A female player of Overwatch uploaded a video clip on Twitter. It shows what she has to listen to in terms of remarks from male teammates during a competitive match.
This is the tweet: The player Cupcake uploaded a video on Twitter, to which she says: “Just in case someone forgot what it’s like for women to play Overwatch.”
In the video, the men make some remarks:
- “I’m sorry to be the one to say this, but can you please log on to Mercy?” – A reference to the stereotype that women should play the healer in Overwatch.
- “Shut up and make us sandwiches” – comes next as a remark when the player asks if the “guys” treat all women playing ranked like that – “Make me a sandwich” is a well-known phrase in pop culture. It is used to refer women back to the kitchen.
The player states that these are not just isolated sexist remarks; the entire lobby participated and reinforced this sexist behavior.
Men feel the same vs. Yes, this is truly a problem
This is how players react: There are two major trends:
- Some say that men in Overwatch don’t have it any better. Even as a man, you’ll get flamed in Overwatch – the tone is just rough in online gaming. Twitch streamers like xQc exemplify this. Some even say the player probably deserved the ridicule and didn’t play well enough. She needs to toughen up.
- Others, however, show solidarity with the player. They say that this is also the reason why they feel uncomfortable in Overwatch or have stopped speaking in voice chat.
The tweet has now garnered over 200,000 views and numerous comments and retweets.
So, it is a topic that still moves the Overwatch community – even though it has been talked about so many times before.
What’s behind it: Overwatch is designed by Blizzard as a game that attracts a diverse audience of men and women, young and old, from many cultural backgrounds. For example, Tracer, the cover heroine of the game, is gay.
Aggressive behavior aimed at hitting others at their perceived weak point and hurting them, as is common in typical online games, does not fit this approach.
Overwatch has already done quite a bit, but toxicity remains a problem.
The title image is a fan art by MICE-KING (link to DeviantArt account).
