Overwatch Christmas Comic Reveals First LGBT Character

[Vern]

And there's still no answer to the sexual tension between the Scout, Heavy, and Medic.

Also, I guess I've never really cared when a fictional character turned out to be gay. Because it's not like they're a real person, with emotions, fears, joys, trials and tribulations like anyone else, that are compounded by the fact that they have a sexual orientation that is different from the norm. They're just characters, created by writers, who decided "Hey... let's have that character be gay". Hell the writers could just say that they are quad-gendered anti-social quasi-teens from Neptune, so that means they have a hard life.

In the end, I don't care what kind of genitals people like in the real world, and I don't see how it matters what fictional genitals a fictional character likes.

 

[Kingjackl]

It's arguably a big deal because not only is she the first gay character, but she's the main character as well. Like, she's on the box art and correct me if I'm wrong, but would that make her the first gay character to be on a game's box art.

That said, I agree that making her a lesbian is the safe option, because it's the only way to include sexual diversity without turning off the vital teenage boy demographic. If they'd made, say, McCree the gay one, it would have been "Oh, ya made McCree into a fucking poof? What's this Brokeback Mountain shit?"

Tracer on the other hand? "Fucking nice, bro".

We've already seen it before with Mass Effect. It took them three games to include a gay option, but Liara was available for female Shepards from the start. They only were bold enough to introduce a gay option once it was clear it wouldn't hurt sales, and Dragon Age 2 had already introduced a policy of making everything available for everyone.

 

[Hawk eye1466]

Man I remember when people just liked characters because they were fun and didn't get weirdly obsessive about the most intimate details of people who aren't even real and never will be.
I'm not saying it bothers me I really don't care, it's just bizarre to me anyway; that blizzard have decided the best way to get more customers is to do this instead of expanding the game.

 

[MHR]

So hot. 100% in approval of this.

 

[Erttheking]

It's arguably a big deal because not only is she the first gay character, but she's the main character as well. Like, she's on the box art and correct me if I'm wrong, but would that make her the first gay character to be on a game's box art.

That said, I agree that making her a lesbian is the safe option, because it's the only way to include sexual diversity without turning off the vital teenage boy demographic. If they'd made, say, McCree the gay one, it would have been "Oh, ya made McCree into a fucking poof? What's this Brokeback Mountain shit?"

Tracer on the other hand? "Fucking nice, bro".

We've already seen it before with Mass Effect. It took them three games to include a gay option, but Liara was available for female Shepards from the start. They only were bold enough to introduce a gay option once it was clear it wouldn't hurt sales, and Dragon Age 2 had already introduced a policy of making everything available for everyone.

Look, I'll agree that there should be more gay men in gaming, but can we pull it back a bit? Everyone always likes to talk about how quotas shouldn't be in games, and they're right. Blizzard did not do this to make a statement, they apparently just decided that Tracer had a girlfriend. This is a pretty big step forward, so I really feel like we should just take a step back and appreciate that.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

A thought has occurred to me; Unless it has some bearing in the game, what's the point of making a character gay?

 

[Erttheking]

A thought has occurred to me; Unless it has some bearing in the game, what's the point of making a character gay?

What's the point of doing anything with characters that doesn't directly impact the game? The TF2 comics don't impact the game, but they're still amazing and the world of TF2 is better off with them existing.

 

[MHR]

A thought has occurred to me; Unless it has some bearing in the game, what's the point of making a character gay?

I dunno, what good is story to a game? Bioshock Infinite would be one of the worst over-hyped shooters in history without it.

 

[Kingjackl]

It's arguably a big deal because not only is she the first gay character, but she's the main character as well. Like, she's on the box art and correct me if I'm wrong, but would that make her the first gay character to be on a game's box art.

That said, I agree that making her a lesbian is the safe option, because it's the only way to include sexual diversity without turning off the vital teenage boy demographic. If they'd made, say, McCree the gay one, it would have been "Oh, ya made McCree into a fucking poof? What's this Brokeback Mountain shit?"

Tracer on the other hand? "Fucking nice, bro".

We've already seen it before with Mass Effect. It took them three games to include a gay option, but Liara was available for female Shepards from the start. They only were bold enough to introduce a gay option once it was clear it wouldn't hurt sales, and Dragon Age 2 had already introduced a policy of making everything available for everyone.

Look, I'll agree that there should be more gay men in gaming, but can we pull it back a bit? Everyone always likes to talk about how quotas shouldn't be in games, and they're right. Blizzard did not do this to make a statement, they apparently just decided that Tracer had a girlfriend. This is a pretty big step forward, so I really feel like we should just take a step back and appreciate that.

Ok, fair point. I might have been a bit...extreme in my language there. Especially since I agree, it's good to get more gays in games and I don't have a problem with how they handled this. I mean, it seems to be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't when there's any sort of diversity in gaming. The same cyclical arguments as to whether they're doing too much or not enough or pandering and the same camps end up forming as a result. As I said, it is a pretty huge deal that the character people see on the box when they buy the game is the one that gets the push. Even if I think they went with the safe option, it's still a brave move.

Except in Russia of course. Fuck off Putin...

 

[josemlopes]

I knew it'd be lesbians. Cute lesbians are still the "safe" gays to depict in media to keep the complaining to a minimum since they're more accepted than say Junkrat smooching on Genji.

Even countries with anti-gay laws are more accepting toward gay women than gay men. It's weird, but then I too have a more positive initial reaction toward lesbians than gay men. It's just one of those silly automatic responses that are a direct result of me being a big, dumb male.

I mean, no ones initial reaction to something like Neve Campbell and Denise Richards making out in Wild Things would be a negative one so yeah, I think there is some logic behind that.

 

[Transdude1996]

A thought has occurred to me; Unless it has some bearing in the game, what's the point of making a character gay?

I dunno, what good is story to a game? Bioshock Infinite would be one of the worst over-hyped shooters in history without it.

Bioshock Infinite's story is a comic book. In comparison to the other two games, it's the weakest of the series' "political satire" (To put it one way).

 

[Casual Shinji]

*Everyone talking about how lesbians are safe*

Yeah, right. Tell me, how many other AAA games have made the character who acts as the face of the their game openly gay? Because I can't think of a single one. Yeah, real safe move. That's why Samus Aran, Lara Croft, Chell, Alyx Vance, and all the other iconic women of gaming are all gay. Because it's such a safe move. And you're talking about how gay guys aren't depicted as much as gay women? Once again, people can only ever seem to bring this up to rain on someone else's parade. Outside of that situation, no one seems to actually care.

Regardless of the lack of gay female characters in games, lesbians are still more appealing to the straight male demographic than gay men. Especially if those lesbians are quite good looking. It is the safer option.

Also, there's Ellie in Left Behind, and Femshep in Mass Effect, who's relationship with Liara is generally viewed as the relationship in the series. Though with the latter there is a whiff of 'aw yeah, hot lesbians' about it. And I guess that's why some people -- me included -- kinda view this Tracer reveal as more of that. Not that it is the intent of every creator who puts a lesbian character in their work, but it's hard not to suspect a certain level of pandering to the male geeks out there. I mean hey, I'm one of 'm.

 

[Erttheking]

*Everyone talking about how lesbians are safe*

Yeah, right. Tell me, how many other AAA games have made the character who acts as the face of the their game openly gay? Because I can't think of a single one. Yeah, real safe move. That's why Samus Aran, Lara Croft, Chell, Alyx Vance, and all the other iconic women of gaming are all gay. Because it's such a safe move. And you're talking about how gay guys aren't depicted as much as gay women? Once again, people can only ever seem to bring this up to rain on someone else's parade. Outside of that situation, no one seems to actually care.

Regardless of the lack of gay female characters in games, lesbians are still more appealing to the straight male demographic than gay men. Especially if those lesbians are quite good looking. It is the safer option.

Also, there's Ellie in Left Behind, and Femshep in Mass Effect, who's relationship with Liara is generally viewed as the relationship in the series. Though with the latter there is a whiff of 'aw yeah, hot lesbians' about it. And I guess that's why some people -- me included -- kinda view this Tracer reveal as more of that. Not that it is the intent of every creator who puts a lesbian character in their work, but it's hard not to suspect a certain level of pandering to the male geeks out there. I mean hey, I'm one of 'm.

Here's the thing though. Is it really a safe move if it makes the company's forums explode with accusations of pandering and shoving agendas down throats? Yes it is safER, but only really by comparison.

That's only two. Also, Shepard is someone I hesitate to call a character. She's kind of in a weird zone. She's not full customizable character, but she doesn't exactly have a firm "what would she do in this situation" character either. Plus even then, Liara kind of had to jump through a lot of hoops with the whole "Asari are not technically female" thing, which comes off as kind of creepy the more I think about it. For some goddamn reason a potential TaliXFemShep romance was cut out of ME2, so we didn't get a "real" homosexual relationship until ME3, at which point sausages were added to the menu. Also it seems a little weird to accuse Blizard of pandering to sexuality after the whole thing with Tracer's ass.

 

[Tropical]

Honestly, it was a fine little predictable cookie cutter comic, and nothing else.

Seems to be a media blowout as it doesn't really matter who's into who, shouldn't change anything at all, so keep tracing.

 

[Sassafrass]

As I've said elsewhere, sweet, she's gay.
Now buff her fucking ult so it can kill a tank.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Here's the thing though. Is it really a safe move if it makes the company's forums explode with accusations of pandering and shoving agendas down throats? Yes it is safER, but only really by comparison.

That type of talk rarely amounts to anything concrete though. The internet will always be in a tizzy about something. Just giving Tracer a relationship period would likely rub a boat load of people the wrong way.

That's only two. Also, Shepard is someone I hesitate to call a character. She's kind of in a weird zone. She's not full customizable character, but she doesn't exactly have a firm "what would she do in this situation" character either. Plus even then, Liara kind of had to jump through a lot of hoops with the whole "Asari are not technically female" thing, which comes off as kind of creepy the more I think about it. For some goddamn reason a potential TaliXFemShep romance was cut out of ME2, so we didn't get a "real" homosexual relationship until ME3, at which point sausages were added to the menu.

But then there's the other thing; How would Mass Effect have fared if instead of an all-female race of gay aliens it had an all-male one? Or heck, a race of mono-gendered aliens that isn't attractive by any human standards?

Also it seems a little weird to accuse Blizard of pandering to sexuality after the whole thing with Tracer's ass.

I think those are two different things though. I guess we're just in a state now where it's hard to decipher who's doing it just to draw in a particular crowd a.k.a. to pander, and who does it just because they feel like it, or they think it fits/comes natural to the character(s).

 

[fractal_butterfly]

I was too sad about Winston to care who Tracer is shtuping. Poor monkey. :'(

For f*cks sake, he is not a monkey! He is a scientist!

 

[Bedinsis]

On the one hand it is a sign of a more inclusive world to include more sexual preferences in the narrative of video games and that is a good thing.

On the other hand I cannot help thinking some male players going "Aw Yeah!" on the prospect on some hot girl-on-girl action. And I am cynical enough to believe the possibility that this creative decision was made with this fact in mind.

In the same way that Playboy was initially considered feminist because it featured women who was clearly in charge of their sexuality, yet the readership to a large extent ignored that in favour of focussing on said sexuality, who's in charge being irrelevant.

So I'll remain positive and say that this creative decision hopefully helps make people more accepting of homosexuality.

 

[MHR]

I log into my B.net account and start posting my support of it and make the argument to those who oppose it. And then I get jumped on as degrading and dehumanizing lesbians for finding them hot. Apparently I'm liking this situation for the wrong reasons.

Me liking what I like is not oppression. And then similar people go on to protest "kinkshaming." I guess to some people it's only bad if it's in the majority and can't claim victimization.

A thought has occurred to me; Unless it has some bearing in the game, what's the point of making a character gay?

I dunno, what good is story to a game? Bioshock Infinite would be one of the worst over-hyped shooters in history without it.

Bioshock Infinite's story is a comic book. In comparison to the other two games, it's the weakest of the series' "political satire" (To put it one way).

Yeah, but at least Bioshock 1/2 would have had decent gameplay to fall back on if the only story we had was "ruined place with crazies in it, now go kill." The shooter mechanics, enemies, and level design were all superb. Infinite was bland, replaced cool weapons like the crossbow with sniper rifles, and for good measure removed all ammo special ammo and made sure all the regular boring guns had mirrored counterparts for the other faction. Level design was made more linear. And fucking REGENERATING SHIELDS; levels were made more open and combat more cover-based with enemies having leash distances and slower movement speeds. There was skyhook, but that was mostly used to traverse from one linear set-piece to the next.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

It's arguably a big deal because not only is she the first gay character, but she's the main character as well. Like, she's on the box art and correct me if I'm wrong, but would that make her the first gay character to be on a game's box art.

That said, I agree that making her a lesbian is the safe option, because it's the only way to include sexual diversity without turning off the vital teenage boy demographic. If they'd made, say, McCree the gay one, it would have been "Oh, ya made McCree into a fucking poof? What's this Brokeback Mountain shit?"

Tracer on the other hand? "Fucking nice, bro".

We've already seen it before with Mass Effect. It took them three games to include a gay option, but Liara was available for female Shepards from the start. They only were bold enough to introduce a gay option once it was clear it wouldn't hurt sales, and Dragon Age 2 had already introduced a policy of making everything available for everyone.

The first Gay Main Character?

Fear Effect would like to have a word with you:

And any RPG where your main chararcter can be Gay also counts.

But appearenly she's the first Gay Main Character to broke it mainstream, fuck the mainstream.