The escape hero D.va has been processed a symbol of the empowerment of many women in the Korean Overwatch community, representing how women can be reduced to their talent rather than their looks. Long before May Hong Kong-compiled petition reminders, a group called FAMERZ, known as the National D.va Association, was attending rallies and protests for various political causes bearing the banner of the trademark & # 39; s tradirking bunny. Since then, however, other cosmetics have been different The escape studio Blizzard presented by D.va prompted some of his biggest fans to say the company is back.
Most of this came early this spring, when the head of The escape game development, Jeff Kaplan, joked that new skin will be coming to the event to commemorate the next event "break the internet. ”The cosmetics eventually revealed as“School D.va, ”, According to the composers, were symbols of his high school days as an accomplished Korean man. She is wearing a school uniform with a skirt and jacket, as well as her stylish mech, which looks like a nod to the Japanese anime.
The dress has frustrated some Korean female fans, as it was skinned by Black Cat last year, due to both sexes. The skin of the Academy, some of these fans say, has penetrated the sexuality of Korean women, especially teenagers, and was disrespectful to the experiences of half of their Korean followers.
"When I see Black Cat or Academy skin, I'm surprised they really understand Korea," the Korean The escape a FAMERZ member follower named Anna borrowed Kotaku. "I will not be able to erase the feeling that they are throwing a male sexual urge on that" Asian woman "under the word" representing "Korea."
On social media, Korean women have expressed sadness and similar anger on their skin, talking about how it happened. manifested uncomfortability in Korean school uniforms, or that you fulfill a “tsundere class President"Anime trope for men. (Tsundere is an archetype character in anime and manga that describes a cold or violent character that temporarily burns down.)
On the Blizzard Forums, the Korean actor goes by the name of Egg he wrote that the dress is played into a “school uniform.” Putting Dhva in a high school uniform seems like a provocative move that makes her look young.
Criticism of D.va skins and those from other characters since The escapeThe launch of 2016 represents the conflict the game has between its fans and the cultures it has borrowed from. The escape it evokes the dream of a global city from a beautiful white and Western landscape, full of stereotypes, humor, and condescension. To many of the Western fanbase and perhaps to the developers themselves, the skin may seem innocent. However The escape The party has often made poor decisions about its atonal-based cosmetics (Brigitte & # 39; s). rebellious police skin) so that look up Farah's skin is a deduction for ethnic designs. D.Va's boots, which have separated some of the biggest fans of the character, add to that heap of problems. They show a lack of research or sensitivity to the culture and ideas they live in. Unfortunately, as recent events have shown, Blizzard as a company does not seem to have the common sense when it comes to sympathetic all parts of its audience.
Ana, speaking on behalf of FAMERZ, said that Dva's presence meant something to a group of Korean women; Dona & # 39; s & # 39; s brash, reliable and symbolic of professionalism in sports and military service. This character based on accomplishment, rather than appearance, was a fictionalized version of South Korea's future that they hoped to build in real life, because the country has systematic problems with corruption and degradation of women.
It seemed that Blizzard agreed. In a talk about The escapeAppeal in early 2017 lead designer Jeff Kaplan He mentioned FAMERZ as part of his presentation about The escapeDesign. "It's amazing to see that the values of the Overwatch team are now being accepted and managed by the community in their own constructive way." (It should be noted, however, that part of the evaluation of FAMERZ's work in his presentation is skewed in the sense that it is The escape The party is not political and the game does not wish to be politicized.)
While the team took this as a good compromise, releasing Academy D.va after two years felt like betrayal. "We feel talking about us at the D.I.C.E Summit is a complete fallacy," Anna said. “Many female players who heard about the 2017 announcement (also) felt the same way. Recently on social media, someone said, & # 39; Overwatch had been nice to us (us), so releasing pornographic skins is funny. "
For her and FAMERZ, D.Va's dress in a school uniform was not as glorious in her high school days, as Blizzard put it. It reminded me of the uniforms of a hard-working school with the Korean community. “Young women are obliged… to wear their school uniform while in school. They should wear it even though they don't want to. However, the school uniform has always been sexually explicit in Korea. ”He pointed out that sex shops in South Korea sell clothes, that men make jokes about having sex with immigrants, and that bullying and child abuse at schools are common.
In fact, the social media hashtag “#SC printmetoo“It has been used in South Korea since 2018 to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.
Western video game companies, which reflect our culture very much, are in love with Asian women. Putting adult Asian female characters in a school uniform contributes to the racism (“waifus”) real women face, and the upbringing that goes with it.
"I think they have been collecting all the sex organs of Asian women in D.va since The escape doesn't have a Japanese female hero, ”says Anna. "And, when we look at how Asian women have been treated & # 39; as eyewitnesses & # 39; in the West because of racism and prejudice, D.va's skin is a combination of problems. (D.va is the only character with a schoolboy in a cosmetics uniform at this time and is the youngest East Asian woman in the game.)
It also contributes to linking all women from one country in Southeast Asia to another. The women I spoke to say that it looks like the developers don't understand that South Korea is not Japanese when it comes to Dva, as she is introduced to her Academy gown as a "normal Asian girl".
When D.Va was announced, it was obvious a joke by Blizzard it has led fans to think he was Star II pro. That feels a bit different from the Korean one, as well Star is the largest in the country. The lead author of the game has made it clear that he was actually the main protagonist of an in-universal mech fighter fighting alongside his character's formation and was referred to the Busan map, released in 2018.
While mech robots are not the only province of Japan, they are more closely associated with that country than Korea, contributing to the response of some fans that D.Va was introduced as a representative of Asian women from many regions. The fact is that many Western creators look to the long legacy of Japanese media when it includes mech in their work. Arnold Tsang, lead designer of Overwatch, has it is even said that it uses mech anime and manga as a visual inspiration for the character. It doesn't help that, in Blizzard's MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, given the cosmetic skin that looks like a pilot from an anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The skin below described by the name "Black Cat" in The escape, the catgirl-by-the-way-of-lolita-goth tree that found itself last year in a dramatic decline of evil is equally astonishing; catgirls and lolita goth fashion is mainly from Japanese culture.
While this can be interpreted as simply being filled by a Korean character by Japanese signatories, the sexuality of many fans has gradually diminished from the Japanese aspect. Both FAMERZ and Egg's concern for Japanese culture being imported via D.va is what causes some of their feelings to be wrong. Many Korean women view Japanese culture and how those women are portrayed as deeply sexual and.
"When I see the Black Cat skin or the Academy skin, I don't know if they really understand Korea," Anna said.
It is not yet clear whether these decisions from the development team are intentional or driven by negligence. Of course they knew how some people would react to the studio putting on a beautiful 19-year-old girl in sports school uniforms. Blizzard knows what the community is doing about their work. D.va is usually one female heroes are widely used in The escape porn, especially those that use fixed 3D models. Adding the most sexually explicit makeup in Korea and elsewhere adds only adult content that relies heavily on the idea of putting on a good looking girl. Others The escape porn includes Academy skin tits or skimpier schoolgirl.
However, porn aside, there are some specific concerns for Korean women The escape players the way Dva is portrayed in the game. The male players in South Korea are like many other male players here in the United States, feeding an already immoral culture and applying that to the games they play.
Much of this is because it is part of a larger problem with the unhealthy ways female actors – and actors – are often treated in gambling here and especially in South Korea. To make up for this, there are a number of sexually transmitted conditions in Korea The escape community, including one that includes “c * nt” and “Mercy” (boreushi) and what constitutes "sexual assault" (song-heerong) when the player plays the D.va player back to their mech.
It would be easy for some people to call everyone mad about some D.va skin being "angry women" but given South Korean culture and how Korean women are treated, it's just another disregard for people who think too much of themselves lately. The escapeGreat followers. As a woman and a woman myself, I understand the hope that players like Egg or groups like FAMERZ feel when they first start playing the game, only when the company fills their hopes with gaffe after gaffe.
Anyway, even after expressing so much disappointment, everyone I've talked to still plays the game or felt confident that the Overwatch team did well with their female characters before and could continue to do so in the future.
FAMERZ felt that something like Officer D.va was a good example of good representation of Korean culture and of making her beautiful instead of bizarrely sexual. The skin, which was introduced in May of 2017, was accurate and in keeping with the "black police" outfit. A skirt, ”says Ana. "But we were impressed that they dressed him up as the actual Korean police."
When asked what they would do for D.va's skin in the future, both Egg and Ana revealed that D.va could show her pride in being in the M.S.K.A., an army that D.va is part of. Ana revealed that the team, "… (wants) a design that depicts D.va as active and aggressive, and that it also shows something new. With D.va as a soldier, we also hope that it will fit the Korean military's short, vibrant, short-skinned skin. Star. An egg is guaranteed. "It's rare to see a design in women's video games working."
Egg also had D.va's wishes that were personal. "I would like to see him wearing a Korean military uniform because Captain Marvel wearing an Air Force uniform has stolen my heart."
Whatever the Overwatch team decides to do in the future, some of D.va's biggest and most passionate supporters in their audience should be taken into consideration when looking at designing more cosmetics. If this was an isolated incident, rather than a series of repeated mistakes, it could easily be overlooked. But it has been a problem since the beginning of the game and Blizzard doesn't see fit to do better with the people and culture he wants to play in their game. Blizzard. it has resources for research and consultation. If they take pride in seeing their game as a hopeful (yet unreliable) global future, in which case they should do more to do what is right by those who use it as an advertisement for the uniqueness of their game and know what politics they are engaging in to do so.
Nico Deyo is a feminist media critic and hairdresser who lives in the Midwest. His place ciderandlemonade.com, and can be found on Twitter at @appleciderwitch.
Translation assistance provided by @gatamchun.
