Overwatch: challenging or harming female representation in games?

With the release of Overwatch I managed about a month or two before I gave in and purchased the game. With the forthcoming news of my friends buying and wanting to play it, I just thought, why not? So I started it up (after a lengthy period of downloading on rural English internet speeds) and was actually pleasantly surprised at the amount of female characters actually listed. instead of an all male, or almost all male and 1 bikini clad woman character list. I actually played games where females outnumbered males which is something i'm not sure I've actually found in video games before, and it got me wondering.

Is Blizzard actually harming or helping in the representation of women in video games?

So what Is the controversy?

We can't forget the controversy of tracer's pose, which blatantly exposes her behind to appeal to who gamers.

But in all honesty I don't even know who. When was the last time anyone was actually bothered about a virtual ass of someone in a game, if they are clearly they need to reevaluate their life's decisions which have culminated to that point. I cant's speak for everyone but if anything its just quite annoying treating male consumers like idiots who are only interested in a female character if she's overly sexualized to ridiculous standards, and treating female consumers in an offensive manner. I'm not saying the male characters aren't a bit ridiculous, but that's not particularly the issue.

Recently one representative called out one of Symmetra's skins, which he claimed appeared to sexualize a Hindu god. Or even Overwatch porn searches increased so maybe I'm wrong? that people are interested in this kind of thing. I always preferred the allure of an actual human being in my adolescent years...

(please say no one is actually watching Overwatch porn for Christ's sake).

So how many characters are actually female?

Well there's 8 in total as of the time of writing with a further 1 more (Ana) being implemented in the near future. Although that doesn't initially look representative there are also a few robotic characters and an ape? So taking them into account and the new addition women make up about 40% of the character list. Whilst it may not be equal - and there may be some controversy over how they are represented - hopefully its a step forward for female gamers in that they actually get to play as multiple characters from their own identity. Blizzard aren't known for their amazing treatment of women in games from Wow Bikini plate armour to said tracer pose mentioned before. But at least they are making some progressions with representations (of many nationalities as well).

I think the point i'm trying to make here is that sometime female sexualization in games is a bit ridiculous. Women play games and can't even be good without being accused of cheating. However one of the top 10 players in the world is female.

In conclusion, if you're bothered by women in games you're already pretty pathetic, and if you're worried about loosing strange poses to expose a characters ass you're pretty pathetic. Hopefully the amount of characters we see are going to be more equal and less ridiculous in the future as the gaming industry matures a little. Do you think Overwatch is making a step towards progression, or is their representation just another marketing ploy to try and get teenagers to buy their game? Is it harmful or positive?

Please comment below with your own opinions.

There's no controversy here, Overwatch represents females very well. Pharah wears a full armor suit, Mei wears a winter coat, Mercy wears armor, Zarya is covered in armor. There's plenty of them and none are suggestive besides maybe Widowmaker. You're making something out of nothing.

One bikini piece in an MMO doesn't equate to anything, especially when the game is from like 2005 or something. And there was nothing wrong with tracers butt pose.

You can't count the robot or the monkey for men either. So technically they're about equal men vs women.

@Crypt_mx: Sorry but that wasn't really the point. I'm not saying how they are dressed is an issue specifically for Overwatch (apart from the pose). The pose was a bit stupid and unnecessary, there isnt really any other way of looking at it apart from they wanted to give it sex appeal which is a bit stupid.

If you read it I did say there was about equal men and women, which was why i was praising it (and I also said about the robot's and monkeys). The point was this is quite progressive for games that usually don't represent female characters in a way that's fair, and that blizzard don't have an amazing history. But, hopefully this is a step in the right direction that just bikini women and 9 foot muscled men in full armour :') !

Yeah, while there are a few characters modeled to be sexually appealing, everyone is for the most part fully clothed in outfits that sort of make sense for a battlefield. By video game standards, that is pretty progressive.

The controversy is manufactured nonsense. Everyone in the game, male and female, is objectified, because they are literally objects in a game with cartoon graphics, not people.

I'm in the "they're making something out of nothing" camp.

It's all made up. As for Tracer, I literally see women walking downtown in tight-as-hell, ass-reinforcing-and-exhibiting yoga pants.

I think it's time for us all to admit that the problem is not how women are portrayed, but how we are not comfortable with the female form.

we went through this about a month ago on these forums, so there's a few opinions in there if you want to search around.

It's a first person game, so i'm not sure how sex would sell when you can't actually see your character...much ado about nothing on that front. Of course, we could point out there's only one black guy. :o

I'm concerned about discrimination against women with ample breasts. I don't feel they are represented well enough in the video games but hopefully one day game engines will have the physics and polygons required to give them the representation they deserve.

Robert 37, you're really a girl, aren't you?

@Bigboi500: 110% been using the pseudo name of Robert on this website for 3 years now so I could finally masquerade as a girl in an obscure post :')

That makes me sad, then.

Meh