Blizzard put me in a game: An Overwatch reflection
By: Anna-Michelle Lavandier
I got to hand it to Blizzard, I’ve never had a video game character that I can relate to on such a deep level like I do with Sombra.
Sombra was a recent addition to the Overwatch team who has already been included in a variety of memes scattered throughout the Internet based on the intro animation that Blizzard released with the announcement.
What we know so far is that Sombra is a notorious hacker who seems to have motives of her own based on the information she discovers. Personally, I love this character already. Not to mention, she’s also a Latina character, which warms my heart. I’m half-Dominican, so I don’t often have the pleasure to relate to a fellow female Latina character in the games I’ve played so far.
Even before having the chance to play this character, I already felt a connection to Sombra.
“She’s me! Blizzard went and learned what I hope to achieve on my quest to learn about technology, coding, etc. and put it in a game! I’m so excited!”
Those were words that I remember telling my friends after I saw the animated clip that introduced this character. I’ve been playing many different kinds of video games before finding my niche in RPGs and a few other favorites. Overwatch is the first (and possibly only) MMORPG that I’ve ever bought and was excited to play. I spent way more time than one should just in the tutorials to teach myself how to adjust to these new controls. This character being included in the game makes me feel like I’m welcomed to freely explore this new area of video games that I’ve yet to dive too deep into.
The only other game where I really felt that I can immerse myself fully in a game was Pokemon X, where the character customization allowed me to literally place myself as the main character in this virtual environment. Connections that I feel to certain characters tend to come from a similarity in personality within the game or the story that depicts them. However, that’s where it stays and it didn’t really make a clear imprint in my mind as a character that resonates with who I am as a person.
With Sombra, however, I feel that there is finally a game that showcases a main character with some of the main characteristics that I also identify with. It’s a refreshing thing to see, but I’m also grateful to Blizzard for creating a character like this.
So I’m still in the tutorials, trying to learn this character without the fear of embarrassing myself online as the “noob” player who doesn’t know what they’re doing. But I feel like I am most comfortable playing as Sombra, who is someone that I feel is an alternative reflection of myself (without the notoriety, of course).
Now if only I can figure out how to remember all these new controls. Any advice for a “noob” MMORPG player playing on PC? Anything besides “git gud scrub” or to repeatedly get killed during play?
The Nerd Castle is an ongoing master’s capstone project with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism that will be used to explore, showcase and expose diversity and the issues surrounding it within the gaming community.
Anna-Michelle can be found on Twitter @amlavandier. The Nerd Castle can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.
