Tracer from Overwatch Confirmed as a Lesbian.

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Well she can now join Sera in the Cockney Lesbian club

 

[Kyrian007]

Wow, incredible. Someone wrote a story for an online shooter. Fascinating.

What, one of the characters is gay... who gives a shit? Gay or not, backstory of any kind or just the neutral mask... they only exist to get shot 57 times and die over and over and over and over. Giving a shooter a story, neat I guess but does it change the fact that struggle is ultimately pointless because everyone is immortal and the fights are just makework for iron and lead manufacturers? Kind of like in Titanfall where the war only exists to prop up the titan manufacturing industry on a steady diet of cloned soldier corpses. A story for an online shooter. I finally found something even more worthless than the story in a vs fighter.

 

[EternallyBored]

Wow, incredible. Someone wrote a story for an online shooter. Fascinating.

What, one of the characters is gay... who gives a shit? Gay or not, backstory of any kind or just the neutral mask... they only exist to get shot 57 times and die over and over and over and over. Giving a shooter a story, neat I guess but does it change the fact that struggle is ultimately pointless because everyone is immortal and the fights are just makework for iron and lead manufacturers? Kind of like in Titanfall where the war only exists to prop up the titan manufacturing industry on a steady diet of cloned soldier corpses. A story for an online shooter. I finally found something even more worthless than the story in a vs fighter.

Generally in games like this, the backstory serves one of two purposes, to give context to the setting, i.e. worldbuilding, or to build attachment to the characters.

In Overwatch's case, they do both, in this case its mostly the latter, and given the enthusiasm, fan art, cosplay, and excitement surrounding the characters, there are a lot of people that do care. Sort of like how there is a significant number of people that haven't played TF2 but still swarm all over Youtuve whenever Valve posts a new TF2 character video.

People love the characters in this particular Blizzard property, and want to see more of them, shorts, comics, cosplay, fan art, etc. etc. etc. There is demand, very fervent demand, and Blizzard wants to meet it.

If nothing else it can't hurt, between two identical shooter games, where one has fleshed out characters and interesting worldbuilding, and the other does not, the former will almost always attract more people, story and setting may not matter to you for a game like this, but Overwatch and TF2 serve as good examples that people do care about that kind of thing.

 

[Kyrian007]

Wow, incredible. Someone wrote a story for an online shooter. Fascinating.

What, one of the characters is gay... who gives a shit? Gay or not, backstory of any kind or just the neutral mask... they only exist to get shot 57 times and die over and over and over and over. Giving a shooter a story, neat I guess but does it change the fact that struggle is ultimately pointless because everyone is immortal and the fights are just makework for iron and lead manufacturers? Kind of like in Titanfall where the war only exists to prop up the titan manufacturing industry on a steady diet of cloned soldier corpses. A story for an online shooter. I finally found something even more worthless than the story in a vs fighter.

Generally in games like this, the backstory serves one of two purposes, to give context to the setting, i.e. worldbuilding, or to build attachment to the characters.

In Overwatch's case, they do both, in this case its mostly the latter, and given the enthusiasm, fan art, cosplay, and excitement surrounding the characters, there are a lot of people that do care. Sort of like how there is a significant number of people that haven't played TF2 but still swarm all over Youtuve whenever Valve posts a new TF2 character video.

People love the characters in this particular Blizzard property, and want to see more of them, shorts, comics, cosplay, fan art, etc. etc. etc. There is demand, very fervent demand, and Blizzard wants to meet it.

If nothing else it can't hurt, between two identical shooter games, where one has fleshed out characters and interesting worldbuilding, and the other does not, the former will almost always attract more people, story and setting may not matter to you for a game like this, but Overwatch and TF2 serve as good examples that people do care about that kind of thing.

Yeah, that's why I said "Neat, I guess." Didn't say it couldn't be entertaining... lots of pointless things are funny. Red vs Blue is a thing. It makes meta jokes about being in an online shooter and can on rare occasions be kind of entertaining. But just like Tracer being gay doesn't actually change anything about the game in real terms... neither does anything anyone writes in a comic.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Wouldn't care much normally, but the fact that Widow isn't her gf should generate that extra amount of salt. IDK, maybe it's a weird kind of schadenfreude, but i like when shippers get butthurt about these things.

But I wonder what this will do to all the porn of her.

Pal, i can assure you, characters' established sexuality means nothing to porn artists.

If that is the case, then my yuri anime female characters wouldn't be kept pure out of respect to the girl. Not to mention actual homosexuality in anime tends to scare off fujoshi.

 

[EternallyBored]

Yeah, that's why I said "Neat, I guess." Didn't say it couldn't be entertaining... lots of pointless things are funny. Red vs Blue is a thing. It makes meta jokes about being in an online shooter and can on rare occasions be kind of entertaining. But just like Tracer being gay doesn't actually change anything about the game in real terms... neither does anything anyone writes in a comic.

If we are going to go that route, then the game itself doesn't change the comic, so for someone more interested in the characters than the gameplay, then the game is itself just "neat I guess". The ancillary comics aren't really any more or less pointless than the game itself. The game is a semi-competitive shooter that people derive enjoyment from, likewise, the comic is ancillary material that you can derive enjoyment from, just like the game itself.

Tracer being gay doesn't change anything about the game, except some peoples perception of the character, for some it means nothing, for others, they enjoy the expanded lore or character building, or just like the slice of life setting of something like this, its all about enjoyment, both the game and the comic serve roughly the same purpose: entertainment.

It changes nothing about the game for you, for other people it does matter, and they appreciate that Blizzard tries to build a world around its shooter game, for them it does effect the game, because part of their enjoyment of the game comes from their enthusiasm for the characters, or setting, or worldbuilding.

 

[Raddra]

The comic was nice, whats the problem?

Who cares what someone's orientation is? Does everyone have to be straight or something?

 

[theevilgenius60]

My reaction: Whooooooo gives a shit?

You can find around a dozen people in this thread. Is that a serious question, or are you trying to pretend that your opinion is the majority?

The only people who care about this are Waifu Warriors and Rule 34 artists.

Classy.

Not meant to be classy, just as a flip remark, but tell me. Other than those two groups, who would really care?

These bizarre little groups called "people who just really like the idea." I like it and I care. So am I a rule 34 artist or a waifu warrior?

Like it all you want, my point was that the people all booty blasted about it required a reason. Those are the only two I could think of. Liking it? There's several reasons I can think of for that

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

This isn't news to me.

Tracer/Widowmaker is easily the most popular pairing that I - *cough* - "other people" have observed, second hand, on the internet, in a professional manner and from a safe and dignified distance.

 

[Kyrian007]

Then the game itself doesn't change the comic, so for someone more interested in the characters than the gameplay, then the game is itself just "neat I guess". The ancillary comics aren't really any more or less pointless than the game itself.

Yes, that one. That's the point I was getting at. For me shooters are fun for a short time (in my case a round or two) then dropped and forgotten. Like their stories. Like vs. fighters. And it matters as much to me as much as someone's preference. Very little to none.

 

[aozgolo]

People get very passionate about video games, and I think it's important to take a step back and acknowledge that what is important to gamers is not a one-size-fits-all shoe. While many might react to this as "it's stupid romance crap with no bearing on gameplay, who cares" for many, the aspects of narrative, character building, and romance are of critical importance. It's easy to say that one gamer's worthless fluff, is another gamer's sole reason for playing, although neither stances alone encompass all possible viewpoints. We do no favors to anyone by reducing a section of a fanbase down to some witty insult. People develop attachments to fictitious characters across all media, and care about what happens to them, and the relationships they have, and when something unexpected happens to a character they care about, they have strong reactions. I have no doubt there may be some rather base homophobic rejections to this particular case, but I also think that it's just as likely that people are having a strong reaction because the character's canon is a major departure from their expectation, and in a game like Overwatch where diverse characters are so prevalent, the shipping community is bound to be rather attached to it's many possibilities for establishing their own "one true pairing", and to have any pairing canonized is bound to have backlash. Overall it's a healthy symptom of a franchise that is doing something interesting.

 

[DoPo]

Sheesh, imagine if people realised that, say, the ranger from Path of Exile was a lesbian. I wonder what would happen then.

...actually, as far as I know nothing much happened. I'm not entirely sure why this requires that much publicity and apparently outrage.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Sheesh, imagine if people realised that, say, the ranger from Path of Exile was a lesbian. I wonder what would happen then.

...actually, as far as I know nothing much happened. I'm not entirely sure why this requires that much publicity and apparently outrage.

I'm guessing that's because no one really knows who "the ranger from path of exile" is, and they consequently don't give a shit. Tracer is million peoples' waifu.

It's the difference between "Insert super famous and recogniseable hollywood starlet from this year's runaway blockbuster movie here" and "insert actor for that minor character from that TV show you half remember from last year" is gay.

I suppose you know this and yours was some sort of "who gives a shit" comment, but I felt I'd do the take it literally thing and post an answer to your indirect question because I'm bored.

 

[Erttheking]

My reaction: Whooooooo gives a shit?

You can find around a dozen people in this thread. Is that a serious question, or are you trying to pretend that your opinion is the majority?

The only people who care about this are Waifu Warriors and Rule 34 artists.

Classy.

Not meant to be classy, just as a flip remark, but tell me. Other than those two groups, who would really care?

These bizarre little groups called "people who just really like the idea." I like it and I care. So am I a rule 34 artist or a waifu warrior?

Like it all you want, my point was that the people all booty blasted about it required a reason. Those are the only two I could think of. Liking it? There's several reasons I can think of for that

That's not what you said. What you said was "the only people who care about this are-" And as I said, I care. Hell, plenty of people in this thread care. We think it's a good direction for the game.

 

[RJ 17]

Wouldn't care much normally, but the fact that Widow isn't her gf should generate that extra amount of salt. IDK, maybe it's a weird kind of schadenfreude, but i like when shippers get butthurt about these things.

But I wonder what this will do to all the porn of her.

Pal, i can assure you, characters' established sexuality means nothing to porn artists.

Well, I've seen some yuri art of her.

Spoiler

But I don't think I've seen anything explicit. Most of it is straight porn. I'm looking forward to it.

You, sir, haven't been looking hard enough. :^)

 

[go-10]

maybe I missed something but could Tracer always remove the chest piece? Wasn't that the only thing keeping her from phasing out of time and reality?

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Wouldn't care much normally, but the fact that Widow isn't her gf should generate that extra amount of salt. IDK, maybe it's a weird kind of schadenfreude, but i like when shippers get butthurt about these things.

But I wonder what this will do to all the porn of her.

Pal, i can assure you, characters' established sexuality means nothing to porn artists.

Well, I've seen some yuri art of her.

Spoiler

But I don't think I've seen anything explicit. Most of it is straight porn. I'm looking forward to it.

I think i saw that artwork before. Before Blizzard announced Tracer being gay. So yeah, i'm sure straight porn and Widow shipping will continue as well, along with lewd drawings of Tracer and her official girlfriend.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

SNIP

Well put indeed.
I hate to use the term 'normal' because it galvanizes anyone not under that umbrella, but same with me with heterosexual sexuality. I just assume heterosexual, because its the statistically more likely sexuality, but in the event of a homosexual relationship(regardless of gender), I just shrug as well. Neat. How does it add to the gameplay, etc...

But I guess that's prejudice? Technically? Pre-judging? Anyway, I'll stop worrying about the implied sexuality of a fictional character of a game I don't play.

I don't assume, but I go with who makes the cutest ships.

It is prejudice. It wasn't implied but rather outright showed.

 

[McElroy]

Hell, plenty of people in this thread care. We think it's a good direction for the game.

As a True Gamer Extraordinaire I can't even fathom this perspective. How can something that doesn't have anything to do with the game be a good direction for the game? This is the sort of thrash I'd expect in the back of a cereal package - that just screams skewed priorities to me. However, I'm pretty confident Blizzard knows how to keep the supplementary shit separate from the gameplay crap. Just... blows my mind every time.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

maybe I missed something but could Tracer always remove the chest piece? Wasn't that the only thing keeping her from pashing out of time and reality?

As per Blizzard, it's hanging out on the floor.

Technically, it just has to be nearby. She wears it on her chest in combat because she zips around like a caffeinated ferret.