,
14 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
It’s amazing how done with Overwatch I am. It’s kind of the same shock I had with WoW. You can say it’s only a game but in the 3 years I played OW it heavily affected my life. From meeting my partner (who now lives with me) to getting closer with other friends bonding over it. 1/
I poured over 1800 hours into this game. Blood sweat and tears. I hyped over the game & was very into the lore at the beginning. Overwatch saw me play through extreme excitement, severe depression, and learning how to cope after feeling hopeless life could get any better. 2/
My life has changed a lot through the years as I have played this game but I could always go back to it and have familiarity. Sure, the community sucked ass & continues to be abusive but none of that mattered much when you played with friends. Just laugh & try to get better. 3/
The game taught me discipline & dedication when I didn’t even have the discipline or will to get out of bed most mornings. My group of buds were serious about getting better as a team. All the pros (& cons) of being in a amateur sports team applied, though it’s a video game. 4/
At this point however, I’m just done. I played today for the first time in months. Played with the partner and a good friend. I was nervous to go back because it means I would have to come to a decision about saying goodbye or not. I had been avoiding it for some time. 5/
But the day came where I must say goodbye. Overwatch is so frustrating because when played as intended, it’s such a fantastic game. One of the best I’ve played. The issue, is the devs did not build the framework to play the game as intended. It’s like building a city with no 6/
roads and the mayor (devs) going “ok but pretty please don’t crash, drive behind each other.” Sure, sometimes everything lines up as intended and it’s amazing but most of the time it’s a car crash of a disaster. This game is intentionally built to play coordinated, as a team 7/
and not feeling powerful alone, even if very good. Yet the entire system built around the game encourages playing with strangers. Strangers who do not want to play together, who want to play the game their way, while the devs go “pretty please work together?” 8/
I do not blame the strangers, like many of the players in the community do. I don’t blame them, it’s not fun to play when its discoordinated, when two teammates want to play their own game. It’s why the community turned so toxic, they turned on one another. I instead blame 9/
the devs. When you build a game, especially as a team, you need to have the same vision of the way the game is meant to be played. Then you need to set a system in place that creates that kind of gameplay that you intended. You cannot just leave it to the will of the player 10/
to play that way (unless that free choice is intentional game design).the game is not fun because 80% of the time, we play it the way it’s NOT meant to be played & it feels bad. You needed third party to find a team. Team play is discouraged with long wait times & bad matches 11/
When you play with strangers, it’s not fun. If you talk to communicate over voice, 1 in 4 games you get verbal abuse for trying to coordinate. I still don’t blame the players, I blame the devs for giving us a glimpse of how great the game could be & then taking it away. 12/
Knowing how good it could be, and how bad it feels to play 80% of the time is why I am done. Frustration only lasts so long until it turns into learned helplessness. Which is how I feel most of the playerbase is. And honestly? It’s time to say goodbye. You had your place 13/
and time. And like WoW, I met lifelong friends & had some of the must fun times. But it won’t last forever & the joy of the game is not there anymore for me. So goodbye Overwatch. Thanks for all the memories & lessons I never expected a video game could teach me. Thank you. 15/15
