A camera turned at a strange angle blinks to life, and a familiar banana-munching simian jumps into frame.
"Is this thing on?"
Indeed it is Winston. I can understand your confusion. I believe the last time I booted Overwatch was when Doomfist was released in late July of 2017. I jumped into the training area, boosted around with my rocket fist for long enough to get a feel for the character, jumped into a quickplay game, and was promptly demolished.
“Well,” I thought to myself, “the meta has taken over. There is nothing else I can do as a random loner joining into a match. I just have to hope my team is relatively competent and pick one of the correct ‘Core Heroes’ to get the win.”
So I resign to playing Lucio…again…and run around firing my shots into the dark corners of the map, trying to stop flanking. I circle strafe my teammates...800 times. I finish the match. We win. I feel no sense of accomplishment. I turn the game off. 9 months pass.
There is some buzz around the newest hero, Brigitte, from some of the guys at work. I decide to give her a try for a few rounds in the new Deathmatch mode that is constantly available via the Arcade.
"I'll just jump in for a match to feel her out so I can at least contribute to the conversation." Already attempting to write the experience off if I'm met with frustration.
For the first time in a long time, I CRUSH the opposition.
"It's the Goddamn Wild-West out there right now man!" I exclaim excitedly to my roommate. "The only time Overwatch is fun, is for those first few weeks when folks haven't yet figured out the nuts and bolts of a new character. I am having a blast right now."
This excitement carries on to a later conversation with my Fiancé. We recently decided to buy her a PS4. She doesn't have an intense interest in playing games on her own, but she likes to play games with me, and likes to have the option to give a game a try if I tell her I really enjoyed it.
Ever the practical couple, we decide that at this point these consoles have become the all in one home entertainment system. We would be crazy not to do it! So 300 bucks and one Black Friday later, she has her very own PS4 slim. We are in a long distance relationship, so the party system becomes a great way for her to catch up on her binge watching through the various on demand subscriptions we have, and I can play whatever my flavor of the week is. All the while we can talk to each other as if we were in the same room.
I have no expectations for her to want to play a shooter, especially not a competitive shooter at the level you sometimes slip into with Overwatch. Then I remember that Custom games are an option now through a previous update. So, I tell her if she wants to get the game (before I realized turning her PS4 to the primary PS4 would allow her to play ALL my games with me. I never claim to be a clever man) I would love to play with her and see how she likes it.
We boot the game up and join into a custom game. I set a few easy bots to oppose us and grab Mercy to keep her in tip top shape so that she can get a feel for the game. We are all set for her introduction. I wait to hear the complaints she has had in the past about other shooters:
- All I do is die over and over again
- I feel like they are more powerful than me
- I suck at this
I'm ready with my affirmations: Don't worry about it, we are just having a good time. I don't care if you win or lose, it's about us spending time. If you don't enjoy it we don't have to play.
However, I am instead met with sheer glee at the close of the first match.
"Babe! I got 24 kills!" she exclaims excitedly. "I killed more guys than you!!"
Then, exactly what I hoped would happen, happened. She gets play of the game. Pharah spins up on the screen and it zooms in. Her PSN name pops across the screen. "Babe, that's me!!"
"I know you were blowing people up it was awesome." As I say this the AI characters gather in a pile and Pharah cuts loose. Missiles fire in a barrage in front of her and she demolishes their entire team. "Oh shit I didn't see you do that! That was amazing!" I say through laughter.
"Yeah, I'm Badass!"
We play 3-4 more matches and it's the same thing. She is constantly rewarded and given feedback on all of the awesome things she did in the game. There isn't a negative statistic to be seen. Yes we are playing a 3v3 game with easy bots, but for the first time in a long time, I am rotating through characters. I am testing to see who combines best with whom. How can I assist her while still playing an offensive hero. The mechanics and gameplay all come together the way they did when I first started playing the game and I remember how stellar that experience was when I first played the game at launch.
I realized that Overwatch hadn't gotten worse, I had tried to put it into a box that it never really fit. She helped me realize Overwatch wasn't ever about the competitive aspect for me. I think for a long time, that is the only thing I cared about because it's the general progression of "a shooter". Figure out the mechanics, find your rhythm, and start trying to be the best. I'm not even a competitive person, but as a gamer I think I fall into a cycle of playing a game the "right" way. Jumping in and slogging through arcade match after arcade match to try to get my 3 loot boxes before time expired. Always going in looking for a win and not enjoying the interactions between the heroes that made me love the game so much in the first place.
I have now gone back to happily peppering in Overwatch matches to my regular game cycle. Our gaming circle has talked about starting our weekly Overwatch night back up, and I am excited again. So, I apologize Winston. This thing is on, and I think it will continue to be on as long as Blizzard keeps cranking out new and interesting ways to play this fantastic game.
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