The Overwatch heroine D.Va remains a symbol for women’s rights in South Korea. Female players, in particular, face significant challenges there.

Recently, we reported that D.Va and her rabbit were an important symbol at the “Women’s March”. But the movement goes even further. The group “For D.Va”, also known as the “National D.Va Association” in South Korea, utilizes the Overwatch heroine as a mascot. The group originally started as a protest against South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, who wanted to downplay criticism by stating that “she is just a woman,” while being deeply embroiled in various corruption scandals.

However, even after the president’s suspension, “For D.Va” continues to exist to promote gender equality in the gaming scene – with D.Va as a symbol.

Kotaku contacted one of the members and asked many questions about the movement and the perception of women in the national and international gaming scene.

“We just want people to treat women as equal human beings in the gaming scene so that we are not continuously insulted or sexually harassed while playing games.”

Especially in South Korea, the country that has produced so many great players, the discrimination against women in this area is particularly high.

We reported on the case of the young player Geguri, who was so good at handling Zarya that she was accused of cheating and hacking. Even after Blizzard cleared her, the pressure continued to mount. Ultimately, she felt compelled to publicly demonstrate her skills. She managed to do so, although she ended up crying from the weight and pressure.

“It has almost become routine for female players to be harassed in chat, especially with sexual insults like ‘slut’ or ‘whore’. The thought is widespread in Korea that women cannot play games, and if they have a high rank, it must have been achieved through hacks or because they flirted with men.”

How male players interact with D.Va in the game also reveals a lot about how they think about women. “For example, D.Va’s skin for the Year of the Rooster – a traditional Hanbok design – causes many men to constantly look under D.Va’s skirt as a humiliation tactic against their opponents.”

Also currently in Overwatch: The next hero Doomfist is sneaking in – someone is stealing his glove!

Your opinion is important to us!

Do you like the article? Then let us know!

I like it! Comment

Excluding other input options for Overwatch on PS4 and Xbox One excludes many players with disabilities.

Last week, Jeff Kaplan, the Game Director of Overwatch, caused a stir with a statement on the official forum. He urged Sony and Microsoft to ban keyboards and mice as input devices from their consoles or to make it more accessible for all players to create a fair playing field.

While a large part of the player base supported this demand, there was also criticism from entirely unexpected quarters.

Steven Spohn from Ablegamers.org (link to the site), which offers players with disabilities various devices to play games using movements of their eyes or other inputs, sharply criticizes this statement from Kaplan. The colleagues from Polygon conducted an interview with Spohn, where he addressed the issues:

“Disabling the ‘Input Conversion’ and banning alternative input devices would render a large part of the assistive technology currently available on the market useless. We’re talking about things like eye-tracking via USB port or a mouth controller that people with certain disabilities use.”

In general, Spohn does not see a major problem in allowing multiple input options.

“Mouse and keyboard allow you to aim more precisely, just as a gamepad lets you mash buttons faster. Do these players have an advantage? Of course. Is it unfair? No. Because if it matters so much to you that you have a slight disadvantage because you’re playing with a controller, then you should just get the input device that gives you a slight advantage.”

Cortyn says: A difficult decision that must be made there. What weighs heavier here: the inclusion of players with disabilities or fairness for a large part of the player base on consoles? I don’t believe there is a clear answer or a definite solution to this problem. However, it shows again that seemingly “simple” issues like keyboard and mouse support can often have complex repercussions for other players that you may not have initially considered.

In Overwatch, Doomfist’s glove is also being stolen – where will it end up?

Your opinion is important to us!

Do you like the article? Then let us know!

I like it! Comment

Activision earned more money in 2016 than ever before. This is mainly due to Blizzard with WoW and Overwatch.

Yesterday, Activision held its earnings call. They announced record numbers. Compared to the previous year, revenue increased by 42%. $6.61 billion was generated. The success is mainly in digital business, which accounts for 74% of total revenue.

Overwatch has 25 million players, a huge success

A large part of the profits comes from Blizzard and here from the games Overwatch and World of Warcraft.

Overwatch currently has 25 million registered players. It is the game from Blizzard that reached this mark worldwide the fastest.

In the 4th quarter, Overwatch had more active players than ever before. Especially the seasonal events are performing really well. When an event is running, it drives participation up.

World of Warcraft has recovered from Warlords of Draenor

In World of Warcraft, Legion and the better content supply are noticeable. In the 4th quarter, the playtime in WoW was higher than in any non-launch quarters of the last 4 years.

Now in the fourth quarter, more was played than in the third quarter, the launch quarter. Legion was released on August 30.

WoW had 20% more active users in the 4th quarter of 2016 than at the same time last year. Over the year, 10% more players were active in WoW in 2016 than in the previous year.

Hearthstone also grew by 20% in 2016 in active players.

Blizzard is simply successful, but the other games besides WoW are in focus

My MMO says: The numbers for WoW are not as impressive as they sound at first glance, because 2015 was a weak year with a tired Warlords of Draenor.

There are fewer new record values, but a return to “normality” after two rather weak expansions with Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Still, a nice success.

It shows that weak expansions have not caused lasting damage and that players are returning with Legion and have also stayed in the last months. This is a good sign for the MMORPG oldie.

That Overwatch is a hit has been heard enough. But the fact that it is such a damn big hit is clear from such record numbers.

Hearthstone also seems unstoppable and simply keeps getting bigger – and that at a damn high level.

Recently, you can now purchase other services in Blizzard games with WoW gold.

WoW Token: Live in Europe – What you can now buy with gold!

Your opinion is important to us!

Do you like the article? Then let us know!

I like it! Comment