A few days after Rocket League developer Psyonix released the new Rumble mode to the public and introduced players on the MacOS and Linux to soccer with rocket-powered cars, the developer has announced new player behavior guidelines that are supposed to make the game a nicer experience for everyone involved. This news comes from a developer update on the Steam community page for Rocket League:
We don’t like toxic players and neither does our community. If someone out there targets you with abusive language, makes threats, or does any of the other bad things we’ve listed in our EULA or Terms of Service, then it’s a bannable offense. We aren’t going to ban someone for using a Quick Chat sarcastically, but using racist, sexist, or otherwise hateful language is grounds for a ban.
Some of the things that may get you banned are things like harassing other players via the in-game chat, intentional disruption of the game (by going AFK, amongst other things) and using smurf accounts and opponent collusion. Psyonix mentions that the length of each ban depends on the severity of the crime. Do remember to report players that are breaking the rules!
The recent introduction of Crates (which contain cosmetic items like toppers and animated decals which can be traded with other players) and Keys (which you can buy with real money and are used to open the aforementioned crates) to the game led some players to queue for a match only to then go AFK just so they can get a crate or a key at the end of the match. This falls under "unsportsmanlike conduct" and might get you banned.
Players are also not allowed to trade these in-game items for real money and doing so might (you guessed it!) get you banned as well. This is pretty different to the crates in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which actively encourages you to trade skins for real money on Steam's marketplace.
Quick Take
It's always a good thing when a developer implements stricter rules to prevent player harassment. Rocket League is a very tense game and it's very easy to get swept up in the moment, but it's another thing entirely to vent your frustration on other players by harassing them. Just be nice to each other, eh?
