While I don’t condone any of the terrible things that happened to cause the name change, I think Blizzard shot themselves in the foot with the name change. Big time.
For starters, Blizzard changed the name to not be associated with it because of the harassment. I get it. What was a huge oversight by Blizzard is the potential that they’ve now named the character to another name that might negatively trigger other groups. I hadn’t even considered this until a friend of mine cringed at the name “Cole Cassidy” because someone in his family was murdered by a guy named “Cole”. It was a sore spot for him, and while he did play Overwatch from time to time, he just easily said he wont go back to it to avoid that name now.
After hearing that, I completely changed my mind on the name, and I will continue to call him Mccree. This alone made me realize that Blizzard is about to have quite a few years ahead of them of being associated with sexual harassment now even more so because of this name change.
A lot of the community is completely against the name change. They will be spamming it over coms and chat in game. They’ll deliberately bring it up on social media, and other forums in protest. The point is, because of this name change stunt, any new players, and any old players that return to Blizzard or Overwatch after some time are going to be confused as to why people are calling this character 2 different names.
This is going to:
A) cause a lot of frustration for mainly new players not being able to react to callouts.
B) eventually bring up the conversation of how Blizzard was involved in multiple lawsuits due to sexual harassment in the work place.
This change is going to just keep this story alive and ultimately people will never forget about it. As long as there are players from launch day, its going to be hard to erase 5+ years of calling a character by a name and then just switch it. It’s just not going to happen.
With all that being said, none of this comes as a surprise to me. Blizzard has been making terrible decisions year after year lately. From the “Free China” fiasco, and catering to them, then getting screwed by the Chinese new gaming laws, all the way to this name change and thinking that everything is better now… they just keep screwing their main fanbase. They keep screwing the people that grew up with them. I’ve been a fan of Blizzard since Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 64, but these last couple of years have made me question if it’s even worth being a fan anymore.
They can make this situation right. They can do it without the name change. If there’s nothing else I believe in, it’s that Blizzard did the name change, not because they care, but because it’s the quick and easy way out with multiple lawsuits over their head. That way it makes them look less scummy when they’re in court.
I just feel sorry for everyone involved with their nonsense, including the player base. For the ones that support this name change, I’m sorry to break it to you like this, but you guys are the ones being played. Praising the name change, Blizzards easy way out, only adds fuel to the fire. You’re basically saying “If someone is sexually harassed in the workplace then just change a name and everything is ok now!” Because supporting this change, is conveying that message to Blizzard. Cancel culture is NOT the correct response.
Blizzard needs to do something else. Blizzard needs to do a lot more. If Blizzard really cared, they would be donating to sexual abuse victims, hosting fundraisers, bringing more awareness in a more impactful and positive way. A name change is lazy, not caring, and is basically saying “this small change will get the fans off our back for years of sexual harassment”. Don’t fall for it.
So before you go out and start bashing people for continuing to call our beloved hero “Jesse Mccree”, try to remember that maybe “Cole Cassidy” might be a trigger for another person. Or maybe you can stop and think for a second that this might be exactly what Blizzard wants in order to take the easy way out. I’ll continue to call him Jesse Mccree.
” Something to that degree. In reality, those people should be livid. We all know Blizzard is just going to keep doing the minimum until the situation is quiet enough and then stop completely. That part of the community is basically praising Blizzard for giving them a bandaid when they should be demanding for surgery. A name change is literally going to do nothing in the long run except cause a stir in the community.