Overwatch Fan's Letter To Jeff Kaplan About Black Women Gets Heartfelt Response

[Fayenoor]

https://kotaku.com/overwatch-fan-wri...ack-1831576005

“The most important thing to me is that those in positions to influence and reflect society start portraying very normal things as being normal,” Kaplan wrote. “Right now, it makes ripple effects when we feature characters of different backgrounds. It’s a big deal when we reveal a hero is a lesbian. But I long for the day when it’s not a big deal. It needs to not be newsworthy. We need to help normal be normal."

Amen to that Mr Kaplan.

[Greyvax]

https://kotaku.com/overwatch-fan-wri...ack-1831576005

“The most important thing to me is that those in positions to influence and reflect society start portraying very normal things as being normal,” Kaplan wrote. “Right now, it makes ripple effects when we feature characters of different backgrounds. It’s a big deal when we reveal a hero is a lesbian. But I long for the day when it’s not a big deal. It needs to not be newsworthy. We need to help normal be normal."

Amen to that Mr Kaplan.

That day will never arrive. There will always be a complaint that "X gender/race/etc.. isn't represented enough".

[Inukashi]

Well that's what most people actually want and I'm happy that someone who stands in public finally said it.

I've read the whole article and yeah, even though that woman has a bit of a reason to ask for a black female character I actually think it's stupid to try to get a checklist done in case of character development. (and in other cases, too)

You can't get every mix of race, gender and sexuality into a game and I think it's stupid to develop characters this way around:

"Yeah, you are missing a african, black skinned woman."

"Also we are still missing a diverse-gender character that only likes other divert gender characters (germany has them now official and forms/websites/etc now need to pick you from male/female/divert.). It should be from france, because we don't have any characters from there yet"

Developing a Character should start like this:

We want a tank, that doesn't tank himself, but builds little robots that absorb bullets.

[icehot]

That day will never arrive. There will always be a complaint that "X gender/race/etc.. isn't represented enough".

Exactly, with how the society is progressing your going to need 67 different characters who represent what ever gender type someone decides to feel.

I am with Jeff though, I do hope we see the day where this whole song and dance around what gender, sexual preference, skin color etc etc something is goes away, and its just becomes normal....

[Kharadin]

Exactly, with how the society is progressing your going to need 67 different characters who represent what ever gender type someone decides to feel.

I am with Jeff though, I do hope we see the day where this whole song and dance around what gender, sexual preference, skin color etc etc something is goes away, and its just becomes normal....

better "x isn't represented enough" than the current response which is "REEEEEEE WHY IS EVERYONE GAY THIS OFFENDS ME GREATLY" that MMO-C seems to perpetuate quite proudly.

[Teriz]

Ana, Pharah, and Sombra are all women of African heritage, and could easily fit within the black paradigm. This gamer wants a black American character which is something else entirely.

[Inukashi]

...Sombra are all women of African heritage...

Did Donald Trump finally move Mexico to Africa?

[Mivoc]

Maybe people should just enjoy games for what they are and not try to put their personal influence on developers.

You don’t like a games representation of “x”? Go play a game that has more “x” in it or go make your own game.

Blizzard isn’t here to be a pillar of diversity and righteousness, they are here to make fun games.

[Eleccybubb]

Man remember when game devs did what they want rather than pander to this PC/SJW nonsense?

Now it seems a good chunk of characters in games end up being this or that for the sake of it rather than for actual good character development.

[sibut]

I've read the whole article and yeah, even though that woman has a bit of a reason to ask for a black female character I actually think it's stupid to try to get a checklist done in case of character development. (and in other cases, too)

Yep same. Forced diversity in a video game is ridiculous.

[ro9ue]

Good answer imo. Because it highlights why things seem to be received so controversially. On one hand, people are happy because they feel represented. On the other hand, everyone's well aware these things are being forced in to do so.

So to me it's a balancing act. The extreme of one side is you end up with a checklist and thats bad. The extreme of the other side is you aren't allowing other people to feel represented in popular media, also bad.

I think if it's done genuinely with a mindset Lord Jeff just expressed and not trying to just score media and virtue points it's not such a big deal.

[Teriz]

Did Donald Trump finally move Mexico to Africa?

There are Black people in Mexico, and many Mexicans have African heritage.

[Thirza]

Ana: Egyptian
Pharah: Egyptian
Ashe: American
McCree: American
Soldier: 76: American
Torbjörn: Swede
Brigitte: Swede
Mercy: Swiss
Junkrat: Australian
Roadhog: Australian
Moira: Irish
Reinhardt: German
Zarya: Russian
Tracer: English
Widowmaker: French
Bastion: Robot
Orisa: Robot
Zenyatta: Robot
D.Va: Korean
Doomfist: African
Genji: Japanese
Hanzo: Japanese
Lúcio: Brazilian
Mei: Chinese
Reaper: Mexican
Sombra: Mexican
Symmetra: Indian
Winston: Animal
Wrecking Ball: Animal

Sombra, Lucio, Doomfist and Orisa all have African heritage, Sombra is a half and half latina/african, look at her hair and body type.

I deem this complaint fallacious and self centered.

Omnics are the ones who are underrepresented.

[Sevyvia]

It's not a big deal to me that this or that OW character is whatever. Genuinely, it isn't.

What IS a big deal is that I know perfectly well why this sort of stuff is done, and it's for political reasons, not some undefined, patronising "save the world" crusade. Which is really about trying to convert everyone to having the absolute same morality anyway. It's like people don't think the borg are evil anymore, or something. I don't get it.

[Volitar]

I don't understand why people can't feel inspired by characters that aren't the same sexuallality, or race, or gender as them. Racial equality means that skin color shouldn't matter but this whole games roster just feels like a checklist of SJW points.

[Thirza]

I don't understand why people can't feel inspired by characters that aren't the same sexuallality, or race, or gender as them. Racial equality means that skin color shouldn't matter but this whole games roster just feels like a checklist of SJW points.

Humanity is diverse, media should reflect that, what they should not do is bow down to pressures when there are already characters in the game and in development that represent most everyone. If anyone has a right to complain it is that there are no southeast asian islanders or greek/roman/italian in the game. There are plenty of Africans in the game % wise.

[arandomuser]

blizzard trying to act PC while former employee says they are racist af. i care about their actions not virtue signaling

[Flurryfang]

In a time where individualization is in focus, Kaplan is putting himself up to fail, because there is always gonna be somebody who feel like they are not represented. Overwatch could have 300 heroes and there would still be somebody who feel like they are not there, because we live in a day where we focus on what makes us all different.

[Redzonetode]

Well that's what most people actually want and I'm happy that someone who stands in public finally said it.

I've read the whole article and yeah, even though that woman has a bit of a reason to ask for a black female character I actually think it's stupid to try to get a checklist done in case of character development. (and in other cases, too)

You can't get every mix of race, gender and sexuality into a game and I think it's stupid to develop characters this way around:

"Yeah, you are missing a african, black skinned woman."

"Also we are still missing a diverse-gender character that only likes other divert gender characters (germany has them now official and forms/websites/etc now need to pick you from male/female/divert.). It should be from france, because we don't have any characters from there yet"

Developing a Character should start like this:

We want a tank, that doesn't tank himself, but builds little robots that absorb bullets.

I mean, unless you have some great behind the scenes insight we don't have, there's nothing to say that they don't start with deciding a characters role and playstyle first. I think it was Orisa who used a Zarya model during testing internally, long before the character design or model was created. They can easily design based on role and playstyle, then ask "Well, what should it look like?" and reasonably balance representation (skin color/sexuality/whatever) and 'what makes sense' (ie tanks = bulky, etc) in regards to design.

- - - Updated - - -

blizzard trying to act PC while former employee says they are racist af. i care about their actions not virtue signaling

critical thinking would lead you to the conclusion that blizzard is a giant company with numerous departments and that it's not uncommon or even reflective of the company if some of the employees are racist. blizzard didn't make those employees racist. every company has em if theyre large enough

[Zeek Daniels]

Im black and dont care to see any black people in the video games i play. Why? Because they are portrayed as thugs and gangstars, which i hate. I mostly play fantasy games. So the racial stuff i like is not human representation but actual races like elves, dwarfs, dragons etc. The more devs try and force diversity the more they get it wrong. 1 character does not represent an entire people. Everyone should be individuals, its what makes them special and our society special. When you group people together by traits you lose whats special about the person.