Women in esports: A Wake-up Call to the Scene — Part 2

In the first part of this article, we took a look at the current situation when it comes to women in esports. In the second part, you can find out what we can all do to promote diversity in esports. In order to make the grievances clear again, you have to think outside the box and understand that the problem is a bit more complex.

On September 7, the United Nations published a report postulating that, given the current state of development, it will still be 286 years before full gender equality is reached. Not surprising when you consider that the right to vote for women in Switzerland, for example, was not introduced until February 7, 1971. And of course, conditions in esports just mirror the conditions in the world and in society, which means that something has to change there first. But even though everything is connected, change can also come from us!

Step in the right direction

One might think that in Western countries, we are lucky when it comes to equality and have already achieved quite a bit, compared with other regions of the world. But just because conditions are worse elsewhere, that doesn’t mean you should settle for the lesser evil.

Nobody wants slavery, apartheid, or witch burnings back. The list of discrimination and oppression that has been (unfortunately sometimes only partially) overcome is long and it shows us that we must fight for a better, more equal future, no matter how many setbacks we experience. It can also start with something seemingly small, like how we deal with gaming.

The road to mixed teams

Some believe that the only way to get women onto the big stages is to separate esports into separate tournament series for men and women. In 2019, Riot launched its VCT Game Changers program exclusively for female gamers in North America and EMEA. The goal is to create safe opportunities for women without fear of gender harassment and toxicity.

However, this initiative and others — like the ESL CS:GO Women’s Circuit — have sparked a heated debate. It is argued that splitting teams by gender in esports does not help men become accustomed to competing with and against women, nor does it make esports more inclusive. But it’s still an important step in making this debate clear in the esports scene. If we hadn’t read regularly that the next women’s team was founded, we might not have dealt so intensively with the topic of integration and equality in esports.

Women’s tournament series and diversity aspect

Before the world is ready to accept women in esports, we need such safe spaces for development. In recent years, more and more tournaments for female players have been organized, and initiatives to promote diversity have started emerging increasingly. They provide a stage on which women can become idols and role models, and where they don’t have to fear discrimination. More and more women’s tournaments are now emerging, like these:

• Girlgamer Esports Festival (LoL, CS:GO)
• Commonwealth Esports Championships: Women’s Event (Rocket League, eFootball, DOTA 2)
• ShEsports Cup Euros Edition (FIFA)
• MLBB Women’s Invitational (Mobile Legends BB)

Morover, Saudi Arabia’s increased activity in esports makes it clear again and again how strongly the scene sticks together when confronted with the extremely unequal treatment and discrimination of women and the LGBTQ+ community. For example, the Saudi project “NEOM”, an esports city in the middle of the desert, was announced by some tournament organizers, including the LEC, as the venue for their finals, only to be drowned in the sandstorm by the community’s strong headwind.

In July, for example, Rocket League team Moist Esports declined to play at the Saudi GWB event, with British coach Noah vowing “not to work with a country that is LGBTQ+ does not recognize persons as human beings”.

Safe-spaces for the development of the female pro-community

Only with female role models and idols can a sustainable competitive scene be formed in the female gamer landscape. To provide a platform for these heroines and allow them to generate reach to ultimately inspire casual gamers, there are already some good approaches in various esports communities.

ESL CS:GO Women’s circuit

ESL Gaming claim that they believe in a world where anyone can be anyone and that the problem is mainly in a lack of infrastructure, which they plan to work on. With its CS:GO initiative, ESL seeks to create a new ecosystem for CS:GO players with equal opportunities, create new opportunities, and improve their representation. The women’s CS:GO circuit is intended to be the first of many steps that ESL reportedly wants to take toward more inclusion, respect, and equality in gaming and esports. The goal is to create an inclusive gaming community free from discrimination, name-calling, and bullying. So far, ESL has created an ecosystem for women that offers $500,000 towards regional leagues, standalone events at DreamHack festivals, and ESL Cash Cups.

VALORANT Game Changers

The VALORANT Champions Tour Game Changers Women’s Circuit was launched by Riot in North America in early 2021 and following its success, it was later also rolled out in the EMEA region. In May 2022, G2 Gozen broke the record of three consecutive VCT Game Changers titles, once again defeating David Beckham’s UK-org: Guild Esports in the finals. Unfortunately, so far Riot is having trouble verifying non-binary players in the EMEA region, which is why they are unable to participate in the tournament.

League of Legends Esports Women’s circuit

Riot is rumored to be considering a global women’s League of Legends Esports Circuit, similar to the VCT Game Changers. Such a step was discussed internally at Riot some time ago, but following the recent announcement that G2 has signed a women’s League of Legends team, the idea is said to be moving forward. It is probably only a matter of time, but the plan is clear.

While there are currently no official LoL tournaments or leagues for women, at least third-party tournaments are still being held. This includes the FemaleLegends at DreamHack, the ESWC Paris, and the Girlgamer Oradea Festival EU. There are also NUEL tournaments in League of Legends and VALORANT for UK’s women and non-binary students.

In North America, Riot’s LCS has already launched a Game Changers initiative, but it’s more focused on workshops and mentoring than a competitive tournament series. Moreover, the developer has announced also initiatives for women in Brazil. 

Empowering women in esports

So what can be done to elevate women in esports? There are differing views on how to empower and encourage women in esports to consider gaming as a full-time job.

For instance, Cloud9 White esports player Melanie Capone believes that gaming organizations should be encouraged to support female gamers as much as their male counterparts. It’s important to take a quality approach and support teams with the resources they need — not just to pitch and sign the team, but also to get a coach, a second coach, an analyst, and a to have a good manager.

Increase female representation in the esports industry

The best thing to do here is to increase the visibility of women in the industry. Positive role models will show that women can break the glass ceiling, and there are several ways to achieve this:

• more high-profile female pro gamers
• greater representation of women in esports organizations
• strong female video game characters
• more female game developers and executives in the games industry empowerment
• promoting female gamers in esports media and marketing
• more scholarships for women in esports
• better psychological support for women suffering from abuse in esports

We should all help shape the path to gender equality in esports. After all, it is our scene and it has always stood for fairness, tolerance, and our love for gaming and esports. It shouldn’t be a battle between the genders, but an in-game encounter.

To do this, we must ask ourselves: What do we want to be like? Exclusive and closed? Or inclusive, diverse, tolerant, and open? That’s everyone’s choice, but in the end, love and tolerance will surely lead to a truly open and sustainable gaming and esports scene where we can all play with our friends and support our heroes and heroines in their quests.

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