That's what I love about this game. If a team cooperates correctly, it's really a thing of beauty.

Personally It has become rare for me to hear anyone using in-game chat. Before party chat it was heavy. 360 introduced party chat and it became rare to hear anyone in-game. PS4 released with party chat and you would think people didn't know their system came with a headset. It's silent in games. You say there are many and I have to disagree, because going from getting my account on XBL suspended because kids yelling, arguments, and false reporting, to not being able to communicate with anyone in-game shows the significance of party chat and how drastic the change is.

I highly doubt Overwatch is doing anything to fix this problem. I have not found the need to speak and I'm able to do what needs to be done to help the team. It's not a super tactical game in my opinion. It's pseudo-tactical, and nothing like when we use to play Socom 2 where if you didn't communicate we voted to kick you out. I'll feel more compelled to communicate in a battlefield game or The Last of Us multiplayer.

I truly believe party chat and cross-game chat is the #1 reason. Having played these systems before those features was introduced it's very apparent. I don't think Overwatch has anything to do with anything to be honest.

"playing character roles correctly, playing to fit the game mode, or choosing characters to balance a team out"

I agree Overwatch helps here because it blatantly tells you your team is balance or isn't. Still if you get a bunch of people who all know each other and are in party chat together, they can all pick the same character and destroy your team despite the game saying the team is unbalanced. #1 way to win in games is communication and it's why most of the time parties will beat a group of randomly put together people. Overwatch is getting too much credit from gamers lately. Like it's changing the landscape or something and it's just not.

I personally think the more popular a game becomes, and the more it goes mainstream, the more likely it is you're going to run across the types of people you talk about.

Party chat will certainly have a different vibe than a public chat, because people don't behave in public chat like they actually would in public, and instead use it to just get attention. In a party chat, it's too easy to get kicked out, so more people exhibit some level of manners and respect, just to remain part of the group. There is no such impetus to do that in a public forum, where anyone can join. Moderation obviously doesn't really deter people too much, although Blizzard does tend to be pretty heavy handed with their moderation, which they can do because they know it works to keep the trolls quelled for the most part, and they don't get all freaky about losing players like most other companies do.

I wouldn't be surprised if some people that may have come from elsewhere have started to realize that Blizzard isn't really going to allow abusive behavior to go unchecked, and for many of those people, this may be their first real experience with heavy moderation...something you don't see really in many other popular MP games. Anyone accustomed to Blizzards games, would likely know this going in, but for others, they may feel the hammer come down on them, or realize that their brand of trolling isn't tolerated by Blizzard itself. They may test the waters, but word gets around, and Blizzard is quick to inform people to shape up or ship out.

I don't think a flow of games, successful or otherwise, will really change how people act online. Community is fostered, and nurtured based on the people that play it. If the majority of people that play it ignore the people causing problems, those problem people eventually conform to the communities mindset or go somewhere else where they can get attention. Unfortunately, it would seem that for every convert to a civilized person, you'll have one or two that will happily take their place.

It's also worth mentioning that in any social setting, the maturity can ebb and flow based on the time of the year. Right now, a lot of those immature types are off on vacation with their parents due to school being out.

They know it for sure. Maybe they didn't finish optimizing the game by the targeted release date. That's why they released the Switch 1 30fps version first. XD