Previous Blizzard games provided a greater user experience through community-made content. Will the same happen in Overwatch?
Blizzard games have a reputation for custom game modes. A few quick examples are Tower Defense, Uther Party, Warlock Brawl, Footman Frenzy, and Dota in Warcraft III. Outside of Blizzard another game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, showcased custom game modes such as surf, bhop, and obstacle course.
It brought joy to my heart when I launched Overwatch for the first time in open beta and saw Custom Games, after selecting Play on the main menu. If a player gets bored of the typical game modes (Quick Play/Competitive/Weekly Brawls), they have a way to create their own fun within Overwatch. It may not have the customization of Warcraft III’s map editor or Counter-Strike: Global Offense right now, but it does lead to interesting gameplay.
From what I’ve seen since launch, there’s currently one custom game mode trending above the rest in the Overwatch community. So far there isn’t a consensus on the name, but rather multiple names are used such as Genji Badminton, Genji Pong, Genji Tennis, Hot Potato, and Gennis.
Tennis in Overwatch: Rules and Setup
The rules are simple and mimic tennis quite a bit. First, you find an open space with a 2:1 ratio of length to width (or something close to it). Volskaya Industries at capture point A and Hanamura at capture point B are the most common maps currently. Players competing in the court spawn as Genji and a referee out on the side tosses a single “ball” into play at one of the Genjis. Heroes like Junkrat and Symmetra are good choices for referees, while heroes like Winston won’t work. For a net, two Mercy players on the same team heal/damage boost each other across the midline Genjis in each team stay within their side of the court and hit the ball using their Deflect ability into the other side to score a point. Points are recorded by the referee--or another designated player--and the team/player with the most points wins the game.
While there is no easy way in Overwatch to import maps and settings like in Warcraft III, any player can make this game mode with relative ease. Below are the basic settings to change:
Settings
- Maps: All off except for map(s) of choice
- Skirmish: On
- Ability Cooldown Modifier: 0%
- Heroes: Mercy, Genji, and Junkrat
- All other settings default
Variations are available as well; you can raise the cooldown limit and switch out Junkrat with another projectile-based hero, increase health and damage of heroes, change the maps, and so on. I made an equation to help determine the necessary cooldown for Genji's Deflect ability:
If the value of "Cooldown recommended (sec)" is less than 2, then set cooldown modifier to 0%. If the value is between 2 and 4, set to 25%; 4 and 6 is 50%, 6 and 8 is 75%, and so on.
The game mode has potential for both casual and competitive use. It has a low skill floor so a large audience may play it and a high skill ceiling to separate the professionals from the amateurs. In the future, this particular game mode and more like it may be events hosted by organizations for fun or for prize money.
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