Overwatch: Diversity Done Better

Blizzard announced their first new IP in 17 years. Seventeen! That's older than a good chunk of their fanbase--I know when I see comments about how people grew up on WoW it makes me feel old. But the last new IP Blizzard had was StarCraft in 1998. Though they've beefed up their franchises with spin-offs (Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm), at some point the Diablo/StarCraft/WarCraft triumvirate was going to give out. So to see a new thing is pretty sweet.

I'm not a huge fan of modern FPS games. I was big into Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and Quake 3 Arena back in the day, but more recent titles like Halo or Gears of War haven't really interested me. I played Mass Effect despite the shooter aspect of it (though to be fair, Mass Effect 3 did a really, really good job of making it much more fun). But Overwatch seems like it's an interesting enough take on the team-based shooter genre that I want to give it a whirl.

Between the superhero-esque powers, a little faster-paced gameplay than many other shooters, and a strong aesthetic all really solidify it in my head as something I want to play. What also helps, however, is that the characters are actually quite interesting.

Ubisoft: "Girls are hard, guys." Blizzard: "Here's five playable females, two robots, and a gorilla wearing glasses. You're welcome."
— Appy (@vApathyv) November 7, 2014

Twelve characters have been revealed so far, and there are more to be shown, but of the ones we've seen, we have two robots, nine humans, and a gorilla. Of those nine humans, five are women. And not only that, but we have people of different skin tones beyond white (which is typically either European, Australian, or North American representation in games). Symmetra is Indian, Pharah is Egyptian, and Honzo is Japanese.

Mind you, some folks have already accused Blizzard of "appropriating stereotypical aspects of other cultures to layer on top of its white-dude-fantasy-world." I'm not really in much of a position to argue for or against that, mind you, being pasty white and all, but at the same time I'm finding it hard to think of other major games where an Indian or Middle Eastern character is shown in a positive light, or at all, so it's probably a positive step overall.

While they mostly have similar body types, there's still a fair bit of diversity within the set of ladies.

As for the ladies in the game, while I think they could use more diversity in their silhouettes (as they largely all have the exact same body type), @Moxiedoodle summed it better than I could:

@Talarianjs I think there's something for everybody. Various skintones, each one has a unique attitude/flavor...
— Moxie (@Moxiedoodle) November 8, 2014

@Talarianjs some fully clothed, some scanty, some bubbly, some badass, it's reflective of RL diversity. Also...
— Moxie (@Moxiedoodle) November 8, 2014

@Talarianjs They weren't specifically caricatures of women. I could see their characters being male too, if that makes sense.
— Moxie (@Moxiedoodle) November 8, 2014

So kudos, Blizzard. Folks took you to task, and then you stepped up to the plate and maybe not hit a home run, but frankly still did a lot better than you have in the past. And a lot better than many other developers do today. And you did so in a way that shows the game as not being any worse for wear by being inclusive.

There are still white characters, and male-power-fantasy characters, and boob plate and fan service, but there's also covered characters, folks who aren't white, and lots of ladies. As @Moxiedoodle mentions above: there's something for maybe not everyone, but a lot more than there was in prior games. #Blizzard, #Overwatch, #Diversity