by the bans have already taken to social media to complain, while others that are in no danger of a ban, have been delighted to see those that undermine the Dota 2 community expunged from playing the game.
Photo Courtesy: REDDIT: VITAMIN-B6 - VALVE / YEEZYRESELLER
Since: August 10, 2015
