Why Overwatch's Two Gay Characters Are So Important

Contents:

• BLIZZARD REVEALS THAT SOLDIER: 76 IS GAY - BUT IT ISN’T ENOUGH
• BLIZZARD CONFIRMS TRACER IS GAY NEW OVERWATCH HOLIDAY COMIC
• ‘FRAT BOY’ CULTURE AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD: GROPG, JUNK-GRAB ‘GAY CHICKEN’ GAME, ‘THE COSBY SUE,’ CED CALIFORNIA SU. EMPLOYE WALK OUT
• BLIZZARD FORC NAME CHANGE FOR GAY GUILD
• MEN WERE SEXUALLY HARASSED AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD GAM OF ‘GAY CHICKEN’, CLAIMS FORMER EMPLOYEE
• WHY OVERWATCH'S GAY CHARACTERS ARE SO IMPORTANT
• BLIZZARD FORCIBLY CHANG GAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT GUILD NAME
• ‘FRAT BOY’ CULTURE AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD: GROPG, JUNK-GRAB ‘GAY CHICKEN’ GAME, ‘THE COSBY SUE,’ CED CALIFORNIA SU. EMPLOYE WALK OUT

BLIZZARD REVEALS THAT SOLDIER: 76 IS GAY - BUT IT ISN’T ENOUGH

The llaboratn aims to aid the Center’s missn to advote on behalf of the Orange County Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Queer/Qutng muni and provi servic that ensure s well-beg and posive inty. Blizzard reveals that Overwatch's Soldier: 76 is gay - but they n do better than an isolated short story that might also be a PR distractn.

BLIZZARD CONFIRMS TRACER IS GAY NEW OVERWATCH HOLIDAY COMIC

Related: How Pennywise and The Babadook Beme Gay Ins.

Fans had so many qutns that the wrer of the piece, Michael Chu, took to Twter to nfirm that, y, Jack Morrison is a gay man. The problem to foc when we take a step back and realize that a huge portn of the fan base, the nsole players, never see the one piece of story ntent that picts Soldier: 76 as beg gay.

‘FRAT BOY’ CULTURE AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD: GROPG, JUNK-GRAB ‘GAY CHICKEN’ GAME, ‘THE COSBY SUE,’ CED CALIFORNIA SU. EMPLOYE WALK OUT

We would all do well to remember that, bee as fantastic as is that Overwatch now has a playable, nonilly gay character, Blizzard is a lossal rporatn. They played safe wh the reveal that Jack Morrison is gay, relegatg to an piece of world-buildg lore that only a mory of players will see.

Rowlg famoly clared that Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore was gay years after the re books were fished whout ever puttg that to the actual text of her works. Blizzard's Very Convenient Gay Smokcreen.

The January 7 announcement of a gay Soldier: 76 giv the game a major posive PR boost and shifts the story away om narrativ about harassment the muny and the subset of toxic profsnal players.

BLIZZARD FORC NAME CHANGE FOR GAY GUILD

However, nothg about the story or what was clud the update self directly speaks to Soldier: 76 as a gay man that uldn't have been done sce Jeff Kaplan teased the update on January 4. If we put on some til nspiracy hats, isn't a huge stretch to nsir that a huge pany might leverage an upg short story release to clu a brief alln to a gay romance. In a recent holiday special edn ic, the creators at Blizzard have nonilly nfirmed Tracer as beg a gay woman.

Blizzard has been alludg to the fact that an openly gay character exists Overwatch for some time, first wh mors and then wh hts alludg to the fact that would be revealed soon. Will Zarya — who already has a vol fanbase celebratg her as a gay in — be revealed to be nonilly lbian?

MEN WERE SEXUALLY HARASSED AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD GAM OF ‘GAY CHICKEN’, CLAIMS FORMER EMPLOYEE

"They mentn 'plural' [LGBTQ Overwatch characters], and if Zarya isn't one, I'm gog to be very upset ed, " Reddor happon wrote the /r/gaymers subredd rponse to one er plag that Zarya was too stereotypilly lbian.

"Another menter the /r/Overwatch subredd said they hoped Mei would be tablished as nonilly gay, particularly light of the way she ldly tells Junkrat to "look somewhere else" when he mak a remark about her wter, the /r/Overwatch subredd seems to be filled wh humoro, lighthearted ments between the legimate speculatn. For example, reddor le_sweetie_man said:Select groups of self proclaimed hardre gamers are sexist, racist and homophobic wh a strange abily to adm that they are. Senr managers at “Call of Duty” played a “game” lled “gay chicken” where “the first man to grab the others' junk won.

WHY OVERWATCH'S GAY CHARACTERS ARE SO IMPORTANT

Former Blizzard employee Cher Srlett affirmed this as well, tellg Kotaku that senr managers at the “Call of Duty” veloper and publisher played a “game” lled “gay chicken” where “the first man to grab the others' junk won. Publisher renam "Gay Boys" as "Guild ZFXPK" rponse to player reports, chang back but says n't stop happeng aga.

Ars Techni today reported that Blizzard forced a guild by the name of "Gay Boys" to change s name this week a move that echoed a 2006 crackdown on one player's efforts to set up an "LGB iendly" player guild.

On Wednday, Blizzard changed the guild's name om Gay Boys to Guild ZFXPK, wh a Blizzard Ctomer Service email explag that the change was ma after "your fellow players reported your -game name as appropriate multiple tim.

BLIZZARD FORCIBLY CHANG GAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT GUILD NAME

Gay Boys member Ah Jilani told Ars Techni, "If you reviewed my chat logs, you would see multiple msag om dividuals through my recment procs of gettg to where we are today, wh dividuals msagg 'Fuck the gays, reported, ' amongst other extremely hateful and discrimatg ments... In an update to the Ars Techni article, a guild member said the Gay Boys name had been rtored, but ctomer service had warned them that player reports may see tomatilly changed aga the future if other players ntue to report , as there is no way to prevent that om happeng.

Former Blizzard employee Cher Srlett told Kotaku that male employe, cludg senr managers, would engage gam of “gay chicken” where “the first man to grab the others’ junk won”. For more gamg news, follow Gaymeo on Facebook and Twter.

Update: A tweet om lead wrer Michael Chu nfirms that Soldier intifi as gay. “Both intify as gay. Both intify as gay.

‘FRAT BOY’ CULTURE AT ACTIVISN BLIZZARD: GROPG, JUNK-GRAB ‘GAY CHICKEN’ GAME, ‘THE COSBY SUE,’ CED CALIFORNIA SU. EMPLOYE WALK OUT

Rearch shows that many ntent moratn programs block words like “lbian, ” “gay, ” or “sapphic. ” This not only punish gamers who e the terms as sults but also those who e them for self-exprsn, cludg a fellow Redd poster whose ername, “GaymFace, ” (a play on the phrase “game face”) earned him a seven-day spensn. GaymFace, too, took to Redd to exprs his disntent: “I’m a member of the LGBT muny and have proudly been playg unr this name for 5+ years.

You’ll fd a lbian rd for Tracer, a gay rd for Soldier: 76, a pansexual rd for Lifeweaver, as well as a bisexual rd for Baptiste and a lbian rd for Pharah. Gay Flag.