Healers Adjust
While the title is a meme and almost 100% of the time people say it ironically, I really had no better titles for this piece. Side note, I’m not going to dive into the support role since it’s going to be a long conversation with a lot of nuances, which frankly I’m not ready for yet. For the sake of this conversation I’ll talk about healers specifically, since healers and supports have vastly different connotations (especially in MOBA or MOBA-adjacent games).
I’ve always wondered sometimes why healers are seen as the inferior one out of the holy trinity of character class systems (DPS/damage dealer, tank, healer). I’ve played games with those class system before and yet in almost all of them healers are always seen as partial when it comes to mechanical skills, even when they’ve contributed as much as the other roles do (if not more) in team fights. Healers are often blamed for things that are outside of their control and wholly the player’s fault.
Is it because healing contributions are not as ‘in-your-face’ as kill count? Is it because in role-based FPS games the existence of healers alters the conventional dynamics, making the fights longer? Is it because healers enable others to make mistakes and not get punished for it?
While certain design aspects may encourage toxicity, I believe some of this relates to what society perceives as feminine and masculine traits.
In traditional family values, men are seen as protectors. Their role is to protect the family from any perceived threats. They are also encouraged to take the offensive when there is one. Women on the other hand are seen as nurturers, encouraged to take care of family members. They are seen as soft and must be protected by the head of the family, who is almost always a man. While they have their own power as a nurturer that cannot be replaced by anyone other roles, in the end they’re subject to the whims of the one who protects.
This relationship between nurturer and protector creates one-sided dependency, the nurturer needing the protector to be able to do their ‘job’. These patriarchal values then translates into conventional gender roles, creating the image that feminine-coded things are inherently weaker and beneath masculine-coded things.
Often times healers in video games have magic to assist them in doing their duties. Magic is often seen as something separate from the physical aspect of a human. Even if it’s not magic it’s still something that’s separate from the body : the mind. The value of mind, magic, or soul is often times intrinsically tied to the person / self; different to something like wielding axes.
For example, in Final Fantasy XIV healers try to maximize the attributes mind and piety to be able to output the best heals possible. Another example is Zenyatta from Overwatch who pretty much has a big neon sign that says “keep calm and empty your mind”. Society and its histories has us perceive emotions, mind, and soul as being feminine while the body as something masculine.
Now compare those with the dynamics of, say, a DPS and a healer. DPS is always on the offensive, because their job is to demolish the enemy team or deal enough damage to (hopefully) pass the DPS check. When playing these games the primary threat is losing. Their job is to kill, a form of protection from the threat of losing. Not to mention, in a lot of games peeling is also in the DPS’ to-do list. Meanwhile the healers’ job is to keep them alive and topped up as much as possible a.k.a. being the nurturer. The one to protect.
Healers are also often times women or coded as such when it comes to aesthetics. Dragon Nest, an MMO I played in The Olden Days™ even has some classes gender locked. Again, they’re often coded to be women or have feminine traits (rarely though, the characters express internalized misogyny instead). It’s not surprising that Blizzard would opt to make Mercy (basically their flagship healer hero) a woman, a very motherly one at that; as opposed to the male Mercy with the more combat-ready feel suit concept art pictured above.
Why does guy-Mercy feels more combat ready? It’s probably because of the colors used. Concept art Mercy uses red, a bold color often symbolizing danger and aggressiveness. Compare that to the current Mercy in Overwatch using yellows and oranges; colors that often has more positive connotations such as optimism and fascination. Fascination seems to be the correct word here since we can also see that overall the idea of Mercy shifted from a combat / field medic type of character into something more cartoony yet ethereal.
The concept of angels have always changed and differs across cultures, but through her design we know that she’s meant to be one. Diving into shape language, try comparing the shape of her wings to the shape of concept Mercy’s wings. Concept art Mercy’s has sharp edges, translucent blue like holograms. Current Mercy’s wings are more rounded and shaped to be more like a cherub’s. Even from the overall silhouette current Mercy seems to have more rounded edges than concept art Mercy.
Going off of a small tangent here: I’ve been using Overwatch a lot as examples, that’s because the things I’ve mentioned are so apparent and easy to spot compared to other games. You can apply shape language to job armors for white mages, but it’s not going to be similar across all white mage armors. Mostly because silhouettes in FFIXV usually varies depending the region where it’s from. Traits that defines it being that job still exists, like summoner almost always having horns for head gear, though it’s slightly harder to spot. However you can compare job armors between jobs, since the designs usually hone in on the job’s characteristics. See what I mean?
Through semiotics all of this cultivates to healers being seen as a ‘lesser’ role as well as why women and women-presenting folks are generally expected to take up the role of a healer. They’re expected to take the ‘easy’ job, the one that is less mechanically demanding. To be passive, existing only to assist other roles. I’d argue that even the simplest heal bot-y healers isn’t as easy as they look.
Even the least Let’s say DPS are required to be able to aim, shoot straight, and kill the enemies with the smallest TTK (time to kill) as possible. Some healers might not need to do that, but the role requires skills elsewhere : ultimate economy, min-maxing DPS output for the DPS (if the healer can apply buffs) and healing output, positioning etc. Each roles in the holy trinity of requires different subsets of skills and for healers they have to be able to put out healing as efficient as possible.
And then you have characters like Medic from Team Fortress 2 who defies a lot of the aforementioned archetypes. He’s one of the first healer-type character I picked up (before him I’ve never picked up anything close to a healer role in any games) and I loved my Kritzkrieg to death. Comparing my past experiences playing the character against healer type characters I play lately, Medic feels refreshing. His demeanor in game and lore as well as gameplay doesn’t fit conventional healers.
Instead, those traits are subverted into one of a mad scientist. Instead of motherly and caring, Medic is short-fused and calculated; only caring about furthering science. Instead of feeling familiar and warm, Medic always experiments. Medic can be manipulative when he wants to, as long as it benefits him. Belittling others and asserting himself is just what he does every time, always making sure that he’s in control.
These traits translates to gameplay as well, from the in-game voice lines to how Medic is perceived in competitive play. Medic is almost always a core part of a team. You don’t see people like Mirelin belittled because they pick up Medic in competitive.
As a role Medic isn’t belittled as some other healers I’ve encountered. The fact that Medic’s a man might contribute to it, but part of it is also because of how the game is designed. Compared to other games in the same genre Team Fortress 2 still heavily relies on pure aim. The absence of prominent MOBA-like abilities made it that no one else in Team Fortress 2 had a kit that’s similar to what Medic has. Team Fortress was designed as a role-based shooter as opposed to a hero-based one. You can change your loadout as many as you can, but you can’t rely on that effectively. Popping Crit-a-Cola has it’s downsides and it’s not as efficient as a Kritzkrieg. Compare that to something like Overwatch where each DPS has at least one ability for escape or sustain, like Reaper’s lifesteal or Sombra’s teleporter.
Medic made me change my view on healers. Maybe it’s because of people like Harbleu or the combination of Medic and my internalized misogyny when I was a kid, my perspective on healers’ power dynamics with other roles changed. I’ll admit I get a slight power trip knowing that as a healer I have to keep tabs on practically everyone in the game and maximize my kit to be able to support the team. If I die, the team crumbles and wipes. Even if your teammates are berating you, the enemy team shows you appreciation by making you the priority target. In competitive matches it’s almost always a wipe if the healer dies.
By conventional means me playing as Medic is still being a ‘nurturer’, but because of how the game is designed elements the power dynamic changes. The team needs me more than I need them, if not equally.
The answer to why people always shit on healers isn’t as simple as “gamer culture is bad and gamers hate women”. It’s cultivated from years and years of patriarchy and social construct present in design practices, either deliberately or not. Said design practices combined with the imbalance in power (thanks a lot patriarchal society) festers itself in gaming communities.
While this article is slightly biased because I play flex most of the time, I leave you with this : pick up other roles, get familiar with it. Create conversations surrounding it in a critical and constructive way. A shouting match in team voice chat isn’t going to accomplish anything.
Beeeeg thanks to Oscar, Eci, and peeps over at the popcorn group chat for beta-ing this and giving their input!❤❤❤
