What Is Boosting in 'Overwatch': Avoid major in-game penalties by not engaging in these tactics
If you're the kind of person who's willing to cut corners to get your Overwatch skill rating up — watch out. Because Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan is coming for you.
In a post on the Overwatch forums, Kaplan wrote that the penalties for boosting and throwing, two naughty behaviors that have become increasingly problematic, "are about to increase dramatically."
Of course, since everyone who reads Mic is a very well-behaved Overwatch player — right, guys? — you probably don't even know what boosting or throwing even means. We're here to clear it up so you can stay out of trouble.
Overwatch: What is boosting?
Boosting describes an exploit in which someone pays money for another, highly skilled player to win games on their behalf.
If you sign up for one of these services online, someone will play on your account for you and win a certain number of games, get your account up to a specific skill rating or earn a certain number of loot boxes from leveling up. After they meet the parameters you set, they hand the keys back to you.
The only real benefit to using one of these services is that it guarantees you'll get a big batch of competitive points at the end of the season that you can put toward golden weapons — but using them will get you in deep trouble.
Overwatch: What is throwing?
Throwing is a term that describes someone who intentionally ruins a match out of spite.
For example, if someone is dissatisfied with their team, they might just stand in a corner the whole match and not contribute. Sometimes throwers will take a more active role in ruining a match, like playing as Symmetra and placing a teleporter on the edge of a cliff, sending their teammates to their deaths.
No matter the reasoning or the method, this is another thing that'll get you into increasing amounts of trouble in the near future.
In order to combat these behaviors, Kaplan encouraged players to continue using the reporting function — though there's some doubt whether the tool is that effective at the moment — and noted that this function is still in development for PS4 and Xbox One players.
More Overwatch news and updates
For more on Overwatch, check out the rest of what Mic has to offer. Here is an intro to the cute, new “Wholesome Overwatch” subreddit, a look at some gorgeous Overwatch-themed PS4 and Xbox One controllers, a cool Easter Egg in the new Horizon Lunar Colony map and a criticism of Blizzard’s failures in its design of Symmetra.
