Greetings! I'm just stumbling onto all kinds of interesting discussions when I poke into the forum
Kick is definitely requested by a number of you guys. Currently though, we're taking a very conservative approach to kick, and only limiting to AFK. We might create moderated matches in the future, where the moderators can have moderation power in those matches. But for regular matches, we are inclined not to do Kick. We of course respects everyone's opinion, but we have to weigh the risks and downsides of Kick as well as it's potential benefits, and so far, the downsides outweigh the upsides of implementing Kick, whether that's vote or captain's. Kick can not only leads to trolling and spamming, it can also break up experiences or immersion in lobby or in match. It also segments the player base in a negative way. The definition of what qualifies as Kick is also very fluid, and can easy lead to abuse of new players or as a way to settle disputes of any form. So in short, we've decided not to implement Kick at least currently for what we think is the good of the community.
What we are and want to work on, are ways to better encourage team play. For this sprint, we are building a number features that would aid new players, such as improved tutorials, proving ground (new player only matches), commendation systems for teaching and learning, and more technical pages of the manual for weapons and skills tactics. There is also surrender in match that actually doesn't count against stats, and maybe we should tell people that more, although that's a bit risky for abuse. For pre-forming crew, crew formation is almost done, but probably won't make it into this month's build, sorry about that, but that will go in as well.
For block, we could do something there. We have to think through all the logistical details and weigh the upsides and downsides of course, but we could do something there.
But at the end of the day, we'll be working on more stuff to improve team play, which is what this game is all about. And since improvements should be multifaceted, we are trying to take a multifaceted approach to this.
Thanks for listening! Best, Howard