Alexia Unplugged

What is Marvel Rivals?

I have avoided first person shooter games ever since my brothers spawn killed me 20 times in a row during a game of capture the flag in Halo 2. Sure, I dabbled here and there with Valorant (a mistake) and Splitgate (none of my friends played consistently), but I’ve always considered myself to be hopelessly bad at them. It didn’t help that there are 8000 different weapons that I never had time to memorize. I thought that FPS games just weren’t my thing.

Then I played Marvel Rivals.

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Marvel Rivals is a new first person shooter themed around the Marvel and DC universe comics developed by Chinese publisher NetEase. It comes with arcade modes, but its regular matches are either escort missions or king of the hill matches. In the escort missions, you have to protect a moving vehicle until it reaches a checkpoint. The king of the hill matches require you to control a small area on the map longer than the other team!

Despite my aversion to FPS games, when my cousin asked me if I’d want to play a match with him I figured, “Why not?” Little did we know that cousin would be creating a monster.

Marvel Rivals is one of the simplest competitive shooters I’ve ever played, with the added benefit of getting to play as my favorite characters from The Avengers, Fantastic 4, and X-Men.

Notably, Marvel Rivals is widely accepted to be an Overwatch clone, but I wouldn’t know because I’ve never played Overwatch.

Gameplay

As for its basic gameplay features, each hero has its own unique abilities, similar to League of Legends champions, but the underlying strategy is simple: go in together and shoot the other team (or if you’re a healer, make sure your team doesn’t die). There is no buying phase and no swapping weapons. Just go shoot the other team, complete the objective, and try not to die.

Of course, more complex technical skills and strategies exist, but it’s pretty simple. To add to the accessibility factor, if your technical skills need honing, there are even heroes like Scarlet Witch and Cloak that have an auto-aim function. These are great options for players like me who need more practice for an accurate aim, but who still want to play and be competitive.

Discourse

While I could go on about the accessible, simple but entirely engaging gameplay in Marvel Rivals, there are some excellent criticisms that I would be remiss not to discuss.

The Ever Present Male Gaze

The first controversy that comes to mind is the sexualization of all of the female heroes. This isn’t a new issue in video games by any means, but it seems like Marvel Rivals is on track to have a similar reputation as Overwatch when it comes to NSFW content. The biggest point here is the lack of body diversity in the character models, especially the similarity between Dagger and the Invisible Woman, who are, indeed, pretty difficult to tell apart at first glance.

It feels like one step forward, one step back. Here we have a game based on intellectual property that appeals to everyone and has a diverse range of heroes with a wide range in skill floors (and ceilings). In recent years, Disney has been pushing to gain a larger female audience for their comic book based properties and they drop the ball every time. While Disney doesn’t have direct ownership of Marvel Rivals, it’s not implausible that they have some degree of control over the creative output. This video game could be an effective touchpoint for women to interact with their properties, so why are they making (or allowing) choices that alienate their female audience from the start?

Too Many Champs?

Other criticisms of the game tend to focus on the mechanics. For example, Marvel Rivals released with 33 heroes right off the bat. The Gamer executive editor Jade King voiced her concern that NetEase started Marvel Rivals off with too many heroes, and will soon face the issue of oversaturation.

Another The Gamer editor, Tessa Kaur asserted in her article last month that Marvel Rivals isn’t a casual-friendly game because of its large number of heroes, also citing that the game launched with a large number of heroes and promised to grow consistently. As part of her criticism of NetEase’s hero launching strategy, she worries about them eventually running out of heroes. “There are only so many really recognisable faces to the casual Marvel enjoyer,” she states.

I can see where Tessa and Jade are coming from. It’s difficult to get into a game that has so many heroes, with more being added all the time. But! Casual players don’t need to know every hero! League of Legends has 170 champions and casual players don’t need to know every champion by heart to have fun. It certainly helps, but it’s definitely not necessary to have fun or win games. All you really need is one or two heroes that you know well to have a good game.

Balance

Speaking of good game, Marvel Rivals has problems with balance. Matches can feel extremely swingy, with you either wiping the floor with the other team or vice versa, especially in the lower elos. Plenty of players complain about the poor balance in the game, since it can make it difficult to win consistently.

Others, however, think that the lack of strong balance is a benefit of Marvel Rivals. In a recent interview, the lead combat designer, Zhiyong emphasized that the team wants “every match to feel exhilarating, not drawn out.” If this is the team’s main goal for the game’s feel, then they definitely achieved it.

There is another element that contributes to the excitement of the game: hero swapping. In Marvel Rivals, you’re not stuck to one hero. You can change your hero any time you return to your base, which makes it easy to swap to a hero that counters the other team if you know what you’re doing.

This isn’t as intuitive as it seems, especially for new or casual players, but it is, as Zhiyong put it, exhilerating to come back from what seemed like an unwinnable game after swapping from, say, Black Widow to Scarlet Witch.

The Open Mic

Anyone who’s played any game with an open mic option knows that these kinds of competitive games can get really toxic really fast. Playing competitive games as a woman puts us at a higher risk for verbal abuse. I am always a huge proponent for the Mute All function, which I utilize without remorse during League of Legends matches to avoid players who are just not playing to have a good time.

However, many players argue that in a fast-paced FPS game, it can be hard to coordinate with your teammates without voice chat. I disagree with this sentiment. As a casual gamer, pings can be enough. You don’t necessarily need to hear the other players to communicate, and if you’re playing your best and trying to have fun then you don’t need to hear your teammates flaming you or each other.

Marvel Rivals has a pretty decent system for dealing with toxic players, but they do lack an easy Mute All option. If you want to mute your teammates, you have to go into your settings every new match to do so. It’s clunky and unwieldy. My favorite part of their system is the ability to block or “avoid as teammate.” That way, you can still play against those toxic teammates, but avoid their toxicity on your own team.

Why is Marvel Rivals “for the Girls”

After all of this, why do I still say that Marvel Rivals should be “for the girls?” Women are at a disadvantage compared to men when it comes to video game proficiency, especially in competitive games. This disparity is compounded by the fact that competitive video games are simply inhospitable environments that make it extremely difficult for women to thrive as gamers. In spite of this sweeping generalization about the state of gaming, Marvel Rivals is the perfect game to be taken over by women.

Marvel Rivals is the ideal for women who want to get into competitive games. The heroes are familiar, the voice lines are hilarious and cute, and they have Jeff. Many of the heroes are simple, like the Invisible Woman and Squirrel Girl, and competitive matches even allow for a full pre-made team, so you can play with all your friends. The gameplay is straightforward too; There’s not a lot of complicated external knowledge necessary like in other popular competitive genres like MOBAs.

Aside from the mechanical aspect, Marvel Rivals is aesthetically pleasing, with cute, colorful champions and visually interesting maps. Its connection to the Marvel and DC universes also makes it attractive to women who are interested in those fandoms. Contrary to Tessa’s argument, I think that the addition of heroes like Jeff who are not well known or popular names makes the game even more attractive because it has the potential to make players dig deeper into the comic book lore.

How to Get Started

How can we combat this environment in Marvel Rivals? There are a few ways to make the gaming environment positive: using the buddy system, being liberal with the mute and block buttons, hostile positivity, and practice!

The Buddy System

I will always advocate for women to begin playing competitive games with the social safety net of friends. Having even one friend on your team can make it a more relaxing experience, so instead of getting tilted at your teammates for flaming, you can laugh at them for being mad at a game when you’re all in Bronze III. Using the buddy system when you begin playing these games can help you utilize the next suggestions as well.

You Get a Block, and You Get a Block, Everybody Gets a Block!

It can feel bad to block champions. Maybe you want the last word, maybe you feel bad for blocking someone who’s only mad at you because, it’s true, you did run it down last game. But everyone has bad games, and everyone started learning somewhere. Be like Oprah with your block and “avoid as teammate” buttons. You deserve to be on a team with people who understands that everyone wants to have a good game, not just them.

Be Positive!

When you do inevitably encounter players who just seem intent on being angry, but you are sick of blocking people and maybe you’re a little tilted too, remember that everyone wants to have fun! And if it seems like they don’t want to have fun, just assume that they secretly, deep down, do want to have a positive experience. My favorite thing is to remind people that we are all the same Elo for a reason, and to compliment people very seriously. Like any typical bully, when they’re not met with the response they want, flaming loses its charm.

Get Comfortable

Are you still afraid to play against real people? It can be hard to learn a new hero. Utilize the Practice Range to your heart’s desire. You can even bring your friends with you! Once you’ve gotten the hang of a hero or two, you can start small with the Practice vs. AI matches, and work your way towards playing against real humans as you become more confident with how the game works.

Don’t Forget to Have Fun!

Like comic books, games are for everyone. Avoiding games that look interesting to you because the environment seems scary or the mechanics seem too complicated is holding you back! Environments can change and mechanics can be learned. Plus, you are allowed to take up space just as much as any other gamer, so take that space!! Find a buddy, jump into a game, and remember: it’s okay to mute everyone if you don’t like what you’re hearing.

Do you play competitive games? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments!