Everyone just wants to be booped by Sombra

Overwatch players have been obsessed with the game’s newest character, Sombra, since way before her formal reveal at BlizzCon 2016. Now that we’ve been properly introduced to her, though, fans have latched onto her for one big reason: She’s a master of the affectionate nose tap.

Blizzard Entertainment

Sombra “boops” both the president of Volskaya Industries, the organization she’s trying to hack, and the viewer at the very end of her reveal trailer. It’s pretty darn cute, but there’s greater significance to this little sign-off than just a flash of Sombra’s personality.

As part of the tangled web-like alternate reality game that preceded Sombra’s BlizzCon introduction, amateur Overwatch sleuths decoded a series of messages purportedly left for them by Sombra. The very last one was buried into a page of the fictional security company LumeriCo’s website, which was the site of the ARG’s last leg. Labeled “misdirection,” it ended with a wink and one word: “boop.”

That’s since become Sombra’s calling card of sorts, although it colloquially belonged to the character Lucio first. When she appeared to bounce her finger off the nose of her target in the reveal video, it instantly won both Sombra and Blizzard some props from fans.

Even after dragging them through this never-ending series of twists and turns and dead ends, Overwatch players feel like Sombra was worth the wait.

Two boops may not be enough for them, in fact. Fans are holding out hope for “Boop!” to become one of Sombra’s repeated lines, and an emote based on the gesture is also on the wishlist.

We don’t even have a release date for when all players can try out the offensive-yet-stealthy Sombra, though — although PC users can log into the Public Test Realm come early next week to take her through the paces. Hopefully watching and rewatching those fateful little boops in the reveal video below will be enough for everyone on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One during the waiting period.