Overwatch subreddit’s missed connection post inspires #HelpKyleFindTracer

Most people don’t go to BlizzCon thinking they’ll a special connection. Don’t get me wrong: Blizzard’s annual celebration of all things World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Overwatch, among games, is filled with plenty of good vibes. But Reddit user TheBushidoViking certainly didn’t go to Anaheim, California this weekend thinking he’d leave with a crush.

The problem is, as he told the Overwatch subreddit in a post that has since gone viral, TheBushidoViking has neither a name nor number for the “really cute” girl dressed as Tracer that he met on Nov. 5, the very last night of BlizzCon. Now that he’s settled back at home, TheBushidoViking — a.k.a. Kyle — can’t stop thinking about Tracer, and he’s unwittingly enlisted the game’s community to aid him in his quest to find her.

“I told you and your friend group the story of my friend and his love of dabbing and thus you told me of the genji dab in overwatch and we exchanged faces outside of the IHOP,” he wrote to the Tracer cosplayer, in what may be the first “missed connections”-style post to appear on the Overwatch forum. “I forgot to ask for your number!”

Readers almost immediately fell for Kyle’s story, although some had a few follow-up questions before they bought in. (In case you’re wondering what a ‘dab’ is, you may be better of not knowing; as for “exchanging faces,” TheBushidoViking clarified the flirty move in an update.)

“Is this a new ARG?” joked Wasting_Night. “Because helping a guy out to get the cosplay girl of his dreams is a hell of a lot better than knowing about a broken espresso machine.”

“Can we all agree that this is the most important thing happening right now in Overwatch?” ChocolateTacoFilms wrote in a highly upvoted post.

Others seem skeptical of TheBushidoViking’s sincerity. How would this “Tracer” feel if she did see TheBushidoViking’s post, the lengths he had to go to just to get her digits? What if she barely remembered him, or did, and have absolutely zero interest? In a word: Yikes.

“If she likes him: adorable,” wrote absurdparadox, perfectly summing up the thread. “If she doesn’t: turbocreeper.”

The Overwatch community is nothing if not dedicated to a single-minded pursuit, and so TheBushidoViking’s post made its way over to Twitter. Fellow players are tweeting out the thread with the hashtag #HelpKyleFindTracer.

But TheBushidoViking doesn’t seem like he’ll be broken-hearted no matter how this shakes out.

“People seem to think I need this person in my life for some reason,” he said in an update to Reddit users. “Truthfully I dont. I have the internet as a resource to possibly talk to someone who seemed like a lot of fun. But If I dont find them, my life is no different then it was before, people. I never thought people would find this sweet to any degree so I appreciate all of you wonderful people.

“I'm just glad I could bring smiles to faces,” he added. “As I said before life is far to short for negative energy.”

Update: We’ve updated this post’s tone based on reader feedback.