Reaper in Overwatch 2 could be abused to insult people with dark skin and incite hatred. The developers found a good solution.
If there’s a way to make hateful or racist insults in a game, it will sooner or later be found and extensively used by some players. This was also the case in Overwatch 2, where especially Reaper could be used to make pretty questionable and often racially charged statements.
What was the problem with Reaper? In Overwatch 2, players can have their characters speak preset voice lines. With the press of a button, the character then says a line from their past, a cool catchphrase, or a greeting. However, the various voice lines can also be combined. You can start to play one line and then interrupt it with another. For Reaper, the problematic combination was:
- “Black’s my lucky color.”
- “I’ll see you in hell.”
Some turned this into the combination “Black’s […] I’ll see you in hell,” meaning: “Black, I’ll see you in hell.”
While some defend this combination as “funny,” a large part of the community and apparently Blizzard saw it as problematic. This is especially relevant because Overwatch 2 always places great value on diversity and inclusivity and takes a comparatively strict stance against insults of any kind. For instance, in Overwatch, your voice chat can be monitored and evaluated if other players report you for misconduct.
What has Blizzard changed now? In the latest patch, Blizzard specifically changed one voice line from Reaper. There is now a delay after starting the “Black’s my lucky color” line. This line can no longer be interrupted early, making combinations with other lines no longer possible.
Other voice lines are not currently affected by this change.
Do other characters also have such combinations? By the way, Reaper is not the only character where questionable, offensive, or sometimes just funny combinations can be made. Especially “popular” combinations that are shared in the subreddit include the following:
- Ana: “Children […] follow me […] Everyone dies.”
- Reinhardt: “Fetch me my […] Beer!” – “Honor! Justice![…] Beer!”
- D.Va: “The best things in life come in […] D.Va. […] Winky Face!”
What do you think about Blizzard’s approach? A good solution to prevent such lines with Reaper from being possible at all? Or would another approach have been better?
