Tag: Overwatch
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Overwatch’s Play Nice, Play Fair Update Misses the Point
Recently, Blizzard released a developer update titled Play Nice, Play Fair, which attempted to address Overwatch’s fundamental problems with toxicity. Game developer Jeff Kaplan described the issue as a “rising tide,” and promised future improvements to the reporting system (which was just added to the console versions of the game, more than a full year…
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Mercy’s Rework is a Bad Direction for Overwatch
In a recent developer update, Overwatch’s game director Jeff Kaplan announced a substantial rework of the playstyle of healer Mercy. In between repeatedly telling players not to worry, he outlined a new set of abilities that seemed, well, worrying. Mercy is – or was – one of Overwatch’s most popular heroes. She was also one…
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“No Skill” Heroes: Ableism With a Side of Misogyny in Overwatch
Overwatch is full of heroes with a variety of abilities, including those who don’t require traditional first person shooter skills like aiming and twitch reflexes in order to be played well. Heroes like Winston and Symmetra have beam attacks that will lock onto nearby enemies; Torbjörn can set up an auto-aiming turret; and Mercy doesn’t even…
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Happy Birthday Overwatch: A Look Back
On May 24, Overwatch celebrates its first anniversary. And it’s been a hell of a year. The game has been front and centre in major industry talking points without pause: sexualisation, diversity, harassment, fan culture, Doing It Right™ versus getting away with its continued failures, and, of course, a deluge of memes. In short, Overwatch has…
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Relatability and Symmetra’s Autism
Earlier this spring, Jeff Kaplan, game director of Overwatch, replied to a young fan’s letter about Symmetra. She is the only autistic character in Overwatch, and perhaps, in all AAA games. In Kaplan’s response, he stated that the Overwatch team felt Symmetra “does a great job of representing just how awesome someone with autism can be.” As someone not on…
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Racist Rant Demonstrates Deeper Problems of Toxicity in Overwatch
Two weeks ago I wrote a long, long article about toxicity in Overwatch. This week, Matt “Dellor” Vaughn, formerly of Toronto Esports, destroyed his career by spending 30 widely publicised seconds screaming the n-word at a player who had upset him. (Content warning for racism the video within the link.) In doing so, he demonstrated…
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How Can Overwatch Deal With its Toxic Players?
If you’re playing any online game, you’ll run into toxic players. This is an accepted inevitability. But it shouldn’t be. Overwatch in particular is intentionally welcoming and joyful. It’s about hope and heroes in a colourful world that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Plus, Blizzard has intentionally focused on inclusivity through its characters. And so it…
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Inclusivity in Overwatch Continues to Improve
At his recent DICE Summit talk, director Jeff Kaplan mentioned again the importance of inclusivity in Overwatch. This has been a continued rhetoric of the Blizzard team, and, most importantly, one that has been built upon significantly in the game’s post-release lifetime. That lifetime has been a rollercoaster. Overwatch has not only been one of…
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Terry Crews needs to voice Doomfist in Overwatch
I know something is shaking up the gaming world when my mom calls me out of the blue. “Hi honey, I was checking my e-mail and there is this man all over Bing who wants to be in the Overwatch.” Waitwut? Now, I’d heard about this a week before my mom called me with her…
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Mei is Still Bae
Last week, Overwatch’s Year of the Rooster event went live, and with it came several new skins, emotes, player icons, and a new arcade mode. But what’s drawn the most attention from players is Mei’s noticeably smaller waistline. Lots of people are angry because they feel that Mei is being sexualized. Instead of her adorable…
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Tracer Being Gay Is Ground-Breaking, But It’s Not Everything
Out of everyone, I have been one of the most skeptical when it comes to Overwatch‘s LGBT characters. I’ve been very vocal about my doubts that Blizzard would ever make good on its promise to confirm which characters are LGBT, even expressing concerns that the company had changed its mind for fear of angering bigots. But boy, did…
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Overwatch’s Gay Characters: Blizzard, It’s Time to Show, Not Tell
The year is 2054. Frank Ocean’s third album, released just days ago, plays softly in the background. I load the hologram in the palm of my hand, the display of the news channel as mottled light on my digits. ‘Blizzard Continues to Tease Overwatch Gay Character Reveal’ Ever since Blizzard confirmed that at least one…
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Crumbling The Tower of Babel with Cinematic Storytelling
As technology advances, video game cinematics play an increasingly important role in games with heavy narratives. Trailers and cutscenes become a shared talking point amongst players. An individual’s play style may vary from person to person, but the cinematics they watch remain the same – most of the time, anyway. Sometimes, translation gets in the…