First off, if you haven’t looked into Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment’s newest game, you are missing out. It’s a First-Person Shooter, which may immediately turn off a number of folks, but hear me out. This isn’t Call of Duty or some other grim modern warfare scenario.
If you actually dig deeper into Blizzard’s site and watch their amazing cinematics, there is a fairly grim story behind it all. But the cartoon style of the graphics—a sort of World of Warcraft aesthetic with all the spectacular upgrades from Borderlands 2—make this game a delight to look at. And it's family-friendly, to boot.
Each character in Overwatch has a backstory, along with specific skills and powers. And best of all? The cast of characters is incredibly diverse. About half of the characters are female, and there's a brilliant blend of races and cultures.
But before I get excited talking up Overwatch, let’s focus on this delightful exchange:
Shane Hickey’s daughter Ava is an Overwatch fan, and she drew up this super cute idea for a new character called Birst, which her dad tweeted at the Overwatch team.
Can I take a moment to squee at a dad gamer cultivating his daughter’s love for not only video games, but self-expression?@PlayOverwatch hi team! my daughter created a new character.Her name is birst. She'd love to know your thoughts pic.twitter.com/b31YWUPqSs— Shane Hickey (@shanehickey) May 20, 2016
Inspired by Ava, Blizzard artists got to work and created concept art based on her drawing:
And even better? Shane recorded a video of Ava getting to see her design as concept art:@shanehickey Our artists were so inspired by this that they created their own fan art! Hope your daughter loves it! pic.twitter.com/c1ToeH1MJF— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) May 21, 2016
I’m not crying, you’re crying!@PlayOverwatch hey again team, Here's Ava finding out about the character you did for her #Birst Thanks again! pic.twitter.com/nqRFLykRPs— Shane Hickey (@shanehickey) May 23, 2016
Seriously #Birst had been trending since this exchange. Even the official Twitter account got in on the action:
Not only a gamer, your daughter is a true artist, @shanehickey. Thanks for sharing #Birst with us, Ava! https://t.co/gcVres76Ti
— Twitter (@twitter) May 23, 2016
Full disclosure, I am a Blizzard fangurl and have been for a long time.
At a time when women and girls seem to be actively discouraged from traditionally masculine pursuits like video games (even though studies have shown that more women than men play them) this is inspiring indeed—even moreso considering all the barriers to including women in the tech industry.
Big thanks to Blizzard for not just making a child’s day, but probably providing encouragement and inspiration for a little girl to love video games and art a little more than she already did. And who can say? She might even grow up to become part of the tech industry.
Ivonne Martin is a writer, gamer, and avid consumer of all things geek—and is probably entirely too verbose for her own good.
