Blizzard Caves In To Pressure Over Overwatch Butt Pose

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Are we really at a point where a single person complaining about something like this is enough to make a company like Blizzard come out with a full scale apology? Come on people, it's a video game. :(


We'll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented. Apologies and we'll continue to try to do better. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively.
 
It probably wasn't just a single person. These types of people usually have a mob behind them that will send nasty letters to get the point across. That said, I think with how quickly Blizzard responded that they were just waiting for an excuse to get rid of the pose that would be backed by a good PR move. Unfortunately it backfired on them with how outraged actual fans of the game are.
 
While they are at it, can they add about 40 pounds to her, make her hair a bit frizzy, and remove that clean completion from her face?
 
lol I didnt even realize that was a girl first time I seen the character, looks more like a very girly teen boy
 
Definitely agree that it should have been pulled for the bad art, but...

If we have stuff like "Report for Cheating", "Report for Abuse", etc., why can't we add in something for "Report for being an entitled first world spoiled crybaby of a brat"?
 
Lol, an apology for an animated booty, that's great. The game will be rated teen, and well, teens like booty. Boys and Girls alike.

For anyone that complains about the "objectification of woman" read here:
  1. Woman objectify themselves everyday. It's natural. Making ones self "look good" with makeup, cloths, etc. does one thing: Attract or keep a mate by showing them you are superior to others. Congratulations, you just put yourself on a pedestal and said "look at me, not her"
  2. Woman objectify men. Ever walk into a "trendy" clothing store that has both men's and woman's cloths? The pictures of the men generally don't have shirts, they are oiled up and they are ripped. We all know that a picture of a hot man does not attract men into the store. At least most men anyways. The same stands for advertising in general.
  3. Woman are scared to admit they objectify themselves or objectify men because they are naturally submissive. Stating you do something direct to get a direct result is an "alpha trait". Woman are naturally submissive because it lends to child rearing better. Flight is almost always a better option that fight.
Don't get me wrong, i'm all for woman's (and men's) rights but geeze, you see more scantily clad woman every day that that pic.
 
Replace everything by squares, big giant pixel squares. Was anybody offended by Atari 2600 games?

Unless of coarse you are offended by squares & thier color.
 
It probably wasn't just a single person. These types of people usually have a mob behind them that will send nasty letters to get the point across. That said, I think with how quickly Blizzard responded that they were just waiting for an excuse to get rid of the pose that would be backed by a good PR move. Unfortunately it backfired on them with how outraged actual fans of the game are.

These are not "actual fans of the game". This image got posted on some forum and generated tons of negative responses from people that don't even play the game and probably never will. Welcome to the internet where you can get a mob behind you to complain about anything even if it affects you in no way at all.
 
There used to be a skit on Saturday Night Live called the "The Whiners". They have multiplied exponentially it would seem.
 
Yeah, should have been pulled for bad art. The Butt was too big. Also, enough with the trans-gender toons! They look like boy/girls.
 
I'm a pretty non PC guy, and I think it's good they're taking the pose out. It does seem a bit over the top and kinda poorly executed. Trying to sell this as a 'mocking' pose seems a bit of a stretch. She seems to be flaunting her butt than 'mocking'. Maybe if they had given her a wink and a smoking gun barrel she's blowing across, it would have come off as a more 'mocking' post than what they did.

That being said, people need to get over it.
 
It's always something. Honestly, that shot is so generic, the last thing I would notice is the character's rear end.
I mean really..........it's a cartoon character.
If I was Blizzard I'd tell that knucklehead to kiss that cartoon butt.
 
They just need to counter it with 2x as many shots of male characters. This whole idea of culture following art that these people subscribe to is totally backwards. Art follows culture and not the other way around, if you think an idea is wrong you need to convince people that it is rather than just covering up expressions of the idea in art. But I guess they need something to do, it's not like they're qualified for any real jobs (real being one that adds to the GDP of the country, instead of subtracting as this sort of thing does).
 
Americans: Afraid to openly speak about/experience sexuality but totally cool with guns, violence, and gore.

It's god damn backwards. It's no wonder we're so gun obsessed and cool with violence, it's like a collective sexual frustration.
 
I happen to agree with the complaints.

No, I don't think it's a horrifying outrage or anything like that. There are far worse things to be worried about than a video game butt pose.

That being said, I feel it is appropriate to point it out and ask them to fix it. These games should be inclusive. I'd want my potential future daughter, or my sisters or my fiance or even my mother to feel just as comfortable playing these games as my potential future son, my current stepson, my brother or my male friends.

It's a shame that people who make these games and try to sell them to a diverse number of buyers keep trying to sexualize the characters, and can't just let them be people.

That being said, if we are going to get outraged about "sexy poses" there are far worse offenders than video games. Maybe the outrage should be directed at TV, Movies the music industry, etc. etc. first?

Where were these people when Miley Cyrus was licking hammers? Why is it that when a game developer turns the knob up to 2 they hear from the outrage machine, but when a pop starlet turns the knob up to 11 she is just being "empowered" and it is perfectly fine?
 
It's a shame that people who make these games and try to sell them to a diverse number of buyers keep trying to sexualize the characters, and can't just let them be people.

I think it's more of a shame that you feel this way. Did religion do this to you?

Why are you trying to hide the very basic human instinct/behavior of sexual attraction? They ARE representing them as just people. People with personalities. It's sad that America is so uncomfortable with these subject matters.
 
Americans: Afraid to openly speak about/experience sexuality but totally cool with guns, violence, and gore.

It's god damn backwards. It's no wonder we're so gun obsessed and cool with violence, it's like a collective sexual frustration.

On. The. Head.
 
Sounds like they were going to take it out anyway and just decided to get some positive PR while they were at it.
 
I think it's more of a shame that you feel this way. Did religion do this to you?

Why are you trying to hide the very basic human instinct/behavior of sexual attraction? They ARE representing them as just people. People with personalities. It's sad that America is so uncomfortable with these subject matters.

I would have no problem with real world flirtation in a game, in all of its awkward messiness. That would probably be constructive and HELP the kids playing these games ease into adulthood.

When you - on the other hand - focus on on "sexy poses" that no person does in the real world, and seem sourced more from porn than anything else, it sends the message to young girls that their only value is their body and how it makes men/boys feel, and that is an awful message.

edit:

I'm a 100% confirmed atheist btw. I don't have even an ounce of agnosticism or spirituality in me.
 
I won't rest until all of this sexual imagery is replaced with amorphous blobs.

Won't someone think of the ugly people?

I mean children, this is for the children.
 
I would have no problem with real world flirtation in a game, in all of its awkward messiness. That would probably be constructive and HELP the kids playing these games ease into adulthood.

When you - on the other hand - focus on on "sexy poses" that no person does in the real world, and seem sourced more from porn than anything else, it sends the message to young girls that their only value is their body and how it makes men/boys feel, and that is an awful message.

edit:

I'm a 100% confirmed atheist btw. I don't have even an ounce of agnosticism or spirituality in me.

Ok, so religion didn't get you thinking this way. That's fine.

They are still representing these cartoonish characters with overblown cartoonish personalities in a perfectly fine way (with respect to this particular pose). It's not at all outside the realm of reality that this character would pose the way she did. Sure it's turned up a few notches, because as you said no one necessarily poses like that on a daily basis, but it's still very much rooted in reality. A reality that a lot of people seem uncomfortable with.
 
I would have no problem with real world flirtation in a game, in all of its awkward messiness. That would probably be constructive and HELP the kids playing these games ease into adulthood.

When you - on the other hand - focus on on "sexy poses" that no person does in the real world, and seem sourced more from porn than anything else, it sends the message to young girls that their only value is their body and how it makes men/boys feel, and that is an awful message.

edit:

I'm a 100% confirmed atheist btw. I don't have even an ounce of agnosticism or spirituality in me.
If your hypothetical female family member is defining her value and behavior based on a video game:
1- She's too young to be playing that game
2- She hasn't had an upbringing that has enforced proper behavior and cultural filters

For contrast,Sonicks, i'm Christian and the father of a young daughter, and I see NO problem with the original pose. It wasn't overtly sexual and the character is fully clothed. A flirty over the shoulder pose is about as innocent as you are going to get in games these days. I mean, we have Beyonce tromping around in whatever it was she was wearing during the SuperBowl halftime show, and she's held up as a role model. And she had less clothing on!

This is liberal hypocrisy at work. Again.
Respect women!
But don't objectify them.
Celebrate their bodies!
But don't look at them.
Let women wear.bare whatever they want!
But don't sexualize it!
Hold up powerful scantily clad women as role models!
But don't create them in a video game.
 
Back
Top