The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented. 'We'll replace the pose,' Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan wrote in the final post of the thread. 'We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. But one response mattered most - and shut down the thread. You've been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a pose like this undermines so much of the good you've already done.'įipps' original post spawned hundreds of responses from other Overwatch players, some of which agreed with the argument and others who vehemently opposed any alteration to Tracer. 'What I'm asking is that as you continue to add to the cast and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong female characters. 'This pose says to the player base, oh we've got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game. ' isn't a character who is in part defined by flaunting her sexuality,' Fipps wrote. (A handful of male characters, like Hanzo and McCree, also share this pose.)

In fact, Widowmaker also has a similar 'over the shoulder' victory pose, and Blizzard has made no indication her version of the pose will go away. It just reduces to another bland female sex symbol.'įipps argues that that sort of pose is appropriate, from a character standpoint, for another Overwatch hero: the sultry French assassin Widowmaker. 'It's not fun, its not silly, it has nothing to do with being a fast elite killer. 'What about this pose has anything to do with the character you're building in ?' Fipps said. But her 'over the shoulder' victory pose seems out of place. Her body seems to be comprised of about 95% spunk.'įipps notes that the majority of the artwork and videos for Tracer support those character traits.

When we look at the way she's portrayed in promotional media, lore, and art in game we know a few things about her: She's fast. From a marketing standpoint, she's the star of the show. 'With that being said, lets talk about Tracer. 'From Mei to Zarya to Widowmaker the female cast reflects a large spectrum of personalities and player fantasies,' Fipps wrote. A poster by the name of 'Fipps' posted a lengthy critique of Tracer's pose, commending Blizzard for creating a 'diverse, interesting, and compelling' cast of female heroes, but noting that one Tracer pose in particular seems ill-suited for the character. The removal of the pose in question, which applies to the character Tracer, the closest thing Overwatch has had to a mascot, stemmed from a post on the game's beta feedback forums. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan confirmed the removal on the game's forums, saying the developer will 'continue to try to do better.' Maybe we'll get some voice lines in the future that reference whatever it was that was happening between Genji and Mercy in that same comic.The creators of Overwatch are facing a new controversy, this time over a butt.īlizzard said today it will remove a victory pose from its upcoming shooter Overwatch after receiving feedback from a player who criticized the pose as overly sexualized and unbefitting the character's personality. Regardless, it's pretty awesome that this is being added into the game. She was seen on Earth as recently as December and as far as we know only Winston ever made it off the moon (and possibly another genetically enhanced gorilla named Hammond). Does that mean that Emily is on the moon? Probably not. The odd thing about this line is that Tracer is wondering if she has time to visit Emily while on the moon. Characters like Ana, Reinhardt, and Zarya will refer to past events, talk about each other, or reference people outside of the game's hero pool when on certain maps. It isn't unusual for characters in Overwatch to reference things that happen outside the confines of multiplayer battles. The line, 'Wonder if I have time to visit Emily? No, better stay focused,' is currently only on the PTR along with the new map, but should be available on all platforms soon.

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