Video games and gaming, in general, have evolved over the years and it has grown into a gigantic industry, expected to exceed $200 Billion USD worth of revenue at the end of 2023. According to the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), in Europe, 47% of video game players, and 53% of all mobile and tablet video game players are women. Southeast Asia has also seen a rise in women players, amounting to 38% of the 1.33bn Asian gaming population. This probably comes as a surprise to most as the world of video games has always been stereotyped as a male-dominated industry, however, stats prove it’s far more equal than perceived.
Despite the balance in regular video game numbers between both genders, there is a wide, concerning gap when it comes to women’s involvement in esports, whether as pro players, commentators, broadcast talent, or other roles. The pro esports scene is visibly dominated by men. The top 300 esports earners at the time of writing this article also exhibit the scarcity of women as the highest-ranking woman, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn is placed 343rd.
There is also an apparent lack of female talents outside of the pro scene, or at least, a lack of representation. Some of the recent examples can be seen at the ESL One Summer 2021 Dota 2 event or the Dota Summit 12 in 2020 where the invited broadcast talent did not feature any women.
Just like esports, physical sports have traditionally been male-dominated with women athletes struggling to make it to the spotlight of their fields without being ridiculed or ostracized. In fact, it has taken 125 years since the modern Olympics was established for women to reach near-gender parity at the games, with women representing almost 49% of the competitors at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Unfortunately, esports is currently following a similar trajectory with the representation of women being ridiculously low at the highest levels. There are several mammoth-sized boulders blocking the way of women gamers attempting to pursue a path in this industry.
Women are struggling to make it to the forefront of esports
Culture is tugging women right at the door of competitive gaming
It is no surprise that the world tells women they don’t belong in gaming, and to me, that might just be the root of the problem. Video games, from their earliest phases, have always been targeted at men. It can be seen from mainstream video games lacking female character representations and oftentimes, female protagonists that are already very sparse in number, are hypersexualized.
In my experience, women can’t associate themselves with gaming without being questioned and perceived as ‘out of place’. It’s like when men tell the world they play video games and the reaction is ‘oh, cool!’ and when women game, they get asked ‘why?’. This probably explains why women are less likely to call themselves gamers compared to men, even though they play games just as regularly.
Due to this stigma, other problems emerge. One of the most heavily talked about issues in esports is the harassment women face while gaming. According to gamesindustry.biz, "the most common form of identity-based harassment was aimed at women". The site mentioned that the harassment reports coming from women had an increase from the previous year, from 41% in 2020 to 49% in 2021. It is clear that the number of sexist remarks and toxicity over the mic that women get are significantly more than men and it's getting worse by the day.
AFK Gaming had a chat with ELIESCZHAE, the Esports Manager of an all-female Filipino Dota 2 roster, BATTLE ANGELS. She talked about her struggles with in-game harassment, “I encounter harassment all the time while gaming. It happens so often that it has reached a point where I never open my mic when I play, which actually is detrimental in a game that relies heavily on team coordination such as Dota 2.”
Former captain of Indian League of Legends team, Girlaxy, and our very own staff writer from AFK Gaming, Nutan “IngenuineRabbit” Lele, also commented on the issue, “We tend not to use voice chat or we don’t talk a lot because it will then invite harassment. At the best of times, there's genuine curiosity, but at the worst of times, there’s a lot of harassment. When I used to play before, I used an IGN (in-game name) that doesn’t sound very feminine, that sort of hides your identity, and people don’t tend to bother you too much if you’re just like everyone else.”
It has come to a point where women are intimidated to reveal their gender and even try to mimic men in-game, just to get equal treatment. Some of them use masculine aliases or profile pictures, some of them refuse to talk over the mic, and some of them even disguise their voices and appearances.
In some cases, women are willing to risk talking over the mic, but unfortunately, gender-targeted criticism and sexist insults hit them as soon as things go south. In a sense, men have a level of freedom in gaming and for most women, it just feels like we are trying to play whilst in hiding.
Unfortunately, this barrier is quite inhibitive to women who are trying to take their first steps in competitive gaming. The majority of esports titles are multiplayer games that require you to vocally communicate to play to your full potential, and without this element, women are crippled right at the very beginning. In addition to this, all the intimidation and discouragement that women get from gaming when they do use their mics cause many to stay away from competing in esports events even when they’re evenly matched against other competitors.
Women’s successes or milestones in-game are also actively downplayed by a significant part of the esports community. “If a female does really well in the game, there will always be people who are going to say she is boosted (getting help from another person to rise in ranks), as if a female has no potential to become great in whatever they do including gaming,” stated ELIESCZHAE.
Women’s achievements are constantly demeaned and most people find it hard to digest that, yes, women can also have knowledge in video gaming. Women are constantly hit with insulting remarks, and these are still abundant even among the professional scene. A recent case saw Virtus.Pro, an established Russian organization, allegedly posting a now-deleted tweet implying men work hard to game for women to be able to spend.
Some people proceed to label it as a ‘harmless joke’ but what it does is only further encourages sexism among the community. Incidents like this only deter women from stepping into esports especially considering Virtus.Pro’s pedigree as a top organization.
Opportunities for women in esports are lackluster
There have been several efforts from around the world to help promote women’s esports. Some publishers like Riot Games have started hosting events like LCS Game Changers for the popular MOBA title, League of Legends, to promote diversity in the esports ecosystem.
ELIESCZHAE also applauds OffGamers, the company sponsoring her team, for its latest contribution to uplift women in esports. She believes with her new role as the esports manager for BATTLE ANGELS, she can continue to advocate for women in the esports industry.
The Female Esports League (FSL) in Southeast Asia has also been successfully organizing tournaments across various game titles and over the past few years, they have seen immense participation from women all over the region. However, the rise of women in professional esports has also highlighted the lack of resources that could allow them to sustain their growth and development.
Ruby, one of the founders of Dota Valkyries, a Dota 2 organization that aims to create a platform that uplifts women in the community, commented on the current state of affairs by stating that there is a supply issue for women’s esports. She said, “There aren't enough events, coverage of what events there are is minimal, players aren't known to fans, narratives haven't been made that fans could follow or talk about; all of these issues need to be addressed.”
Highlighting how there is not enough development to build star players among women gamers and how there are no stories to talk about that can interest the public, Ruby added that “narratives that women aren't as good as men and therefore generate less interest in competition are harmful to public perception but entirely false.”
In what seem to be decades-long restraints for women in gaming, and now in esports, women have been set back from solidifying an esports industry for them. However, with the rise of women in the world of gaming, we should be getting on track to hasten their growth in the industry.
What the industry can do to boost women’s esports
Bigger sponsors and organizations have to get in on the act. Most entities look down upon the women’s esports scene due to them not perceiving the industry as lucrative, however, ELIESCZHAE believes if they give it a shot, it will bring great success.
Well-known brands should jump into the women’s esports industry and start to sponsor or collaborate with teams and players. Companies that sell hardware, gaming peripherals, gadgets, and many more can promote a wider range of products that might not be suitable for men and market them to female gamers.
Women’s esports is the door for brands that primarily target their products to women, to finally make an entrance in esports. Beauty brands like Sephora, cosmetics companies like Huda Beauty, jewelry companies like Swarovski, and many more can possibly collaborate with women’s esports teams. With luxury brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton already stepping into esports, these brands doing likewise is more than possible, and if not done soon enough, is an opportunity wasted.
Video game publishers and esports organizations could create coaching and training programs for women to give them a boost to compete in the professional scene and help catch up. Men have been significantly exposed to competitive gaming for a lot longer than women and this handicap can only be overcome by initiatives that provide additional platforms for women to elevate faster and bridge the gap in the esports scene.
We are already seeing sporadic involvement of women in mainstream esports, and that’s a good thing, but not nearly good enough. Top game publishers such as Valve, Garena, and Respawn Entertainment could address this issue and create more opportunities for marginalized communities.
There are a lot of approaches that can be taken to encourage women to participate in events and tournaments. Video game publishers could organize tournaments and set a minimum requirement for women’s participation in a team. They can also present teams with more diverse lineups with extra rewards and notch up the prize pool for all-female tournaments and leagues. Publishers could also collaborate and work with third-party organizers that are already providing a platform for women in esports.
Clearly, tournaments and events need to have their spectators, and considering the pool of viewership for women’s esports is mostly relatively small, something needs to be done to grow it. IngenueRabbit pitched in her thoughts, “Inviting top streamers, inviting known names in the scene and having them as guest appearances, I think that’s a great way of getting more eyeballs to tournaments.”
Organizers could also create a safer environment for women to compete in, especially during LAN events. Have more women attend events, both as players and event staff so they feel welcomed and not alienated. They should also impose stricter rules when it comes to disrespectful behavior and harassment during events, further ensuring a secure environment.
A few tournament organizers like Riot Games and Moonton have already got the ball rolling for women’s esports programs and tournaments. According to Esports Charts, Gamers Club had organized a female CS:GO tournament, Gamers Club Masters Feminina I, in 2020. The site also listed the most popular female esports tournament in 2021, Moonton’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang female league in Indonesia, Woman Star League, which garnered remarkable attention with the event accumulating 2.2 million total hours watched. However, there have been some debates surrounding the necessity of an all-female restriction in esports tournaments. Some imply it to be diversifying instead of inclusive and some would insist on having a line drawn between the two genders.
Is an all-female teams restriction necessary in esports tournaments?
The all-female restriction does have its benefits. Women are generally intimidated to compete in a mixed-gender team and their potentials are often buried when having to perform in a male-dominated environment.
A research paper published by Sage Journals claims that “females who play with a male partner are less confident in their skills and often focus on supporting their partner’s advancement, not their own”. This might also imply that women tend to settle for lesser dominant roles when teaming up with a male team. A blog post by Angie on Backlog Crusader attempts to explain why this happens. One of the reasons mentioned is that women have just started adapting to video games, and settling for ‘easy’ roles is a normal tendency, especially when they’re surrounded by players who are more experienced than them, which in most cases are the men.
With an all-female lineup, there is more freedom in picking roles without gender norms and it will encourage more women gamers to break the cultural barrier. In that sense, women won’t feel hesitant to try new things and experiment more in-game, resulting in better opportunities for their growth in skill.
FSL is one of the organizations that provide an all-female competitive platform across various gaming titles. From their events, we witness a lot of women flaunting their talent in esports.
Although all-female teams are great to encourage growth among female gamers, the end goal would definitely be mixed-gender teams representing on the biggest stages of esports. Sports, in general, have physical requirements which are heavily dependent on human biology, thus, in most cases, favor the male gender more. Esports, on the other hand, doesn’t limit players’ potential to their physical advantages and therefore, gender hardly plays any role in determining a player’s gaming potential. South Korean female Overwatch player, Se-yeon "Geguri" Kim has already proven to the world that women are more than capable of competing in a mixed environment. She became the first female player to be signed to an Overwatch APEX team and an Overwatch league team, also earning herself a spot on Time’s list of “Next Generation Leaders” for “Fighting Gender Bias in Gaming” in 2019.
Mixed teams, in general, shouldn’t be a problem and it can finally put both genders on an equal footing.
According to Ruby, Dota Valkyries fully support organizations that are working hard to create events for women, however, they would like to focus on providing mixed tournaments. For her, exclusive tournaments for women should exist for the next 5-10 years as a stepping stone towards mixed esports and after undoing the constraints women have faced, eventually, women and men should ideally be competing as equals.
The community can also do a lot more than just sit and watch, and according to Ruby, both genders have a role to play. “For men, the first thing to do is to start paying attention, to follow women that work in their respective scenes on social media, and to listen. When I say listening, I mean proactively reconsidering their biases based on what they're reading or hearing, and not disregarding women's experiences for their own prejudices. Listening is the precursor to actually understanding.”
Ruby also elaborated on what women can do to achieve the desired change, “If you're a woman and you're interested in doing what you can to develop the scene, one of the most powerful things you can do is speak up — about your own experiences, the goals you achieve and the difficulties you face, as well as speaking out in support of other women that share their experiences. The more we support each other, and the louder we are when we do it, will create a positive domino effect leading to the change we want.”
“For everyone, adding your voice when someone tries to make the scene better has a far bigger impact than most people realize,” she added.
It is important to remove stigmas that hinder women from going forth, whether as pro players, or any other profession in esports. Established organizations and sponsors need to be the primary driving force behind this change, by providing more opportunities for women and allowing them to gain access to this field. Perhaps with these changes, the industry might finally start to witness more women thriving in the esports industry.
