Overwatch Removes "Avoid this Player" Feature

Overwatch is a game designed, top from bottom, with an emphasis on fun. From the way it keeps track of points to the way it punishes cheaters, the game is loaded with features to reduce frustration, toxicity, and foster a fun, positive environment. However, one of those tools, the "Avoid this player" feature, which lets you avoid playing with anyone you'd really rather not, has just been disabled by Blizzard... pretty much for the exact reason you're thinking.

"One of the best Widowmaker players in the world complained to us about long queue times. We looked into it and found that hundreds of other players had avoided him (he’s a nice guy – they avoided him because they did not want to play against him, not because of misbehavior). The end result was that it took him an extremely long time to find a match. The worst part was, by the time he finally got a match, he had been waiting so long that the system had “opened up” to lower skill players. Now one of the best Widowmaker players was facing off against players at a lower skill level. As a result, we’ve disabled the Avoid system (the UI will go away in an upcoming patch). The system was designed with the best intent. But the results were pretty disastrous."

So, now, the feature is being removed, just because one guy was so good he wasn't fun to play against. That's... actually hard to fault either party for, so, we'll have to chalk it up to a tragedy for both parties, and only one gets the satisfaction of a happy ending. So... prepare for that, high tier players: a seriously skilled Widowmaker is coming back into the fray and there's nothing you can do to stop him, short of gitting gud.

Still, it's sad that we're losing a powerful tool in the war against trolls due to misapplication. Hopefully this proves to be the exception, and not the rule...