Blizzard is in hot water again, following what some believe to be a trivializing depiction of Hindu goddess Kali.
Rajan Zed, a representative of Hindus, has urged the company to remove the Symmetra Devi (Goddess) Skin from the popular first person shooter Overwatch.
Skins are aesthetical features that modify how the characters look like in the game, and the skin in question transforms an Indian-origin character named Symmetra into Maa Kali's avatar.
According to Zed's blog post, the skin for Symmetra is labeled as "inappropriate." He goes on to add that having players control and manipulate a goddess by using a joystick or a keyboard can be considered as "denigration." He mentions that, for Hindu devotees, the custom is to place themselves in the hands of the goddess, and that switching roles transmits a belittling message.
Zed notes that turning Devi into "just a character" creates confusion, and underlines that reinterpreting symbols or concepts from religion is "not okay." Hindus appreciate free speech just as much as the next person, but he believes that using religious figures in games has the potential to rub devotees the wrong way.
However, Overwatch players from India do not see eye to eye with the president of Universal Society of Hinduism.
A quick glance at the Indian Facebook page of the game is enough to see that there are players who are opposing Zed's claims.
Eric Yumnam's comment is self-explanatory.
"I was so proud that there is a Hindu depiction which also represents India in a game which i love," Yumnam says. He mentions that there are few occasions where game characters are inspired by Indian lore or culture, so religious people would better "stop interfering" and leave them be.
Rohan Mondal, another Overwatch player, backs him up.
"Blizzard is probably going to ignore him," Mondal says. He underlines that the players themselves have zero problem with the depiction of Devi in the game.
Devi is a great goddess of Hinduism and worshipers venerate her under different forms and names since the dawn of the religion. Although Symmetra's Devi skin (and its recolored counterpart, goddess) does not seem to depict a specific aspect of the goddess, it does pack a number of traditional visual cues. The most famous would be Kali's skull decoration, as well as the blue skin that the faith correlates to all things infinite.
Zed is not at his first appeal against visual depictions of Hinduism in video games.
In 2012, he initiated a campaign against Hi-Rez Studios, the gaming company behind Smite, the third-person multiplayer online battle arena game. His beef with the company was the representation of Goddess Kali and the fact that players could choose to go to battle as said gods and goddesses from the Indian faith.
In February, he petitioned against the Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final's depiction of Lord Krishna in the Japanese RPG. At the time, he pointed out that the visual depiction of the Indian god was belittling.
Blizzard is no stranger in appeasing players who ask for Overwatch's content to be better curated. In March, Blizzard backpedaled and removed a pose from Overwatch after a slice of internet roared in anger over a debatable sexualized pose of the character Tracer.
It remains to be seen if Zed's complaint will lead to the same effect.
