I know this isnât what Blizzard means by only doing conventionally attractive heroes from now on but I canât help but feel like this is what theyâre saying:
That only pretty people are important. Only pretty people get to affect the story and the world. Only pretty people get to be heroes. Only if you are fuckable and waifu/husbando bait are you worthy of being included. If you fall outside of conventionally attractive, even if there is a non zero portion of the population that do find you attractive because of your âflawsâ, that you will not included. If you arenât pretty you donât get lines, you donât get screen time, you get pushed off to the side. If youâre not pretty, it doesnât matter if you have people who love you, you arenât worth the effort of including in making content for whether it be lore or skins or voice lines or anything. If you arenât pretty and a villain, that you are beyond hope and not worth being anything more than a one dimensional evil to be vanquished.
I watched old tv and movies these past few days because my internet died from the winter storm and loved how the celebrities looked like people. Sure they were pretty still, but they were approachable and still had their own personality shine through fine lines, crooked teeth, big noses.
People tell me not to worry. âYou are pretty!â They say, to comfort me. But I donât want to be pretty really. I want to be worthy of being included, listened to, loved.
If I had any faith in blizzards writing team I would say that they could make this into an interesting plot point. Something that could make people think and give depth to the lore and various characters motivations.
But that doesnât make people buy skins. So they wonât.
Overwatch has never been perfect. And I still love the game to play and I find parts of the story interesting. But I think part of why I like thinking about it is thinking of how it could have been even better.
