FEMALE PLAYERS (AT LEAST ONE?)
For a game where almost half the heroes are female, its pretty upsetting that out of the 112 players in this year’s Overwatch league, not a single woman is to be found.
Males have obviously been the main demographic for games and therefore the current top players are going to be male since they have been targeted and systemically supported to participate in the activity. It’s only in the last 5-10 years or so that the “pink aisle/blue aisle” demographic tactic has lessened so that more and more women are not just finding video games, but investing enough time in them so they can become serious competitors at higher levels.
This is not to say Blizzard should bring female players in just for the sake of it, and not focus more so on finding the best possible players for the league. Instead, both Blizzard and the community itself need to address the systematic issues women attempting to reach that pro-level can face, and the obstacles they have to work through that their male counterparts simply never encounter.
A prime example of this is pro Overwatch player Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon who not only is a top-tier Zarya player but the first woman ever to play in the now-defunct South Korean APEX league. Back in 2016 she was bombarded with cheating accusations and death threats because fellow players didn’t believe she could be as good as she was due to her gender. Even when Blizzard stepped in and stated her account had no signs of cheating, the accusations continued. In an interview with ESPN she states, “They attacked me publicly, everyone in the community was attacking me, calling me a crazy b—-…I was scared.”
When the time came for the Overwatch League rosters to be chosen, Se-yeon wasn’t chosen for any of the teams with some weak excuses as to why. According to Compete from Kotaku, the Houston Outlaws general manager Matt Rodriguez stated during a media Q&A that she wasn’t chosen because of the language barrier and possible issues with co-ed player housing.
In terms of choosing Se-yeon, Rodriguez stated, “People would always be doubting, always be judging. So it has to be the right person, the right player, and those things have to come together at the right moment—which makes it especially hard for women in the scene right now.” Rodriguez also continues on during the media briefing to say “There is absolutely no reason that she couldn’t do it.” So essentially, things are hard for women in esports, but it’s still not the right moment to give them a shot and we might as well just wait until later.
Other teams that are composed of all South Korean players and would have no issues with language barriers such as New York Excelsior or London Spitfire didn’t choose her as well. Another reason finding a team would be hard for Se-yeon is that in Korea it is still taboo for men and women to live together in the same house, making it immensely difficult for female players to join team houses. They are quite literally distanced from other team members based on their gender, as even American coach Rodriguez mentioned co-ed housing as an issue.
It will likely take a few years before we see more women at the pro esports level, but Blizzard, the community, and team managers will have to take responsibility by supporting woman playing at the pro level instead of distancing or harassing them away from esports simply because of their gender. What’s more important, making sure the male Overwatch league players won’t have to worry about sharing a house with a female, or allowing a skilled player to compete at the pro level because she earned it?
