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Jan. 9th, 2019 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mipeltajaNow that it's been a couple of days, let's see if I can articulate why Soldier 76 being gay is so important to me.
A part of it is being practically a lifelong Blizzard fan via Warcraft. It's a big step for Blizzard, even after the Tracer reveal two years prior. Tracer wasn't the first lesbian in a Blizzard game, though she was and still is by far the most visible and unambiguous one, and that is in itself fantastic. But Soldier 76 is, as far as I know, the first and only unambiguously gay man in a Blizzard game, period. I've seen people say it's nothing to celebrate because the character wasn't known to be gay right out of the gate, or because other games have had more LGBT representation sooner. But I'm already playing Blizzard games, including Overwatch - and so are a lot of other people. Blizzard doesn't need or deserve awards for having one (1) gay man across all of their IPs, but as long as I'm already playing, I'd rather have the one than none, you know? And I reserve the right to be happy about it.
I'm also one of the fools who believed Chris Metzen when he said way back at Blizzcon 2016, I think, that there were several LGBT characters in Overwatch. I believed it because my long experience with Blizzard made me confident that they, and particularly Metzen, would not make that particular promise at that particular time if they did not intend to keep it. Call me naïve, but my faith wasn't misplaced.
As for Overwatch itself, I'm not very invested in the lore of the game. The cinematics look really nice, the comics are a mixed bag. The story is there and I pick it up half by coincidence. The only character that really interests me beyond the superficial level is Ana Amari, who is the actual best. Which is a roundabout way to say that I do not have strong opinions about Soldier 76, or who should have been the first gay man in the game.
But now that the reveal has happened? I love it. I'm not going to tell people who were disappointed because it wasn't someone more interesting or less white that they're wrong, but one complaint you cannot make is that they picked a "safe" character. Soldier 76 could not be further from a safe character to reveal as gay. Alongside Tracer, he is the face of the game. Game mechanics-wise, he's the most accessible hero for players coming from Call of Duty -type shooters (which aren't known for their LGBT-friendly communities), and he's the gruff old soldier archetype that straight male gamers flock to. In short, he's the character most likely to enrage a lot of homophobic fanboys by being gay. For Blizzard, that's incredible that they were willing to do that.
And lastly, just the fact it's an older character is nice, because that's so rare to see in media.
A part of it is being practically a lifelong Blizzard fan via Warcraft. It's a big step for Blizzard, even after the Tracer reveal two years prior. Tracer wasn't the first lesbian in a Blizzard game, though she was and still is by far the most visible and unambiguous one, and that is in itself fantastic. But Soldier 76 is, as far as I know, the first and only unambiguously gay man in a Blizzard game, period. I've seen people say it's nothing to celebrate because the character wasn't known to be gay right out of the gate, or because other games have had more LGBT representation sooner. But I'm already playing Blizzard games, including Overwatch - and so are a lot of other people. Blizzard doesn't need or deserve awards for having one (1) gay man across all of their IPs, but as long as I'm already playing, I'd rather have the one than none, you know? And I reserve the right to be happy about it.
I'm also one of the fools who believed Chris Metzen when he said way back at Blizzcon 2016, I think, that there were several LGBT characters in Overwatch. I believed it because my long experience with Blizzard made me confident that they, and particularly Metzen, would not make that particular promise at that particular time if they did not intend to keep it. Call me naïve, but my faith wasn't misplaced.
As for Overwatch itself, I'm not very invested in the lore of the game. The cinematics look really nice, the comics are a mixed bag. The story is there and I pick it up half by coincidence. The only character that really interests me beyond the superficial level is Ana Amari, who is the actual best. Which is a roundabout way to say that I do not have strong opinions about Soldier 76, or who should have been the first gay man in the game.
But now that the reveal has happened? I love it. I'm not going to tell people who were disappointed because it wasn't someone more interesting or less white that they're wrong, but one complaint you cannot make is that they picked a "safe" character. Soldier 76 could not be further from a safe character to reveal as gay. Alongside Tracer, he is the face of the game. Game mechanics-wise, he's the most accessible hero for players coming from Call of Duty -type shooters (which aren't known for their LGBT-friendly communities), and he's the gruff old soldier archetype that straight male gamers flock to. In short, he's the character most likely to enrage a lot of homophobic fanboys by being gay. For Blizzard, that's incredible that they were willing to do that.
And lastly, just the fact it's an older character is nice, because that's so rare to see in media.
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Date: 2019-01-09 11:36 pm (UTC)Yeah.
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Date: 2019-01-18 06:21 am (UTC)Except the part about being a fool to believe in Metz. I sometimes wonder if he got pushed out because he was trying to be more progressive than they could handle?)
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Date: 2019-01-18 09:09 am (UTC)