Blizzard is cracking down on those who use custom games to farm XP. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has addressed recent concerns that some people are abusing the new game mode to level up more quickly, saying that, “Abusing and exploiting custom game or any other game mode to earn experience in Overwatch while inactive is NOT ok.”
Kaplan stated in a post on the game’s official forums that Blizzard will take “disciplinary action against people who partake in these activities.” More specifically, “If you create a custom game that in any way encourages players to gain experience,” and that joining any game mode (including custom games) “with the intent of gaining experience while being inactive” could result in an account ban.
In fact, Kaplan even cautioned players to not even name a custom game to suggest that it will allow players to farm XP, saying this too could earn them a ban.
Blizzard is taken the issue so seriously that it has rolled out methods to combat this behavior already, since the discussion about farming grew yesterday. Skirmish in custom games no longer rewards players with XP, and an AFK timer (away from keyboard timer) has been added to custom game modes. The developer hopes that this, along with pleas for Overwatch players to report those who are misbehaving, will do the trick.