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I had an amazingly wholesome experience in Overwatch last night and I wanted to share it with you guys. It's a bit longer than your average story, so hang tight.
I've played Overwatch since a few months after release, and since then, I have logged thousands of hours - both in quickplay and in competitive. Last night appeared to be just another evening of hanging out with some friends in QP. I was in a 6-stack with some high elo players, and we were just hanging out and having fun.
We end up going against another 6-stack and totally obliterating them. We were using Ults in their spawn door, doing trick plays, styling on them and laughing. It was such a one-sided affair that I started to feel guilty so I decided to check the SR of the opposition. Yikes. There was about a ~2,500 SR difference between our stack and theirs.
I informed my friends that it wasn't funny anymore, that the matchmaking system was ruining the game for other people, and we should reconsider our disposition. The enemy 6-stack stayed in the lobby and my friends and I decided to stay but play with a handicap in order to give the lower-ranked stack a fighting chance.
They never left. We just kept playing them. We made sure to endorse everyone, we voted their player cards up to legendary. We did 6 DPS with everyone on my team being forced to play a hero they're uncomfortable on (no mains). We did 6 tanks. We did 6 supports with a rule that we're not allowed to heal each other. We did a match where only half of our team would attack at a time, while the other half had to wait for the first half to die before engaging. Each time, we brutalized the enemy team, but always pulled our punches to keep the games relatively even, and we always let them claim the victory in the end. We did everything we could to push them to the limit and give them a fighting chance. They made swaps, combo'd ultimates, and we could see they were definitely strategizing and trying their best. It was beautiful.
After about an hour, a couple of us received messages from them. The one I received read something like this: "You guys are a great team. It has been fun and challenging af, we're having a great time." My heart melted. So many people are so toxic, so insecure, and so dead set on playing to win that they *completely forget* to have fun, and that it is, entirely possible, to have fun while losing.
We immediately invited them to play customs with us, offering to split up the teams to have half of our players and half of their players, therefore balancing out the SR disparity. The response I received was that not everyone in their group speaks English so it may not work. We replied that we have two Spanish speakers and would be happy to translate if needed. They joined. We played. It was so awesome.
We split our teams up fairly, switching the who's-who between games but never stacking either team. Us, as the higher elo players, told them to play their best heroes and we would fill to support them. Over the course of a single night, we got to see them improve. We helped with positioning, strategies, and (sometimes) hero picks, and we did everything we could to enable them and explain win/loss conditions and general teamwork. Every game, win or loss, they would ask "how can we be better?" All the while, our Spanish-speaking team captains are translating all of the big stuff and more complex ideas. They were open to feedback, excited to play with us, laughing, and overall having an excellent time. And so were we!
I didn't gain any SR, I didn't secure another T500 player on my friend's list (although the list did grow), I didn't unlock any new achievements, I didn't get any insane player cards, I didn't get any Reddit-worthy POTGs. My friends and I just played some Overwatch custom games with some strangers -- transcending a massive skill gap, and a language barrier -- to enjoy some of the most rewarding, wholesome, and enjoyable Overwatch I've had the luxury of experiencing in my thousands of hours played. It was fantastic, and surreal, and a breath of fresh air that I, personally, very much needed.
Thanks for reaching out to us, eusoumiau and all of your friends, if you browse Reddit. Thank you for being kind, open-minded, and playing the game for fun -- and for reminding me to do the same.
- Fec (HCxPerfection)
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