Millions gathered to take part of a peaceful protest for women's rights last January 21 in South Korea. From among the various groups that participated in the international Women's March, one caught "Overwatch" fans by surprise. The National D.Va Association came to worldwide attention after "Overwatch" fans spotted the group carrying a flag that sported the titular hero's logo.
The National D.Va Association is a group of "Overwatch" fans with a huge heart for feminism. The organization which is based in South Korea aims to fire-up feminism among "Overwatch" and other female gamers to promote self-empowerment among women.
Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Unveiled at BlizzCon 2014, the game emphasizes cooperative gameplay using a cast of various "heroes", each with their own abilities and roles within a team says The Verge.
The game entered closed beta in North America and Europe on October 27, 2015, with plans to bring the beta to Asia at a later date. The final closed beta weekend began on April 15, 2016 and primarily served as a stress test for Overwatch's servers, lasting 36 hours.
The game is scheduled to be released on May 24, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Overwatch features squad-based combat with two opposing teams of six players each. Players choose one of several hero characters, each with their own unique abilities and role classes.
The four character roles include: offense characters with high speed and attack but low defense, defense characters meant to form choke points for enemies, support characters that provide buffs and debuffs for their allies and enemies respectively (such as healing or speed alterations), and tank characters that have a large amount of armor and hit points to withstand enemy attacks and draw fire away from teammates.
According to Kotaku, Players can switch between characters in-game following deaths, which is encouraged by the game's overall design. The game's maps are inspired by real-world locations the first three maps unveiled ("King's Row", "Hanamura", "Temple of Anubis") are inspired by London, Japan, and the ruins of Ancient Egypt, respectively.
