MOBA players are extremely familiar with the term ‘GG EZ’ which is more of an insult than good sportsmanship.
Blizzard has introduced a new feature in Overwatch to change the phrase so as to turn the tide against those who trash talk.
While you can’t actually consider gg or ez as trash talk, it is usually used by those who win the game to annoy the losers. It stands for good game and easy to win simply to provoke those who have lost it. The context leads to more obscene words in the chat window as annoyed players try to comeback with their full rage. Games like Dota 2 and League of Legends are known for its extremely toxic community.
Players have very little patience in these games and as soon as you make your first mistake, you will be termed a noob. Both teammates and sometimes enemy team will start abusing you for no reason. If nothing happens, the end of the game with ggez will provoke those who have badly lost the match.
When the phrases are typed in Overwatch, the game automatically changes into something else. Some phrases are, “well player, I salute you all” “I feel very very small…please hold me” “I am wrestling with some insecurity issues in my life but thanks for playing with me.” These are just some samples and there are many such insults incorporated by the developers at Blizzard. It is unclear whether they are trying to be harsh against their own gamers by using such provoking lines. They may also be trying to put an end to trash talk permanently and discourage people from doing so.
The only phrases that are monitored and rephrased are ggez and gg ez. However, something like get rekt or other obscene words are left unharmed by Overwatch. The team could be testing wasters by introducing new lines whenever an insult is thrown at the opposite team. If it goes well, they might start banning all the popular trash talk words and try to replace them with some lines that they feel best fits the scenario.
The text filter is still in its beta stage. It is not confirmed whether Blizzard is planning to introduce it in the final Overwatch patch. If they do so, it might annoy a lot of gamers but is good news for everyone else who often find themselves in a losing streak and being bullied for lack of skills.