Healer (video games)

Healers are often represented as a fantasy spell-caster (such as a cleric, druid or shaman), a realistic combat specialist (such as a medic or paladin), a science-fiction technician (such as a repairman or engineer), or the like.

They know the herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they can divine a being's state of health or sickness.

[5] Final Fantasy VII featured the magic-based character Aerith Gainsborough, who was able to restore chunks of health to the player's party.

Healers were a markedly important facet of gameplay in the 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.

[9][11] Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) have been noted by PC Gamer to have a "usual problem of there being too few healers or tanks because most people want to be able to level and solo efficiently.

"[12] Some players have been documented to prefer selecting healer-class characters in competitive multiplayer modes, who have cited a desire to help teammates and a relative accessibility as reasons why.

[11] Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of The Face wrote that "healer roles [in shooter games] stand out because they don't depend on hand-eye coordination, making them attractive both to players who find 'twitch-shooting' a turn-off and people with disabilities that affect their accuracy and reflexes.

[9][11] A healer is generally tasked with restoring health, removing poison-like effects, and reviving fallen party members.

The term gained widespread popularity through the 2016 first-person hero shooter Overwatch, in which the character Mercy is a dedicated healer commonly used by female players who largely wish to avoid direct combat.

[13] Aside from "healsluts", healer-class players may also conversely identify as "healdoms", in which they assume the dominant role in the dynamic as they can "control whether their partner lives or dies.