Palatable Queerness as Queerbaiting in Video Games

• In Event: 3184 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Culture, Gender, and Sexuality

Abstract

Fans of Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment's globally popular multi-player shooter game, have demanded queer characters since the game's launch in May 2016. The game is well-known for its diverse array of playable heroes: 12 females, 13 males, 7 persons of color, some cyborgs and robots, and one gorilla. Six months after the game's release, Blizzard dropped a Christmas-themed comic that featured one of Overwatch's most popular heroes, Tracer, kissing her girlfriend. As might be expected, a lesbian Tracer was celebrated by some fans and derided by others. But many fans had a different reaction: that Tracer, the adorable white girl from London, and her equally lovely white girlfriend, were a safe bet, at best, and a token, at worst. These fans noted another gift from Blizzard that dropped around the same time: new in-game dialogue that established a canon interaction between McCree and Hanzo, two male characters that comprise "McHanzo", the most popular slash pairing in fandom. Taken together, fans saw these two gifts as queerbaiting fan service. While Tracer fulfilled Blizzard's promise, the few lines of banter offered to McHanzo fans were what one fan referred to as "table scraps." In this research, we look more closely at Blizzard's two actions to argue that palatable queerness is queerbaiting.

Authors

• Mary C. Ingram-Waters, Arizona State University

• Isabela Silva, Japanese Exchange Teaching Program (JET)