SHARE THIS:

***Update 1 – 2016-03-29 – 13:45 CEST***

Before I even kick-off this update I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who stood up against Blizzards SJW nonsense last night (95% want Tracer´s butt pose to be left alone via Straw Poll, plus 3,300 people have voted so far). So give yourself a round of applause, because your worth it (a lot of people won´t give Blizzard another dime after their Tracer “anti-butt” stunt). With that said though, Blizzard has now activated their full damage control plasma shield. You see. Jeffrey Kaplan (Aka “Tigole”) posted the following on the “Overwatch” forum today:

“Well, that escalated quickly…

While I stand by my previous comment, I realize I should have been more clear. As the game director, I have final creative say over what does or does not go into the game. With this particular decision, it was an easy one to make—not just for me, but for the art team as well. We actually already have an alternate pose that we love and we feel speaks more to the character of Tracer. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision—getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test—but it wasn’t the only factor. We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.

We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.

We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision, and that’s okay. That’s what these kinds of public tests are for. This wasn’t pandering or caving, though. This was the right call from our perspective, and we think the game will be just as fun the next time you play it.

If it isn’t, feel free to continue sharing your concerns, thoughts, and feedback about this and other issues you may have with the game, please just keep the discussion respectful.

Thanks,jeffrey (btw, unlocking this thread. please continue the discussion here)” – Jeffrey Kaplan (Aka “Tigole”), game designer at Blizzard



So there you have it folks, Blizzard is now a full-blown SJW loving company. Well, I really hope that Blizzard are going to enjoy that transformation, because I´m not going to support them with my money anymore.

Source:

Blizzard

————————————————–

Okay, I´m going to admit right away that this was an early (and bad) April 1st kind of joke. Sadly enough though, that was not the case (at least not this time). Yes, it´s true. Blizzard is removing Tracer´s behind pose from Overwatch. As “some” people have found it to be “sexualized” and “too sexual”. And that my Gamer friends is just pure madness and nonsense. And doesn´t all of this sound awfully familiar? You know, like in the case with R-Mika´s butt-slap? Well, this seems to have become a very negative kind of trend among Western developers and publishers. As everything appears to be “problematic“, “triggering”, “offending” and “sexist” now.

In my opinion, enough is enough. It´s time for us to put the fot down against those who wants to remove everything that offends them from our games, because if this trend don´t die out. Then we might not even be able to play as females in games at all (unless they are covered up from top to toe). Well, I don´t know about you, but that sure isn´t the kind of games and industry that I want to support.

And speaking of which, Gamers are up in arms over Blizzard´s bad decision to remove Tracer´s behind pose from Overwatch:

Personally, I don´t get what´s so controversial about a video game female´s behind. Sure, I can only speak for myself of course. Nevertheless, the “Overwatch” forum got caught on fire when Fipps published his (or her) post earlier today (a lot of people don´t agree with Fipps):

“WHAT? What about this pose has anything to do with the character you’re building in tracer? It’s not fun, its not silly, it has nothing to do with being a fast elite killer. It just reduces tracer to another bland female sex symbol.

We aren’t looking at a widowmaker pose here, this isn’t a character who is in part defined by flaunting her sexuality. 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.

Getting art into a triple A game isn’t a small task, it has to go through an implementer, a team lead, an art director, and a creative director. This is a team effort. And I believe the team is responsible for upholding the great example overwatch can set to the rest of the industry for creating strong female characters.

I have a young daughter that everyday when I wake up wants to watch the recall trailer again. She knows who tracer is, and as she grows up, she can grow up alongside these characters.

What I’m asking is that as you continue to add to the overwatch cast and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong female characters. You’ve been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a tracer pose like this undermines so much of the good you’ve already done.” – Fipps, a “Overwatch” player and mother (or father)

I understand where Fipps is coming from. However, I would like to point out the following things:

1. A lot of the “Overwatch” characters have over the shoulder poses that show off their backside (male as female)

2. Blizzard has the artistic freedom to create whatever worlds and characters that they may desire. You are free to disagree with Blizzard´s creations, but no one should be able to force them to change any of their creations due to any “I´m feeling offended” rants.

3. Shouldn´t parents (or who ever this may concern) be more worried about what MTV airs 24/7? (Miley Cyrus, Iggy Iglesias, Nicki Minaj and so on) As MTV spits out much worse stuff every day of the week.

4. Who comes that Fipps doesn´t bother about Widow being sexualized? Is it perhaps because she or he (and her/his daughter) sees her as a “bad guy”?

5. Tracer wears a jumpsuit kind of outfit, and that makes her aerodynamic. And that allows Tracer to perform advance gymnastic moves (just like real-life athletic females in the Gym, the Olympics and so on). In short, it´s not about being “too sexualized”. As most athletic clothes sit very close to the skin (it´s the same thing for male athletics).

he intention.

However, I hardly doubt that it matters all that much what I have to say. Since I haven´t had much luck in the past when it comes to proving my points to people who have already made up their mind about things…Even so, I still wish that people would stop crying wolf over things such as this. I mean, our world hasn´t been this dark and evil since World World II. And still, people whine and rant over a digital female´s backside…Let´s just say that I think that we got more important “problems” to take care of at the moment (ISIS, global warming etc).

With that said, what do you guys and girls think about all of this? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Source:

Chel Bunny

The E-sports writer

Blizzard



Robin “V-Act” Ek

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @TheGamingGround

SHARE THIS: Twitter

Facebook

Reddit



More by Robin Ek:

Tags: Blizzard, E-Sport, Overwatch, Tracer, TracerGate