Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan is arguably one of the most beloved game directors currently in the field. Kaplan constantly makes time for the community, whether it be update videos, addressing player feedback, and regularly posting on the Overwatch forums. Needless to say, Kaplan is never too far from both the Blizzard first-person shooter and the game’s player base. He also happens to be a human being, a fact that was very much on display recently when he replied to a thread someone by the name of ‘SharkyMarky’ made on the forums, where the Overwatch troll questioned whether or not Blizzard even plays their own game. Kaplan responded with the following before the thread was closed:

We play the game a lot.  Looking at your profile, I’ve won approximately 800 more games than you have.  That’s not counting the daily internal playtests I am in, the time I spent in Alpha and Beta.  Did you have a specific question or are you just here trolling?”

Kaplan’s words must have reached the Overwatch troll, as soon after, SharkyMarky reached out to Blizzard customer support in order to ask that an apology be passed along to the director, along with why he was upset in the first place (Widowmaker). The support member took things from there, and about an hour later, Jeff Kaplan emailed SharkyMarky back with an apology for calling the user out so publicly, and thanking him for his feedback on Widowmaker. Kaplan also provided some understandable reasoning for why he was upset:

We get tons of feedback each day that we both agree and disagree with, and we love hearing it.  But it’s super demoralizing to us to simply get insulted.  To imply that we don’t play our game or that we don’t love our game is just straight up false.”

Having come to a mutual understanding, Kaplan thanked the player with a year’s subscription to World of Warcraft, suggesting that if the player did not have a use for it, to pass it along to someone else within the community. The director also went ahead and gave the player access to the exclusive Widowmaker ‘Noire’ skin, which is only available for those that pre-ordered Overwatch before the game’s release last year. What started out as a rather vitriolic exchange on the forums ended up as a reminder that the people behind some of our favorite video games are, in fact, people. Kaplan’s willingness to reply directly to the user’s followup message is a perfect example of this, and it proves once more why the Overwatch community loves him as much as they do.

So, what are your thoughts on Kaplan’s exchange with the Overwatch troll? What would you have done in his place? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to DFTG for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!