A few minutes ago I looked in on a PVP match because I was thinking about playing one myself, and was curious what the maps are like right now. I thought I could quietly duck in, take a look, and duck out again without being disruptive. Instead, the following occurred, with names redacted. Player 1 says: you better fing stay Player 2 says: hm? Player 2 says: why would i leave? Player 1 says: Oh sorry, I mean hwango Player 2 says: oh hwango says: ...is it a problem if I go? I thought i was only spectating? Player 1 says: It would be more polite to stay for the whole match Player 1 says: Then to just go in and out without a word Player 2 says: you wont get any loot if you leave! you wont get any if you stay either though hwango says: ok...I just wanted to see what the maps looked like these days. Player 1 says: Well for the purpose of spectating, it's annoying just seeing people leave 1/3 of the way thoruhg Player 2 says: almost every match 1-3 guys join and leave again Player 1 says: Then just play a couple games Player 1 says: I just wish peple would make up their minds T_T I was astonished by this. I thought silently sitting there or not sitting there would be the polite thing to do. Do a lot of people hate it when others come and go out of your match? Does it really happen that often? Is it a problem if it does? I would have expected it to be more annoying if I started randomly chattering away. Either way, I gotta say Player 1's attitude towards me soured me on the idea of playing, and I decided I didn't really feel like trying for that gold chest after all.
When I first started getting spectated, it bothered me, but I got used to it. The higher your rating, the more you get watched. 1500s, you might have someone stop by. 1600s, it's a coin flip. 1700s, one to four spectators is pretty common. 1800s, it's a veritable party and I wish I could charge admission! In general spectating is a feature in the game and if you want to watch you should be allowed. I personally don't even mind spectator chatter at this point, but spectators probably should try to be respectful of players wishes when it comes to that. The one thing I do not like is spectators commenting on my build (even in question form) or potential situations in the match (ex: "Oh he moved into Nimble Strike range"), as that can help an opponent if they hadn't noticed or thought about it. To your particular situation, I've jumped into a match to look at a map before, and I've also accidentally clicked on a match that I didn't want to watch and left again immediately. The latter especially happens regularly, so I wouldn't worry too much about coming and going as you please as long as you're not repeatedly jumping in and out of the same match.
The reason some people don't like spectators is because every time you enter or leave a match, it causes their chat tab to flash, and there's no way for them to tell if it's a spectator or their opponent talking until they click on it. There have been a few suggestions for the option to mute spectators.
And I'll reiterate that suggestion here. A ranked game should be between 2 and only 2 players. Outside coaching should not be allowed, and the enter/exit messages can be a distraction. This should apply to league games as well.
Depending on your chat audio options, and if you have your sound on, there is a sound when someone comments in chat, but not when they enter the room. So you can actually differentiate between a spectator joining and a comment being written in chat.
I suppose from the other side of this I have seen the little chat alarm flicker and not known if it was my opponent or someone entering or leaving, and it can be a little distracting. But this person seemed to think it would more polite for me to say something, which seems like it would so much more distracting. I've had spectators chat with my opponent, which I thought was pretty inconsiderate. Fortunately I've never had a spectator give either of us advice - that sounds particularly horrifying.
I've blocked lots of spectators for making snide comments about my builds. Also random new players from steam who stalk all my matches and clog up the chat box.
I wish I had stalkers But yea, commenting on strategies and/or decks and/or positioning during ranked or any game really is the biggest no-no in my book. I have reported people for abusive behavior for doing that before. As for checking in and out quickly, I do that on occasion when I either misclick, or a match just doesn't look interesting enough to watch (sorry, but anyone running an adventurers party is probably not going to meet my high standards). Finally, chatting with a player is personally alright, but only if (and a big only if here) IT DOES NOT DISRUPT THE GAME AND BOTH PLAYERS ARE COOL WITH IT. I've talked to people during games, but I always try to play at a normal speed while doing it. Sometimes everyone gets in on the fun and it almost becomes a timeout match from all the merry conversation, but everyone is fine with it then too. Bottom line it, be polite to the people playing the game when spectating, and honor their wishes. Finally, I don't think topic belongs in the Off-Topic section, because this kind of etiquette is extremely important. Might want to ask someone if you could move it to general chat.
