u/Sharkkbaitttttttt

I know the title probably sounds kind of ridiculous, but here’s the situation.

I think I played reasonably well. Meanwhile, there were some people on my team who played unbelievably badly. One of them even flamed me.

So now I can’t bring myself to open the replay and look for my own mistakes, because I feel like it’s just going to stress me out even more. It feels like I’m somehow letting them win.

Like:

“You guys played like that**, blamed everyone else, said ‘dps diff! GG next game lol,’ and you’re probably going to turn your brains off and do the exact same thing next game. So why am "I the one who has to sit here looking for my mistakes and blaming myself?”

I know that probably sounds a little weird. Someone please talk some sense into me. lol

https://preview.redd.it/oyfsjowisakh1.png?width=416&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cbac32600ec5fe270cf5df56bc927311aed8228

https://preview.redd.it/63z2whfssakh1.png?width=406&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef6b7121f83126ab01a07dac0e0d74732b6b96fa

As some of you may already know, the Korean server is now separated from the global servers and is being operated through a publishing partnership between Blizzard and Nexon. This change happened about a week ago, so obviously, it’s still too early to expect any meaningful differences yet.

However, places like YouTube and DCinside (one of the largest online communities in Korea) are being flooded with comments like these, all receiving huge numbers of upvotes:

“Nexon’s server is seriously the best. There’s absolutely no toxic behavior. I’ve been playing all day today.”

“There are no cheaters, no toxic chat, and no trolls.”

“Anyone who plays on the global servers is a fucking idiot lol.”

“They must be toxic players who are too scared of Nexon’s amazing server management to come to the Nexon server.”

These are claims that hardly anyone would realistically agree with, yet there are tons of comments like this with huge numbers of upvotes.

The servers have already gone down three times in just one week, and toxic players who constantly swear at others are still playing without any consequences. According to players’ reports, not a single one of them has been suspended so far.

The screenshots I brought are just the tip of the iceberg.

They’re also trying to create this narrative that anyone who plays on the global servers is an idiot. Isn’t that basically racist?

And this company is already notorious for trying to dominate or manipulate online communities surrounding its other games in similar ways. But Overwatch is only a game they’re publishing. If they do things like this, they’re damaging Overwatch’s reputation as well.

Of course, I understand that they’ve invested a lot of money into this project, including hiring famous actors and producing advertisements.

But this isn’t the way to do it. Shouldn’t they just let players make their own decisions?

It’s genuinely so annoying. Sometimes you get really bad players in ranked, and that’s fine. It’s just a game.

Earlier, I had an Anran who kept charging in and dying over and over again. He ended up with 18 deaths, but I didn’t say anything. There was a cheater on the enemy team, and I just figured he was probably a new player. Overwatch tends to place new players pretty high anyway.

Then, right before we lost, that Anran started flaming me, saying he had more damage than I did.

Yeah dumbass. Of course you have more damage when all you do is charge in, fight, die, and repeat.

It seriously pisses me off. I kept my mouth shut because I was trying to be nice.

You don’t even know how to play the game, you can’t even tell that the enemy is cheating, so why is blaming your teammates the first thing you learned?

Then the other players started blaming each other in chat too — specifically, the two players who were the worst after that guy.

The only person who actually played well, our Zenyatta, was also the only one saying anything reasonable. He just said, “That guy is cheating. Let’s report him,” and otherwise stayed quiet.

Seriously, why are people like this??

You don’t even know how to play the game. You can’t even recognize when an enemy is a cheater or a smurf... You guys played terribly.

Please, for the love of God, watch your own gameplay in the replay just once, from both first-person and third-person perspectives!!

At this point, maybe I should just start calling people like this out too. It genuinely feels like a slap in the face, and it’s so damn irritating.

There definitely seems to be a cultural difference between the Korean and NA communities.

Every now and then, you see posts on this subreddit starting with, “I’m Korean, and...” Well, yeah, I’m Korean too lol.

I do think the way people approach the game is a little different. Korean players tend to view the game in a much more... competitive way. They’re also far less forgiving toward bad players. Over here, even Champion players will openly call their teammates “trash.” NA seems to place much more value on sportsmanship.

The attitude toward supports also seems pretty different. In NA, supports often seem to be viewed as “those wonderful people who sacrifice themselves to keep the rest of us alive.”

Korea is nothing like that... The stereotype here is more like, “healbots who can’t do anything themselves and just whine from the backline.” You’ll occasionally hear s€xist comments mixed into that too. To be honest, I’m not particularly fond of support players myself... Like someone else here mentioned, there really are a lot of them who die way too easily. 😭 (Though I definitely don’t like tying that to s€xism. My girlfriend is better at the game than I am lol.)

There also seems to be a difference in how people approach the meta.

Even low-ranked Korean players tend to follow the meta. Why? Because they’re smarter? No... It’s because they really don’t want to look like “some idiot who doesn’t know anything.”

NA feels much more flexible about that. Even if someone says it’s a skill issue, there seems to be much stronger community sentiment that heroes like Sierra or Roadhog are simply OP.

Hmm... I guess what I’m aiming for is to enjoy the game and treat people with good sportsmanship like NA players, while taking the actual gameplay as seriously as Korean players do.

Without the toxicity.

I started playing this game in February and jumped into Competitive in March, climbing all the way from Bronze 4. I play almost exclusively flankers, especially Reaper.

I barely had time to play during Season 3 (I don't think I even put 10 hours into Overwatch... 😅), so I'm really happy that my playstyle is still working against Platinum players.

Here are the things I focused on while climbing:

> 1. I play KovaaK's whenever I have free time.

At my rank, the quality of matches is all over the place, so it often feels like raw aim can carry you a long way.

> 2. I played CS2 to improve my fundamental FPS skills.

This was huge for me. Better positioning and mechanics meant I relied much less on my teammates' healing and cooldowns.

> 3. I studied flank timing.

I watched a paid coaching video from the current #1 Reaper player (also #1 in Korea) and took notes on when to flank. I'd love to share what I learned, but I paid for the course, so I don't really want to post its contents. (Sorry. 😂 I'm being a bit selfish.)

> 4. I realized that pressuring the enemy supports is often the key to winning—but I also have a little trick.

From my experience, support players using certain types of player icons or profile banners tend to be much weaker. So before the match starts, I check the enemy supports' profiles. If I get the impression they're inexperienced, I'll play much more aggressively on flanks. If I realize my read was wrong, I immediately adjust and go back to playing normally.

If my read is correct—which, more often than not, it seems to be—I can practically dismantle the entire enemy team. Once the supports are unable to do their job, the enemy team's overall sustain falls apart.

Anyway, I'm happy I reached my goal.

I doubt I'll stay in Platinum next season though. xD

I think I need to improve my fundamentals a lot more.

Honestly, I feel like climbing through the metal ranks is mostly about having solid mechanics and taking advantage of the weakest players whenever the opportunity presents itself.

By the way, I'm Korean... so next season I'll have to decide whether to keep playing on the Korean servers or switch to overseas servers.

I'm not talking about the usual "Why aren't you healing me?!" kind of whining. I mean players who make completely nonsensical decisions and end up throwing the game. A lot of them have extremely poor awareness, weak aim, little understanding of matchups (For example, they'll ban D.Va or Doomfist while intending to play Mizuki. When I see that, it's the kind of thing that makes me feel we've already lost before the draft is even over.) , and they hold onto their ultimates forever. Compared to tanks and DPS players, I run into these kinds of players much more often on support.

More specifically, it feels like many of them aren't actually trying to play aggressively to win. They just enjoy healing other people and that's their main goal.

Does this problem go away once you climb to a much higher rank? I don't understand why they seem noticeably weaker despite being in the same rank as everyone else.

Sometimes I wonder, "How did this person even die?" So I watch the replay from their POV, and it's usually so bad that there's nothing left to say. Most of the time, those players are supports.

(I'm not trying to point fingers. I'm just wondering if anyone else agrees with this observation, or knows why it might be the case. For what it's worth, most people in the Asian community seem to agree with this theory.)

What do you all think about toxicity in video games?

I'm asking because I'm curious whether anyone else feels the same way I do.

First of all, I don't treat other people rudely in games. I play games to have fun, and of course, sometimes you're going to lose.

That said... I can't say I completely fail to understand why some people get toxic. If you're trying your best to win and you feel like your teammates are getting in the way, it's natural to get frustrated.

And when you add the anonymity of online games into the mix, I think it's understandable that people can be a little rude from time to time.

I don't necessarily think that makes them terrible people or that they're committing some unforgivable offense.

My attitude is more like:

"Well, it's an online game. People are going to complain in chat sometimes. As long as I don't do it and I enjoy the game, that's what matters."

After more than ten years of playing online games, that's the conclusion I've ultimately come to.

What do you all think?

I haven't been playing Overwatch for very long, and I'm genuinely wondering why there are so many people like this. I mostly play flankers, yet I've had countless people flame me with, "Your damage is lower than mine."

Is the biggest thought their brains are capable of processing really just, "This number is bigger than that number"?

Seriously, if someone told me, "You overextended and that's why we lost," or "Your positioning was bad," or "You absolutely had to kill the Kiriko there," I'd understand. I'd even go back and review the replay to see if they're right.

But what's with obsessing over damage numbers? God, it's so frustrating. Why are there so many people who are both rude and incapable of thinking beyond a single stat?

I think I'm just going to disable chat and play the game.

(use Ai translate)

I'm Korean, and I play on multiple servers. I recently looked at my win rates:

Korea: 7W–2L

Taiwan (including Chinese players): 6W–3L

North America: 5W–1L

Japan: 1W–5L

(I've been putting a lot of time into practicing lately, so my win rate is currently pretty high for someone at my rank.)

You can definitely see the difference, right? I almost exclusively play flankers, especially Reaper.

(I agree the sample size is small, but I'm also taking my overall experience into account.)

Japan's extremely defensive playstyle just doesn't seem to mesh well with my more aggressive Korean playstyle.

Of course, after spending some time browsing Japanese Overwatch communities, I think I understand why they play this way.

It seems that many of them see dying more than their teammates as "causing trouble for others." In a way, that's a bit unfortunate.

Maybe it's ironic coming from a Korean, but... at the end of the day, it's just a game. I think it's okay to play a little more aggressively and make mistakes sometimes.

Guys, your ancestors ruled over us a century ago. Show some confidence!

Personally, I have the most fun—and feel the most challenged—when playing with Korea, Taiwanese and Chinese players.

Anyway, When I watch them, I sometimes think, "What are you guys doing back there? Just watching?"

They probably look at me and think, "Stop going in by yourself!"

Of course, Japanese players have their own strengths. I don't think they're lacking in raw skill. If they were, my win rate on the Japanese server would probably be much higher.

So, in the end, I think the compatibility between my own playstyle, my teammates, and even the overall server culture might matter more than I initially realized.

​

I started playing the game in February this year and began Competitive in March. In Season 1, I climbed from Bronze to Silver. In Season 2, I went from Silver to Gold. So naturally, my goal for Season 3 was to reach Platinum from Gold.

The problem is that I've been busy studying, so I haven't had much time to play. I've already figured out what I need to practice, and I'm pretty confident that if I keep putting in the time, I'll eventually reach Platinum. The issue is that there are only about 10 days left in Season 3.

The frustrating part is that whenever I set a goal like this, I get really stressed if I don't achieve it—even if it's something as trivial as a video game. Ironically, having this goal has started to make the game less enjoyable instead of more fun.

The funniest part was when Jean Grey, the main villain, possessed the Punisher and then said, "Wow... this guy's mental state is seriously messed up."

Just what kind of character is this guy for even Jean Grey to say something like that? 😂

Where are the people who genuinely just enjoy the game?

You know what people always say:

"Relax. It's just a game."

"Go touch some grass."

Yeah, those statements are fair enough.

But here's what confuses me. As far as I know, over 85% of Overwatch's ranked player base is somewhere between Bronze and Platinum Yet whenever I actually play in the metal ranks, it feels like there's someone blaming their teammates and starting an argument in almost every match.

So what's going on?

I've come up with a few theories:

1.People flame their teammates in chat, but they don't actually take the game that seriously. They're just talking trash because it's a game, and deep down they still think, "It's just a game."

2. Even if only one or two people out of ten are being toxic, they make the entire match feel miserable for everyone else, creating the illusion that everyone's like that.

3. The reality is that far more people are playing Quick Play than Competitive.

...

Hmm... I don't think I'm going to be able to fall asleep tonight.

This philosophical question is going to keep me awake. 🤔🤔🤔

The toxic chat doesn't really bother me. I'm Korean, and I've been playing League of Legends for about ten years since I was a teenager.

Trash talk doesn't get to me anymore.

Honestly, the Japanese server is a bit stressful for me. People are quiet, which is nice, but their playstyle just doesn't seem to fit the way I like to play.

If it weren't for the ping, I'd probably play on the North American or European servers instead.

​

I'm Korean and mostly play on the Asian servers, and these players drive me crazy.

Honestly, I don't really care about ordinary trash talk. It's an online game, after all.

What really annoys me is when people queue as a stack and start flaming everyone *except* their own group.

Seriously, I've lost count of how many times I've seen people blame random teammates just to defend their friend who was clearly playing terribly.

Korea – Extremely competitive overall. Players tend to follow the meta closely, and the community can be quite toxic. The playstyle is very aggressive, with comparatively less emphasis on team coordination.

Japan – The most defensive server I've played on. It often feels like everyone is trying to avoid being the one who gets blamed. Solo plays, risky flanks, and hard-carry attempts are rare, and players generally value playing safely. They're also extremely quiet in chat. Even when someone openly blames them, most of the time they don't respond at all.

China & Taiwan – Imagine taking the Korean server and stripping away even more of the teamwork while investing everything into individual mechanics. Team coordination is minimal, but the average mechanical skill is probably the highest of any region, especially in the lower ranks. The chat is, in my experience, even more toxic than Korea.

North America – Overall, the atmosphere is very relaxed. Competitive often feels less like a serious ranked mode and more like people hanging out at an amusement park. Probably because of the influence of games like Counter-Strike, the average FPS fundamentals are surprisingly solid. However, I'd say players here are the weakest at adapting to the meta. On the other hand, the chat is by far the friendliest.

Europe – The most balanced server overall. Players strike a good balance between teamwork and individual skill, and I'd say it's the region that plays Overwatch in the most textbook way. The chat is more toxic than NA, but noticeably friendlier than Korea or China.