Dragon Ball FighterZ Rage Quitters Are In For A World Of Pain With New Update

Bandai Namco, the developers behind the popular fighting game, Dragon Ball FighterZ, released an in-game statement, laying out some pretty harsh punishment for rage quitters. Rage quitting is when players deliberately disconnect from a fight when they are in danger of losing. This is a common occurrence in many online matches, and it is a pretty annoying situation for many players.

In an in-game statement released on Monday, Bandai Namco stated that rage quitters would be restricted from online lobbies for up to a week, and if the behavior is found to be consistent, the restrictions may become permanent.

So, a player found to be repeatedly disconnecting from matches might find themselves unable to access online matches.

This was a welcome bit of news as rage quitting was a pretty big problem in Dragon Ball FighterZ, and even though this update has come pretty late (DBZ FighterZ is over two years old), it is still an essential improvement to the game.

Why do people rage quit?

Rage quitting is not a new problem in the Dragon Ball or broader online gaming community as it is a behavior that has plagued many of the most popular titles. As mentioned above, rage quitters can be described as players who deliberately disconnect from a game for fear of losing something. Is there a psychology behind it? Well, yes, as losing generally comes with some sort of penalty, and players are generally keen to avoid suffering a loss. For instance, most fighting games have a ranking system that sees winners gain a higher rank, while losers are demoted. Therefore, quitting the game deliberately is one way to avoid losing points.

Also, players who are great offline and can easily brush off their friends in a game find the idea of online gaming pretty daunting. For example, I thought I was a pretty decent Street Fighter IV player until I tried the online mode, where I promptly had my ass handed to me. To be fair, I didn't quit the game in a huff, but I did learn a great deal of humility. However, this isn't the same for everyone, as some others will prefer to blame other factors (lag, a broken meta, faulty controllers, and so on) for their loss.

Is punishment the solution?

Punishing players who deliberately quit matches is the most popular means of reducing the incidence of rage quitting, but how effective is it? Street Fighter V had an interesting means to prohibit players who rage quit with 24-hour lockouts and even public shaming. This has proven quite effective, but is there more game developers can do? Is there a way to stop players from indulging in this act without punishment? That's difficult as while games can introduce a few things, like encouraging messages to make rage quitting unattractive, the onus is on the player to clean up their act.

How do you stop rage quitting?

There's no sure answer to this question, but it is important to admit that quitting so casually is a problem. Once you can do that, then perhaps seek help or take a break from the game to move to a better mental headspace.

It will be interesting to observe how the new rules change the Dragon Ball FighterZ experience.