Tracer confirmed first LGBT character

[Deleted]

Why can't people just accept it and move on? It changes nothing.

[therayeffect]

I've seen people complain if they're dumb, but never because there was insufficient "reason" for the lovers to be heterosexual.

People hated Gigli because it was a dumb film, not because Affleck was a dude and Lopez was a lady.

You're literally making my point for me. That's exactly why people are against inserting sexuality into a video game because they're probably pessimistic that Blizzard is just doing this for the money and it'll be dumb.

The reason there is no explanation for people being heterosexual is because 95% of the population is heterosexual... there's no need to explain it. It would be like explaining why the Sun rises in the East. They don't need to 'explain why' someone is homosexual or whatever either though but it's more about how it's presented. I think there's a big difference between a story like: This GAY PERSON DID ALL THESE FABULOUS THINGS BECAUSE THEY'RE A GAY SUPER HERO WITH THEIR SUPER-GAYNESS. NOW BUY OUR SHIT -Blizzard(tm) and This person is on a vengeance quest because someone killed their lover (omnics?) and their lover happens to be the same as them. The "why" people express interest in having explained is because a lot of people don't want a shit story to be written about homosexuality in order to simply make money. I think most people are bitching because they want it to be a good story and not a dumb "muh-progressivism" one.

So far I seem much more hopeful than most. At least in this situation, these are original characters and not at all like making Thor a woman or something really stupid.

[Raetary]

Disgusting.

vomiting yakisoba noodles into another persons mouth? i agree.

[Sylreick]

They complain about it if it's badly written. They never complain that it's "bad" because he's a he and she's a she and that's just wrong.

That's the same thing I see people arguing here about the LGBT story. If it's poorly written it would most definitely be seen as pandering, and no one wants that. So the story has to have some real meaning to it. Pretty much what Darkeon had said.

[TrumpIsPresident]

SJW hysteria is becoming a primary ingredient for baking a video game.

Not that I'll ever have to give a shit about this since I wouldn't play Overwatch in the first place.

I like my shooters with a little more skill requirement.

[Dequanacus]

I've seen people complain if they're dumb, but never because there was insufficient "reason" for the lovers to be heterosexual.

People hated Gigli because it was a dumb film, not because Affleck was a dude and Lopez was a lady.

People complain because there was insufficient "reason" for romance in the first place. Which applies to M/F as much as M/M F/F etc...

They complain about it if it's badly written. They never complain that it's "bad" because he's a he and she's a she and that's just wrong.

They complain about forced romance which again, applies to M/F as much as M/M and F/F. This thread itself is mostly complaints about worrying that the LGBT will be badly written, not simply because it exists.



I see people often complain about LGBT relationships in games for being forced. Many of these complaints stress having little issue with LGBT itself, only that they see it as being artificially inserted into something other than just being introduced naturally. In that same sense, I see people often complain about M/F relationships in games for being forced. Many of these complaints see the romance being artificially inserted into something.

Clearly, one of these gets more attention than the other, but you try to write off the latter altogether when the former is simply more topical in today's environment. The attention given to the former is also a reason why it's more suspectible to people questioning its purpose in being included

[Kaleredar]

You dont need a reason for them to be gay indeed. But when that happens, "Gayness" cant be their entire character either.

All of these characters already exist in ways that people already like or dislike entirely irrespective of what their sexual proclivities are.


You can't make D.va's entire character about being gay. We already know her as a mech-piloting professional gamer gremlin.

People already know this. I feel this is a thinly veiled excuse to feel butthurt about something.

[Goldielocks]

What makes it wrong? It's their game. They're not relegated to some moral platform of "we have keep our characters as androgynous as possible so as to not seem like we're catering to anyone."

In my opinion, it's just about how we live life in general. The idea of not doing anything unecessary is a common lesson we teach. It trickles down into every thought we have. My concern about this is that they won't make the LGBT inclusion necessary to the story. As long as they do that, then it'd be no different than any other lore addition.

Neither can the fact that bastion likes birds, or Sombra is forced-friends with Tatya, or Widowmaker killed Mondatta. They might passingly mention it, but it has zero impact on how the character plays.

It was still the major point in the cinematic.

You're right race has no mechanical effect on how we play, but it has an aesthetic one. Humans are visual creatures. A game would be more successful if we are attached to what we play, and that means giving background information about the heroes we see on screen. Those shorts about Sombra and Widowmaker just confirmed character aspects in which we already knew; we just saw them in action. As I said, we're visual beings. It's why movies are becoming more popular than books, because we can make proper visual stories that weren't possible before.

Bastion is a bit different in that regard though. He's not human, and he was once the enemy. They humanized him by being friendly with Ganymede.

They can do it any way that they wish. Seeing as Blizzard is well accustomed to telling stories and has been for more than 20 years, I'm sure they can think of some way to fit it in.


If I had to take a shot in the dark, it's that we're going to get a cinematic about Mei (one of the few remaining characters we've not had a comic or cinematic about, along with D.Va, Zenyatta, and Lucio) and her being frozen in the antarctic, as per the upcoming map mode, and she'll have a girlfriend who's one of the scientists there as well who ended up perishing in the cryostasis while Mei survived. Maybe the scientist was the one who inspired Mei to join overwatch and now Mei seeks to freeze and headshot everyone make the world a better place in her name. That's just a thought. It's character relevant, lore relevant, and game relevant in that it pertains to who her character is and her backstory in addition to the backstory of the game.

That's just a thought. You could concoct something about any of the characters. And if I can do it, Blizzard sure as hell can do it.

I have faith that Blizzard can find meaning in this LGBT inclusion. I can see why the controversy is there. Token characters(by definition unnecessary additions) exist everywhere, only to pander to loudmouths wanting representation. This needs to be done properly.

[Dequanacus]

I think most people are bitching because they want it to be a good story and not a dumb "muh-progressivism" one.

This. I think most people feel that being open minded is often an excuse for bad writing. People have always, and continue to complain about bad writing of heterosexual romances. The former gets more attention because of its place in modern society. If people call a heterosexual romance story in a video game bad writing, it generally will be argued far less (or at least argued differently) than if someone called a homosexual romance story in a video game bad writing.

This is obvious to most people of course, but some people like to imagine that heterosexual relationships in video games aren't often the subject of severe criticism.

[Kaleredar]

People complain because there was insufficient "reason" for romance in the first place. Which applies to M/F as much as M/M F/F etc...

Overwatch isn't some storied Shojo or some shit. It's a first person shooter with characters who have neat little backstories.


No one is going to complain about "McCree and Mercy together?! They don't have nearly enough of a backstory, we know from chapter 2 that McCree was ACTUALLY in love with Tracer from the first missi-;" No.

Don't kid yourself. None of the characters have any kind of history expounded upon in such a manner, and don't pretend like they do.

So complaining about one of the characters suddenly being gay, when they could very easily have suddenly been heterosexual and could very literally have been in a relationship with any other character because the amount of backstory we have is virtually nil just reeks of wanting to be butthurt about something.


I feel that, from most people, it's a knee-jerk reaction to this whole "oh Blizzard's trying to be so PC!" bullshit. It's their game. They can do whatever they want. These characters don't have richly enough developed backstories for ANY of the relationships to violate ANY sort of lore. Again, don't pretend otherwise.

- - - Updated - - -

I have faith that Blizzard can find meaning in this LGBT inclusion. I can see why the controversy is there. Token characters(by definition unnecessary additions) exist everywhere, only to pander to loudmouths wanting representation. This needs to be done properly.

Seeing as Overwatch characters are, to put it bluntly, pastiches with backstories tacked on (not that they're not done exceptionally well) who already have functional kits, I don't really see HOW they'd be able to make them a "token character."

Would making McCree gay suddenly make him the "token gay" or would he still be the cool cowboy guy? How about Genji? Or Tracer? Or winston? Or ANY of the characters?

What character is not acceptable to make gay? The only two characters we know are straight are widowmaker and Anna. You might be able to "headcannon" out a few more, like Junkrat potentially hitting on Mei, Torbjorn being kind of a creep towards Symmetra, 76 potentially having a romantic past with Anna, and so forth, but that's all just that... headcannon.


It's unnecessary dislike masked as "fear that blizzard will do it wrong" because of the "anti-PC" or "anti-anti-anti0PC" culture or whatever stage of whineception we're at now.

[minteK917]

All of these characters already exist in ways that people already like or dislike entirely irrespective of what their sexual proclivities are.


You can't make D.va's entire character about being gay. We already know her as a mech-piloting professional gamer gremlin.

People already know this. I feel this is a thinly veiled excuse to feel butthurt about something.

Im personally not butt hurt, i want it to be important to the story even. My boner's tell me it should be Pharah and Mercy, but my head tells me Reaper and Mccree needs to have an interesting falling out to bring drama. So thats my vote. Your example is good, thats kinda my point but again nothing is given to you about D.va's sexuality. Mabye shes the gay character, you are free to think that. Widowmaker and Ana are the only character you can assume are heterosexual or bisexual at most.

Lets say the gay character was Lucio. Theres a difference in just dropping a hint in a cut scene about his family or something, like Ana having a child and Widowmaker being married. Neither of them are just Hey, BTW THEY ARE HETEROWOMEN!

Ill use another game as an example. Mass Effect 3 actually had 2 gay male shepard romance, one was actually good, one was dumb. You can easily tell which is good. One is a shuttle pilot that joined your crew and wants to end the war, his husband having died in it. One is a guy that Women can romance since the first game and just literally says nothing about it in Mass Effect 3, except along to line of hey Shepard, i guess i love you now? It could have been an interesting story, about how the character took his time coming out as an homosexual, but no. Instead it was just bioware counting on their finger, we only have one men to men romance, add a second guys. We dont have time to make another character, just turn one of the old one gay. We dont have time to make up the story telling them why it took him years to confess his feeling, we just need the numbers!

[Dequanacus]

So complaining about one of the characters suddenly being gay, when they could very easily have suddenly been heterosexual and could very literally have been in a relationship with any other character because the amount of backstory we have is virtually nil just reeks of wanting to be butthurt about something.

Bad writing is bad writing was the point I was making. People shit on bad writing regardless of subject matter but criticism that in any way involves homosexuality as the subject tends to receive more negative attention simply because it's more topical in today's society.

You're only repeating my point back to me. The character could have been heterosexual and people would still complain about poorly written romance in video games because bad writing is bad writing.

It's their game. They can do whatever they want.

I think enough people are aware of that to the point where saying such a thing is meaningless. Criticism has always existed and has existed regardless of that fact. I'm not sure what discussion you're hoping to have regarding that fact when it has always existed alongside criticism.

These characters don't have richly enough developed backstories for ANY of the relationships to violate ANY sort of lore. Again, don't pretend otherwise

Again, bad writing is bad writing. It has little if anything to do with already established lore. People are simply concerned that a LGBT character will be written poorly.

[ShadowJester]

I just hope that it's not one of the super obvious gay characters like Lucio or Zarya, because that would just be too expected. I hope they make Junkrat or Genji or something gay.

Other than that who cares. Gay people exist.

It would never be Junkrat.....he only loves one thing and that is blowing stuff the shit up. He doesn't care about others. I could believe him being the first A-sexual person in the lore.

Also do we know its someone already in game, and not like a new character they havent announced? My bet would be Mei/Zarya

[Goldielocks]

Seeing as Overwatch characters are, to put it bluntly, pastiches with backstories tacked on (not that they're not done exceptionally well) who already have functional kits, I don't really see HOW they'd be able to make them a "token character."

Would making McCree gay suddenly make him the "token gay" or would he still be the cool cowboy guy? How about Genji? Or Tracer? Or winston? Or ANY of the characters?

What character is not acceptable to make gay? The only two characters we know are straight are widowmaker and Anna.

It's not necessarily about characters that are not acceptable, but how they're presented. If you show a cinematic completely on a character, without any relation to the state of the onmic crisis, then it has no purpose to the story. However, if (like you suggested earlier) a cinematic where Talon captures somebody close to Zarya, and it turns out to be a woman is shown, then that's totally fine. I want to see progression in the lore, because the real game is non-cannon. If they do this right, then it's only going to piss the homophobes off, rather than them along with people who are skeptical.

It's unnecessary dislike masked as "fear that blizzard will do it wrong" because of the "anti-PC" or "anti-anti-anti0PC" culture or whatever stage of whineception we're at now.

Only for the actual people who dislike homosexuality. A lot of people are just concerned that the plot would be cast aside. When that doesn't happen, then you'll see less threads about this.

[Phookah]

You're literally making my point for me. That's exactly why people are against inserting sexuality into a video game because they're probably pessimistic that Blizzard is just doing this for the money and it'll be dumb.

The reason there is no explanation for people being heterosexual is because 95% of the population is heterosexual... there's no need to explain it. It would be like explaining why the Sun rises in the East. They don't need to 'explain why' someone is homosexual or whatever either though but it's more about how it's presented. I think there's a big difference between a story like: This GAY PERSON DID ALL THESE FABULOUS THINGS BECAUSE THEY'RE A GAY SUPER HERO WITH THEIR SUPER-GAYNESS. NOW BUY OUR SHIT -Blizzard(tm) and This person is on a vengeance quest because someone killed their lover (omnics?) and their lover happens to be the same as them. The "why" people express interest in having explained is because a lot of people don't want a shit story to be written about homosexuality in order to simply make money. I think most people are bitching because they want it to be a good story and not a dumb "muh-progressivism" one.

So far I seem much more hopeful than most. At least in this situation, these are original characters and not at all like making Thor a woman or something really stupid.

Pro tip: 99% of all overwatch players (i.e the ones who don't read forums and online lore about the game they play) won't even know about this. Its for people who want the information. As for people pretending its the quality of the writing they have a problem with ("Uh I don't care that they're gay, I just think, uh, its.... pandering! Yeah, pandering, thats it!") if you're looking for A+ writing in the lore of your FPS computer game, you might care to pick up a book instead sometime.
LBGT love is human love.

[Kaleredar]

Bad writing is bad writing was the point I was making. People shit on bad writing regardless of subject matter but criticism that in any way involves homosexuality as the subject tends to receive more negative attention simply because it's more topical in today's society.

You're only repeating my point back to me. The character could have been heterosexual and people would still complain about poorly written romance in video games because bad writing is bad writing.



I think enough people are aware of that to the point where saying such a thing is meaningless. Criticism has always existed and has existed regardless of that fact. I'm not sure what discussion you're hoping to have regarding that fact when it has always existed alongside criticism.



Again, bad writing is bad writing. It has little if anything to do with already established lore. People are simply concerned that a LGBT character will be written poorly.

Yeah but there isn't any real "lore" pertinent to the character's families. It's hard to make the writing "bad" if there's no real established lore or character for them to go against.


If I had to take a wild guess, whichever Overwatch character is Gay, Lesbian, bi, or whatever will have a partner that inspired them to join overwatch or was killed by the omnics or somesuch. Not a "Lucio has to go to the store to pick up some cold medicine for his boyfriend."

[Tucci]

Most likely Zarya since everyone kind of already knows plus she was just shown in the Sombra short so we'll likely be seeing her short next. She'll probably have a girlfriend or something. Maybe she gets called to duty and we see her say goodbye to her. Or maybe they'll throw a "don't assume" curveball and it'll be Tracer or something. I could see that.

I love that Blizzard is doing this simply because I love seeing 15 year olds get mad just because they think they're supposed to. Maybe they're following in Daddy's footsteps or maybe they read one too many troll posts but they're impressionable and hilariously ignorant and I just adore it when things like this happen.

At the end of the day, Overwatch is played and loved by 20 million players. The minority's cries will vanish like a fart in the wind. Whatever they lose will be replaced with someone who loves what Blizz is doing, making the game that much better.

[minteK917]

It would never be Junkrat.....he only loves one thing and that is blowing stuff

Junkrat gay confirmed.

[Deleted]

im hoping its Reinhardt and roadhog personally.

anyway, dont care for love/romance stories at all in my games, so couldn't care less if they want to lgbt stuff to this, im still not going to pay attention to it.

[Deleted]

I don't play Overwatch and after seeing this I'm glad I don't. Pushing LGBT agenda into every aspect of our society is just gonna degrade it further. This shows how much Blizzard is infested by SJW propaganda just like another company that used to create great games...what was the name of it?...Oh yeah, it's Bioware.