Marvel Rivals Issues Apology for Unfair Bans; Players Advocate for Rank-Inclusive Character Bans
NetEase, the developer of Marvel Rivals, recently issued a public apology for mistakenly banning numerous innocent players. The mass ban, intended to target cheaters, incorrectly flagged a significant number of non-Windows users employing compatibility layers like those used on macOS, Linux systems, and the Steam Deck.
The incident, which occurred on January 3rd, saw players utilizing compatibility software mistakenly identified as cheaters. NetEase swiftly addressed the issue, lifting the bans and expressing remorse for the inconvenience. They encouraged players to report genuine cheating behavior and offered an appeal process for wrongful bans. The reliance on compatibility layers, particularly Proton for SteamOS, has historically triggered false positives in anti-cheat systems.
Separately, a community debate has emerged regarding the game's character ban system. Currently, this feature, allowing players to remove specific characters from selection, is only available at Diamond rank and above. This limitation has sparked frustration among lower-ranked players, who argue that the ban system should be implemented across all ranks. Players believe this would provide valuable learning opportunities for newer players, encourage more diverse team compositions, and create a more balanced competitive environment.
Reddit discussions highlight the sentiment, with players expressing concerns about imbalanced matchups and the lack of strategic depth at lower ranks. While NetEase hasn't yet responded to these concerns, the demand for a rank-inclusive character ban system appears to be gaining momentum within the Marvel Rivals community.
