Bungie Has Started Banning "Toxic" Destiny Players

Despite the fact it didn’t quite live up to the insane amount of hype, Destiny has certainly found an audience, and over six months since it was released, plenty of gamers are still shooting space wizards and going on adventures with the Dinklebot.

Bungie has greatly supported the game since it was released, and this week the game will receive another update that will make a few minor tweaks to help improve the overall experience. Bungie have been diligent when it comes to providing a good Destiny experience and User Research Lead, John Hopson has in the latest Bungie Weekly Update that Bungie will now be banning “toxic” players. Hopson explained:

“In Destiny’s community, the efforts of a dedicated player can have a huge impact on the experience of hundreds or thousands of other players. Most of the time, this is awesome. When someone is willing to put in the time as a Raid sherpa, a clan leader, or a forum moderator, we all benefit and Destiny comes a little bit closer to its potential as a shared world.”

However, Hopson noted the fact that not everyone in Destiny is playing nice.

“It’s become clear that a small number of the worst idlers are responsible for damaging the experiences of thousands of other players. One player not contributing in an activity might seem like a small thing, but it can make a Weekly Heroic Strike unbeatable or make a Crucible match unwinnable. Those little bits of damage to the experiences other players adds up over time.”

To address this issue, Bungie plans to restrict toxic players from matchmaking. These players won’t be banned outright, and the restrictions will be temporary and only apply to the activities in which they were excessively idle. However, if these players don’t clean up their act, Bungie won’t be afraid to ban them.

“If the affected players keep up this behavior after the restrictions lapse, we will apply stronger and (eventually) permanent restrictions on their accounts,” said Hopson.

This system won’t be excessively harsh. Players who occasionally put down their controller to answer the phone or go to the bathroom needn’t worry. The ban will only apply to players who have really gone out of their way to repeatedly cheat their teammates explained Hopson.

[Source: Bungie weekly update]