Hi. I’m an autistic player who doesn’t talk nor post much around this reddit, doesn’t do much other than looking at the latest clever DVA bomb or Lucio booping people off the stage clips. But with the controversy of Blizzard and the Hong Kong liberation, I feel that I must break my silence to share a few words here and there. Basically, what I’m going to say is my overwhelming love and inspiration of Overwatch; and how Blizzards Entertainment actions will effect its future.
I was among those who first saw Overwatch’s first cinematic trailer of a woman and a jet pack gorilla (who will then be known as Tracer and Winston) inspiring a dishearten teen and his optimistic brother with their heroism by battling villains figures. I was intrigued by it but wasn’t interested in playing until the beta dropped. I decided to give it a try by first playing Symmetra, whom I liked with her orderly no-nonsense gestures. Within my first 5 five matches, I’ve manage to have my first play-of-the-game with Symmetra. I then immediately resolved to buy the game when it came out. Time had passed with the devs constantly posting brand new content (the holiday events, Archives, the anniversary, comics, animated shorts although those are rare) with the passion of the development team and was always delighted to see the game thrive. New heroes come and join the ranks of playable characters whom I always love how iconic they are. Because of the development teams love, I have decided to become a concept artist, sorely because I loved Overwatch so much. In my head, I always said to myself that for Overwatch “here’s many years to come!”
But now, I feel that future is threaten with the Heads of Blizzard Entertainment choosing the worst within their actions with the treatment of the Hearthstone pro player. Almost every game related media out there were rightly calling them out on it, how they choose to appease Chinese dictatorship over human rights, who leader gets mad over a teddy bear. Because of the Blizzard Heads choices, I can’t help but get terrified for Overwatch. Should Blizzard stick with their a appeasement to Chinese dictators, will Overwatch quality suffer? Will it cause the fan base to flee? Does the development team stand with the Heads or the players? Will the game start putting putting out propaganda to support dictatorship? Will the game be made by hypocrites who don’t support a hopeful world Will Overwatch die without its story finally getting put together? That’s when it hits me, the idea landed in my head. The idea is that I don’t want Overwatch future to die.
Perhaps it’s nothing more than wishful thinking, that Blizzard will return to what they should be doing, honoring players. And so, the real world isn’t what it should be at the moment. As of this writing, Blizzard Entertainment has choose to bow down before dictatorship who does not care for Human rights. Here, I am writing this post in hopes of them to remind them of what Blizzard Entertainment should be; honoring their slogan, particularly the “Every Voice Matters” and “Think Globally,” that they’ll choose to follow right path of liberating Hong Kong and its people, to give respect to blizzchung and stand with him and his words, to atone. And I hope the development team feels the same way to. Regardless on what comes in the upcoming weeks, Overwatch’s future will surely change.
With this concluding statement, I want Overwatch’s legend to grow, thrive and be loved by the excellent community for many years to come and it cannot do so with the Heads of Blizzard attitude and silence over their actions. I, one of the many humble players of Overwatch, dare to see for what this world and the world of Overwatch could be.