Blizzard has named and shamed 18,188 banned Overwatch players in South Korea.

As part of the company’s wider efforts against toxicity, Blizzard has been compiling a list of players banned for inappropriate behaviour - from chat abuse to deliberately throwing matches - on its South Korean Overwatch forums. 

As Dot Esports stated, this isn’t a new list. Blizzard South Korea regularly posts lists of suspended accounts after each competitive season. What’s remarkable is the sheer scale this time around, with the hitlist spanning three posts thanks to the site’s character limit.

This practice isn’t common across other Overwatch regions. But in South Korea, penalties for poor behaviour in online gaming are far harsher. “Boosting” multiplayer game accounts, for example, now carries a significant fine and prison sentence.

Overwatch has been in a constant fight to curb toxic behaviour, from pick-up casual games to League-level play. Blizzard introduced endorsements as a way to incentivise good behaviour earlier this year.

One month later, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan claimed this system had already reduced toxic chat by up to 26 per cent.