MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Porn parodies are as American as apple pie and baseball. From Star Wars to President Barrack Obama, you can find pornographic depictions of any subject matter with a simple internet search. This has held true for so long in our culture that there is even a name for the phenomenon: “Rule 34.” For the most part, this material is shared amongst supposedly caring fans and happens behind closed doors so our society seemingly doesn’t pay much attention to it. But what happens when the fan community generating this pornographic, parodic material becomes hostile? This is exactly what happened this year after Blizzard began releasing pictures, videos, and demos of their upcoming MMO-First Person Shooter Overwatch. As Blizzard released more and more art work for their upcoming title Overwatch, the “Rule 34” subsect of the fan base quietly went to work creating its usual pornographic fare. However, Blizzard decided to make some progressive moves throughout its pre-release schedule and actively worked to steer attention away from the sexualizing of its characters in Overwatch, angering members of the games blossoming “Rule 34” fan community. Their response was swift and graphic. Soon subreddits, tumblrs, and Deviant Art were full of over-the-top, sometimes violent, sexual images depicting characters from the game. Comment boards on these images became more and more frightening as members began to show anger towards Blizzard for trying to “censor the internet” and threatening the game designers. What were these anonymous artists trying to say with their work? What did Blizzard hope to achieve by making statements about the prevalence of parody porn? Was it really “censorship?” I will address all of these questions and more in my presentation as I explore the world of video game pornography and the community’s response to a creative team taking notice of their work.