Anyone in the gaming community, and many outside of it, is familiar with Overwatch: Blizzard’s immensely popular team based shooter. It’s dynamic cast of characters offers a variety of play styles, and it’s objective based gameplay creates an environment where teamwork is key. Since its release, Overwatch has changed with the addition of more characters and maps, rebuilds of previous characters, and additional game modes. Blizzard also has an online comic book series where fans can get a glimpse of what their favorite characters are doing when they aren’t capping a point or escorting a payload. In the newest issue titled Reflections, fans learned that Tracer is homosexual. This may appear to be a small detail for some, but for others, and the gayming community as a whole, this marks a significant moment in the culture of video games.
Before Reflections was released, there were already rumors that Blizzard was going to announce a gay character. Some assumed it would be a new character to the game, but others guessed it would be an existing character. Personally, I wish they had made expected character Doomfist homosexual. Imagine how terrifying that ultimate would be. The fact that Blizzard revealed beloved Brit Tracer’s homosexuality public is a far greater act than most people realize. For one thing, Tracer is the poster character for the series. She was the first character everyone saw, and she’s the only character on the cover of physical game itself. She’s the Mario of Blizzard, but here’s the thing, Mario isn’t gay. Sonic, Donkey Kong, Master Chief, Link, Gordon Freeman, Cloud: they are all openly straight or non-sexualized characters. Tracer isn’t the first gay character in a videogame, but she is the first solely gay main character in a major game like Overwatch.
The gay community doesn’t have many videogame characters that they can proudly say relate to them. Two would be Max and Chloe, pictured above, from the Life is Strange series, but most of the game is ambiguous about their relationship. Another example is Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series; however, this character isn’t gay by default. Players have to choose to engage in a relationship with a man, or woman of they choose to make Shepard female, and this is only possible in the third installment. There are also a handful of gay side characters across several different series, but no other definitely gay character takes on the poster boy or girl role as much as Tracer. That is major step forward in a community dominated by perceived heterosexual ultra-males. I’m looking at you Duke Nukem.
In a world where many movies, games, and television shows still don’t pass the Bechdel test, It is a desperately needed breath of fresh air for Tracer to finally be out of the closet. It might not matter to you. You might not think it’s significant, but for a lot of people out there it is a big moment. When they write books about the current area of video games- yes, video game history books do exist- Tracer will be much more than a footnote. Developers and publishers need to go beyond the standard ubermensch and create a greater variety leading characters for the gaming community. Forty-eight percent of women say they play video games. Fifty percent of men call themselves gamers. With only a 2% difference, why aren’t all women represented to a greater degree in major titles? That is a question for the publishers to answer, and when everyone starts asking it they will have to answer.
Reflections can be found here: https://comic.playoverwatch.com/en-us/tracer-reflections
