Banning a player from a multiplayer experience who's cheating, hacking or just being an asshole is something that has been possible in Steam games for a long time. Valve has been in charge of that system since the digital distribution platform first launched all those years ago. Now though, a new system implemented that allows developers to ban gamers from individual titles, could flip things on its head.
While this could leave some toxic gamers out in the cold, it does mean developers can cater to specific community needs for their individual titles. Where the nuances of such a game may be missed on Valve, the developer should have a firm grasp of what specific management its game requires, and now it can do that itself.
The system works by the developer giving Valve a heads up that a player is being disruptive and then Valve makes the ban. However, if they have a problem with the decision made, players will be directed to the developer themselves rather than Valve, which should remove a lot of administrative busywork from Valve.
The question is, will smaller developers be able to handle such support tickets themselves? Especially smaller ones which suddenly take off and sell thousands of copies?
Image source: Gobi
