Blizzard "Trying Not to Oversexualize" Female Overwatch Characters

[BrotherRool]

Ah, Browder is dismissing the interviewer who is intent on having a political debate. What a stupid move, huh?
I mean, here we have a developer/game director who is out to make a fun and awesome game in his eyes, but he hasn't considered the sensibilities of everyone. What a stupid guy, eh? Doesn't he know that unless you're all-inclusive, you're cis-male scum that lives in your mom's basement? What a misogynist.

See we're not going to go anywhere, because from my reading Browder was reacting exactly like you are, and I, well I dont consider that reaction smart =D The whole 'it's politics' thing is kind of BS. You're making a game for people and it's stupid to think that you don't have to think about the people you're making it for.

 

[The Goat Tsar]

I like how racially diverse it is. Germans, Swedes, Egyptians, Indians, Nepalese... Pretty good so far. Just needs a few black and Hispanic characters and it'll be set.

Spoiler

In the cinematic trailer, we see this image where there is indeed a black guy. Whether or not he'll be playable is up to guess, but I'm tempted to that that he will be, it's just that blizzard hasn't implemented the whole roster of heroes to pick from yet, hence why he wasn't seen in the gameplay trailer.

That's awesome, it looks like there's a female robot in there as well, which would be the first non-human female character. I mean, I know robots don't have genders, but it looks like she'll have a female personality like the robot monk has a male personality.

If I get a choice of characters, I always prefer the black guy. I'm happy to see there is at least one. I just hope they don't take a super long time putting him the game (like Rexxar in HotS).

 

[Saetha]

Just add a sexy dude and all points can be rendered mute, not that the Asian fella wasn't sexy, he's just not really sexual like the sniper girl.

Seriously, can we get some sexualization of Hanzo? a little bit? Please? Because daaaaaamn son. Hella.

 

[Schadrach]

That said: fine by me. It's super easy to avoid over-sexualization. You simply cover up all the bits that mark them female and treat your two genders the same. Guys where a sleeveless vest and an undershit, girls wearing a sleeveless vest and an undershirt. guys wearing baggy pants, girls wearing baggy pants. It's super simple.

Better yet, put them all in monk robes... and add masks, so we can't see their skin color, you must cover the racist bases as well. And they should all talk with robot voices, a perfect 50/50 male/female sounding voices. I'm sure I'm missing something, but with enough efforts, I'm sure all can be pleased.

You really don't know how it works, do you?

Since you just suggested that the game have nothing but straight white male characters and all (seriously, you'll have people argue that any character that isn't evidently not straight, white, or male is automatically those things by default).

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Eh, that's good. If they're making TF2.5 they'd better nail the interesting and colourful cast of characters.

 

[Shayman]

The result is pretty badass male and female character designs. Articles don't do Chris Metzen's passionate response to this question justice.

 

[oldtaku]

That's an interesting thing to say given that one of the female chars has an ass gap in her armor so we can see her lovingly crafted tight butt better.

 

[Aerosteam]

This is good, but it sucks how this is actually something a company would speak out on. :/

 

[Jetfan007]

Meanwhile, Sarkeesian and McIntosh are ALREADY calling the game sexist based on promo material alone.

Seriously, haven't people learned from this past year/two years that judging a game based on early promo material is a bad idea? Did they forget about Aliens: Colonial Marines, Watch_Dogs, Destiny, etc?

There is *no winning* with these people. None at all.

Unrelated note, wanted to post this on facebook comments but couldn't. So here I am. Meh.

 

[Kargathia]

Well, that's nice, but I suppose it's sad that this seems to be news-worthy now.

Well when a major publisher pulls off such a nice flying leap to the bandwagon.. it's news. Don't worry Blizzard I'm sure someone will have a mod to make those boobies jiggle properly within a month of your release..

Seriously Hyper sexualization? Over sexualization... anyone remember that what is considered sexy is a very personal thing? and that no matter what your female character looks like there are always going to be no less than 10 guys and 3 women that think she's OMG HAWT

But whatever...it's ironic though... they make a big deal of not pandering to one group in order to pander to another.

I wouldn't call it "pandering" when you're trying not to alienate part of your customerbase. That is, if they're sincere about this, and not - as you said - merely hitching a ride on the bandwagon.

All things considered, the jiggle-mod-in-a-month is the best possible scenario. It's not forced on anyone, but whomever likes their characters stripperific will be able to do so.

That's an interesting thing to say given that one of the female chars has an ass gap in her armor so we can see her lovingly crafted tight butt better.

Yea.... don't get me wrong, I loved the general aesthetic of their trailers so far, but if this is "less sexualised", they really have a loooooooong way ahead of them.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I find the new IP already has good support for female characters regardless of their class.

I'm also not surprised that this article has more comments due to the mention of "female characters" compared to the Blizzard documentary which I feel was more worth the comments or at least watch than this, I feel it's a matter of time before this site becomes non caring about gaming and more about female representation, a good chunk of the gaming and off topic sections are already saturated with that topic and it's only because of what transpired this year, you can say "it'll die down in a few months", no it won't, it hasn't died down at all and isn't showing any signs, I'm all for equality and equal representation but I'm not all for sites like this becoming nothing but single topic discussions that aren't about the games themselves.

 

[McElroy]

That Widowmaker sure has a nice ass. Seriously 04:37 in the cinematic trailer, check it out.

Hold on, what was the topic? Widowmaker is already sexy, no need to oversexualize her at all! Win-win!

That's an interesting thing to say given that one of the female chars has an ass gap in her armor so we can see her lovingly crafted tight butt better.

That's correct, but the ass gap is still within acceptable limits. A 17.4% increase in either butt volume or the area of the ass gap would result in oversexualization. It's simple mathematics.

 

[garjian]

That said: fine by me. It's super easy to avoid over-sexualization. You simply cover up all the bits that mark them female and treat your two genders the same. Guys where a sleeveless vest and an undershit, girls wearing a sleeveless vest and an undershirt. guys wearing baggy pants, girls wearing baggy pants. It's super simple.

Better yet, put them all in monk robes... and add masks, so we can't see their skin color, you must cover the racist bases as well. And they should all talk with robot voices, a perfect 50/50 male/female sounding voices. I'm sure I'm missing something, but with enough efforts, I'm sure all can be pleased.

They're still labelled as female by their name and character profile.

I've seen enough reports of "See in this gameplay footage how this woman is brutally shot to death, and the player receives a point" to know there are people offended by the simple inclusion of females in any form.

I'm surprised we haven't heard anything about the mass genocide of all these nameless, faceless, unimportant male henchmen we all seem perfectly happy to slaughter, to be honest.

 

[Jetfan007]

That said: fine by me. It's super easy to avoid over-sexualization. You simply cover up all the bits that mark them female and treat your two genders the same. Guys where a sleeveless vest and an undershit, girls wearing a sleeveless vest and an undershirt. guys wearing baggy pants, girls wearing baggy pants. It's super simple.

Better yet, put them all in monk robes... and add masks, so we can't see their skin color, you must cover the racist bases as well. And they should all talk with robot voices, a perfect 50/50 male/female sounding voices. I'm sure I'm missing something, but with enough efforts, I'm sure all can be pleased.

They're still labelled as female by their name and character profile.

I've seen enough reports of "See in this gameplay footage how this woman is brutally shot to death, and the player receives a point" to know there are people offended by the simple inclusion of females in any form.

Meanwhile, if there are no female characters the same people will be just as upset.

If they want equality, they *should* be campaigning for 50% of all faceless henchmen to be women.

 

[EternallyBored]

Not alienate well let's put it this way.. which is fairer.. thoseoversexualized characters that appeal half their base and modesty mods for those that don't ... or non sexualized figures that appeal to the otgher half and jiggle mods for the other half?


See this is why the discussion on such things goes nowhere.. it is pretty much a binary question.. who do you please the side you don't pick is always going to resent you foir making them do more workregardless of which side it is. Plus we've kinda seen the blizzacti isn't a big fan of their games being modded by third parties I mean look at D3?

Otherwise.. I am okay with mods and such seriously I am... but

It's really not a binary question, the thread in gaming discussion where many of the posters that regularly fall on the oversexualization side of the discussion are commenting about how they like the designs for some of the characters here is proof enough of that. If Blizzard adds some more diversity to the female body shapes with future characters, you will likely see the majority of people on both sides largely satisfied.

You will still get complaints form the fringes, people complaining that any sexy armor is unacceptable, and others accusing Blizzard of pandering to "feminists" because every single female model isn't sexy in exactly the way they want, but that's true of anything, you are never going to completely shut every last idiot on either side up entirely.

Treating it as a binary state limits plenty of options that will satisfy the vast majority of people that lie between the two extremes. There are plenty of games that come out where one side or the other tries to complain about it, but because it doesn't really set off most people on either side in a big way, those complaints are quickly discarded and lost in favor of games with more controversial material to grab on to.

 

[loa]

Well that's nice that they're trying.
A bit more variation in bodytypes would be nice too.
Right now there's only 1.
Just give one of the robots or maybe that gorilla a female voice and there you go.