Short Opinion Piece: Thank you, Jeff Kaplan

So, I don’t normally do quick short entries, but this makes me so happy to see and stuff for so many reasons.

I’ll say something even more controversial. I wish we would’ve never added any cosmetic items to Competitive. I think the people playing Competitive should only be there because they really care about playing in Competitive mode, and they want to rise through the tiers – that’s who I think belongs in Competitive.

I don’t think we should overly incentivize players because of cosmetic rewards into the system any more than we already have to the point where if we could do the Men In Black thing and make everybody forget and we would come out with Overwatch again and literally wouldn’t add any cosmetic rewards to the system, so it’s tricky because we get asked the question a lot.

Now, that doesn’t mean that all the cool stuff that we have ideas for couldn’t be given out to players in other ways, so it’s not like we’re just not going to make it, like “Haha we’re taking out football and game over” – it’s more that I would love to give it out in a way where it doesn’t encourage players to be in Competitive mode who don’t want to be there. I think it really takes a really special mindset to be in Competitive, and I think a lot of the problems that we see are players who really don’t want to, or belong there, spending more time than they should there.

—Quoted from part of the many interviews recently that Jeff Kaplan did. This was specifically quoted r/Overwatch.

And just. This is something I’ve been saying for so long with most things and it’s why stuff like this absolutely kills me. Whether it be Pokemon’s various “end-game” stuff that locks BP and Ribbons behind forcing you to use certain Pokemon with certain move sets to having to grind in Overwatch for a golden weapon and/or Spray/Icon (Season 4’s are my favorites thus far…).

Most people who do those modes are doing it specifically for that. The rewards are bonuses. And the only people it ends up effecting are often the people who don’t want to be playing those modes in the first place.

I wish they could change it, but it’s obviously too late now. But ugh, just seeing someone say it gives me hope maybe this could stop happening in the future. It’s just nice to know someone gets it.

I don’t know if I’ll ever, personally, manage to get a Gold Weapon for Mercy. Competitive just gets too toxic for me to feel comfortable in and even if I often do well, I never end up having fun. And if you’re not having fun, what’s the point?