Playing by Feel: Gender, Emotion, and Social Norms in Overwatch Role Choice

Cristo Leon, Angela Arroyo, James Lipuma

This paper explores how emotion, gameplay context, and social norms shape role choice in both digital and institutional systems. Using Overwatch as a case study, it examines gendered experiences of physiological excitement and decision-making during play. Women often describe heightened emotional engagement where victory represents both personal achievement and resistance to cultural expectations. Such emotions influence situational choices, including whether to play as a Tank, DPS, or Support, and which hero to select based on perceived risk or visibility.

Drawing on feminist game studies and transdisciplinary communication, the authors argue that role preference is determined not only by game mechanics but also by cultural scripts. Comparisons with Apex Legends show how design encodes gender differently across franchises. In Overwatch, the historical coding of Tanks as masculine and Healers as feminine reinforces stereotypes even as players subvert them.

Building on Donna Haraway’s concept of the cyborg, the woman-Tank represents a hybrid identity that is both empowered and constrained by visibility and performance. Poor performance invites criticism, while success often goes unacknowledged. By situating Overwatch within broader systems of inequity, this study shows how emotion, design, and norms interact to reproduce or challenge bias, positioning games as laboratories for systemic equity and cultural transformation.

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