The First Pride Event in Overwatch 2 Highlights the Value of LGBTQ+ Representation in Video Games

Since its 2016 release, Overwatch has continuously placed a high priority on representation, showcasing a varied cast of heroes with distinct histories, experiences, cultures, and identities. With outside media delving into the lives of the heroes we've come to love and new characters joining the cast, such as Lifeweaver, Overwatch's first openly pansexual character, the series' diverse cast has only gotten better with time.

Brandy Stiles, senior producer at Blizzard and head of their LGBTQ+ staff network, emphasized the company's emphasis this year on enabling players to express themselves and self-identify with characters in-game during a group interview we attended. June 1st, 2023 marks the start of Blizzard's new action plan, which is sparked by the first Pride event in Overwatch 2, which was added to the game earlier this month.

A variety of Name Cards and Player Icons are given to all players (with the exception of some regions) as soon as they log into Overwatch 2, enabling them to represent their gender identity or sexual orientation. These include agender, romantic, asexual, bisexual, gay, genderfluid, intersex, lesbian, pansexual, non-binary, and progress flags.

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Additionally, a flutter of rainbows and LGBTQ+ themes have been added to the Midtown map (shown above), which Stiles enthusiastically informed us her wife worked very hard on. A sweet picture of Tracer and her lover Emily can now be discovered at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, along with a Spray that is available to all players, despite Midtown's temporary adjustment.

At last, senior narrative designer Jen Stacey's short tale As You Are was published by Blizzard. In this moving five-page story, Pharah and Baptiste have an intense discussion about friendship, love, fear, and self-identity. Significantly, "As You Are" also implies that Baptiste is bisexual, as shown by his participation in the Bisexual Pride Name Card (as well as a prior flirting voice line with Lifeweaver) and validates Pharah to be an out lesbian.

"As You Are" and the Community's Importance of Character Representation

Many Overwatch fans found great resonance in Stacey's touching narrative. Especially in the case of Twitter accounts ClearTogether, PharahJR, and Phoenix/Gayviatorr, three LGBTQ+ community members whose posts have established them as synonymous with Pharah, to the extent that Blizzard devs and Pharah's voice actor, Jen Cohn, have come to recognize them.

https://twitter.com/ClearTogether/status/1644017945893564416

I questioned these three Pharah fans about their opinions on "As You Are," Overwatch's Pride event, and the influence the Overwatch community has had on their life in order to highlight the power of a character's identity on their fan base.As a teenager, Pharah served as one of my queer pillars. When I first met Pharah, she was a despondent 15 [year] old who had just realized she was gay. She quickly became my favorite LGBT role model. This is comparable to 2016. I didn't know what it actually meant to be a black lesbian and my family wasn't really supportive,. When questioned about their relationship to Pharah as a character, Pharah Jr. provided an explanation."I can now look up to and emulate Pharah as my role model! Pharah and Pharmercy both outlined my ideal future self, and I believe it kept me out of a lot of the bad circumstances that other LGBT teens in my community at the time found themselves in.Phoenix expressed a feeling that was comparable.Not only do I spend a ton of time with Pharah, but even before we found out she was a lesbian, she really made me feel like I was recognized and represented. This is why she is such a significant figure to me. Not only did I love her design and gameplay, but I was also really impacted and motivated by her tale of her difficult family background, how her childhood ambitions failed, and how she overcame them by sticking to her values and never losing sight of who she was.

"Pharah's complex family problems are probably relatable to many of us, and that gave me hope that this strong, fierce, and attractive lady will always look out for herself even in the absence of the necessary support network. Furthermore, I have parents from two very diverse cultures, much like Pharah, so it was incredible to have that representation in a character that is as proud of her origin as Pharah. All of this made me see myself in her more than I had ever seen myself in any other character.Similar: Every Voice Actor for an Overwatch CharacterCreating material for the Watchpoint: Pride LGBTQ+ network, ClearTogether says, "When I first saw Pharah, I was drawn to her because I thought she was queer-coded. I recognized myself in her from the start, even though it wasn't canon until recently. I always took her vibes to mean that she was a butch lesbian. It feels great to have it firmly established in canon now. It's difficult to describe the emotion. For a long, I believed that her gay coding may have been accidental, or maybe they just felt it was obvious enough to not need to be stated. That wasn't the case makes me very happy.

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One highly acclaimed feature of "As You Are" is Pharah's succinct and unrepentant discussion of her identity with Baptiste, as well as how consistently her character upholds similar beliefs. "I thought the way Pharah was handled in the short story was fantastic," ClearTogether communicates. "Pharah's persona has always exuded the kind of self-assurance that arises from a sincere love for oneself. Being so transparent about herself really goes so well with who she is outside of this tale. Given her established persona, it makes perfect sense for her to be open and at ease discussing her lesbian identity."I was very shocked that [Blizzard] allowed her to declare out loud that she is a lesbian. Sadly, the term "lesbian" is often used as if it were a pejorative. Additionally, there are characters who are overtly lesbian in the manner that they are portrayed, even if it is never explicitly spoken. They couldn't have handled it any better, in my opinion. To say that I'm overjoyed would be an understatement.

https://twitter.com/ClearTogether/status/1667038018988052480

Phoenix had similar opinions on Pharah's portrayal and the influence of Pharah's literature. "As a devoted follower of the character, I had anticipated this day many times, but I never thought it would come true—and in such an understated but exquisite way, at that. [...] I can't begin to express how amazing and special it is to have a lesbian character proudly say, "I am a lesbian," without beating around the bush, being ambiguous, leaving room for interpretation, or requiring us to read between the lines. At most, I'd hoped we'd learn that Pharah is sapphic, and I would have been beyond happy with that.As someone who is more reserved and shy, I have always respected Pharah's self-assurance and her confident sense of self. Her revelation seemed quite appropriate and very on target for her. Pharah can laugh and joke with Baptiste about her casual revelation without any fear or anxiety. Even still, her meta-question, "Isn't it obvious?" seemed to be aimed as much at him as at the community as a whole, even if Pharah's status as a lesbian was never officially acknowledged and was still greeted with some skeptics. Even though I am a lesbian now and am happy of it, it took me a while to get here. Though I still wouldn't discuss it unless asked, I can now joke about it with others in the same way that Pharah did with Baptiste.

Although Clear, Phoenix, and Pharah Jr. entered the community at separate periods, they were able to connect strongly since they all shared the same ideals, experiences, and identity of Pharah, everyone's favorite rocket lady. In addition to gaining traction in the Overwatch community, ClearTogether says, "I've made a ton of meaningful connections and lifelong friends that I wouldn't have otherwise." "My two favorite experiences interacting with the Overwatch Narrative team on Discord or having a Zoom call with Pharah's voice actor on my birthday are both related to my favorite encounters with the game developers. I expressed to them both how much I value their efforts on Pharah .and how I've seen it really impact a great deal of people's lives. I hold both of those times in the highest regard."One of PharahJr's favorite Overwatch moments was receiving a signed picture from Jen Cohn. PharahJr's moniker comes from being adopted as the youngest member of their squad. "One of the people on our Discord server went to a local conference and managed to get Jen Cohn to autograph a poster for me, referring to me as PharahJr. I was delighted and completely geeked out.Phoenix clarified that they became aware of their gender identification as a result of their involvement in the Overwatch community. "Without the Overwatch community, and especially the Pharmercy / Pharah stan community, I never would have realized what being non-binary meant. They gave me a safe haven, acceptance, and a lot of lessons in a world that isn't always so kind. It's lovely to consider that Overwatch, this happy, made-up world, has aided me and many others in bettering our own. And to think that all of this was due to a masterfully crafted character that resonates with hundreds of other LGBT+ individuals worldwide, particularly lesbians, in addition to me.

Overwatch's Prospects for LGBTQ+ Representation

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Although the majority of LGBTQ+ material for Overwatch is limited to outside media like comic books and books, Blizzard promised that greater in-game character representation would occur soon. "Overwatch 2's Pride is just getting started. As the deeper story of the Overwatch world is revealed, we'll have more to offer in the next seasons and years."After the first significant PvE encounter in Overwatch 2, Invasion, Considering the soon-to-be animated miniseries, we're really enthusiastic about Overwatch's story's future. Or is it just me, or does anybody else smell Pharmercy?