GIVEN THE restrictions for contact sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic, esports has steadily become a main attraction in today’s sporting world. Exhilarating games such as Valorant, League of Legends (LoL) Wildrift, and Call of Duty Warzone have become popular and have captured the attention of gamers all around the world.
Although the development of esports made strides in 2020, gender disparity remains a prevalent issue in competitive gaming due to the discrimination that female gamers face. Amid the inequality in the sport, members of the esports community must create safer spaces for women to end misogyny and gender inequality in esports.
Lagging behind
While esports is open to all genders, there are only a few female gamers in the industry. In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Jacinta “Jia” Dee was the lone woman in the roster for Sibol—the country’s national esports team. The lack of female representation stems from the prejudice that esports is a male-dominated industry, as women are often labeled as weaker players or get tagged as cheaters if they excel and defeat their male opponents.
This prejudice was evident in the case of Geguri, a famous Korean professional Overwatch player who was accused of cheating due to her incredible performance in the 2016 Nexus Cup Korean qualifiers. After winning the game, Geguri’s opponents accused her of using an automatic aiming software while playing. Following the incident, Geguri was then invited by the tournament’s caster to acquit herself by live streaming her gameplay on a separate occasion due to the numerous threats from her critics.
Because professional female gamers face discrimination, judgment, and harassment, women interested in esports become hesitant to immerse themselves in the sport. “One reason why women are driven out [of] the [esports] scene because of the harassment that [women] face. [They] hear that the community is toxic, so [they] don’t wanna be a part of that,” Loyola Gaming (LG) Moderator Tala Wong voiced out.
Sharing the same lobby
In an attempt to combat misogyny, esports organizations have ramped up their efforts in promoting a more inclusive space. One such effort is the creation of an all-women league called Liga Adarna which was formed in 2019. The organization has hosted numerous esports tournaments for games such as Valorant, Mobile Legends, and Defense of the Ancients 2.
Together with its partners Eplayment, Esports News PH, Smart Inc., and Fantech, Liga Adarna’s founders aimed to empower female gamers by giving them a chance to play competitively without the fear of discrimination. As a result of their tireless efforts to give female gamers a safer space to play, the league was able to field a total of 186 all-female teams in their various esports tournaments since its inception.
Another organization that is trying to bridge the gender gap in esports is LG. Despite becoming one of the most prominent esports clubs in the collegiate scene, there is still an evident lack of female representation in the organization. According to LG Manager Kenneth Alog, for every four male gamers, there would only be one female counterpart in the organization.
In an attempt to become more inclusive, LG rostered more female gamers into their esports teams and designated more female members into the different roles within the organization. The organization’s efforts resulted in the drafting of Bridgitte “Brigida” Ramos in the LG Imperium Mobile Legends roster and the addition of Clarisse Del Mundo in LG’s LoL game analyst training pool. “We try to do our best to give whatever opportunities there are to anyone who’s hard working,” claimed Alog.
Looking for a voice
Although there have been efforts by Liga Adarna and LG to improve gender inclusivity in esports, these efforts alone are not enough to eradicate misogyny in the sport. The burden of creating a safer space for women also falls on big gaming companies and creators as they hold the responsibility to take care of their gamers.
Early in the year, Riot Games—Valorant’s creators—launched a new initiative called Game Changers, which aims to host a series of all-women tournaments to empower female players. Although this is a step in the right direction, other gaming empires are still lacking in terms of enforcing regulations to keep their players free from discrimination within the games they create.
Because of this, gaming companies must exert more effort in creating all-women tournaments and opening more opportunities for women to play so that esports can have a more inclusive playing environment. Along with the added opportunities for women to play, game developers should also hire more women into leadership roles. This would allow for more inclusive plans that are based on the opinions of both men and women.
While gaming companies and developers are the keys to eradicating misogyny, the player community also plays an important role in solving this issue. When faced with a situation wherein a female player is being harassed, gamers must call out the offense and report the instance to the in-game support engine. In turn, the help desk support team handling the report cases should be vigilant and quick to hand out harsh consequences to the perpetrators such as account deletion or blacklisting.
As misogyny in esports is a systemic problem, it takes a collective effort from everyone in the esports community to foster mutual respect and to finally end misogyny and gender inequality.
Girls got game
With the esports scene continuing to grow, it is important for the community to have female representation in order to inspire and motivate future female gamers to chase their own gaming dreams. To do this, gaming companies must do their part in properly enforcing their rules and providing more opportunities for women to lobby their ideas. Given these initiatives, the esports scene can become a safer space in which female gamers can interact.
