Professional vs Non-profession Gaming

Hello friends,

Today we will be talking about females in both professional and non-professional gaming!

     In the gaming industry, and more specifically esports, there are many gender stereotypes. It is common belief that males dominate and are superior women. This is shown by the fact there is only one female professional gamer in the ultra popular game, league of legends. Recently, a female league player Sakuya (formerly known as Remilia or Remi for short), participated in a tournament, but since she was the only one, she requested that her visuals and audio be hidden from the audience. This is a result of the atmosphere and environment established in today’s gaming, as well as how the viewers would perceive this occasion. Even in casual or less competitive play, women are scrutinized or discriminated due to how their abilities pale compared to men. However, this discourse, although supported by facts, is not always true.

     Especially in non-professional play, females have begun to rise up. League of legends, as well as gaming in general, is seen as a male activity, but more and more females are entering this industry. It is no longer accurate to view gaming this way or consider it surprising and rare to find female gamers, as there are numerous of them nowadays. In fact, I am acquainted with many girls that play league of legends, as well as other games, and spend more time on it than multiple guys. They are already more popularized on twitch chat (although for other reasons). As for the matter of males being more skilled, this is not necessarily true. It is easy to believe that males are better but it is not always a testament to their individual abilities and intelligence. Even though this industry is more female populated, there are still a lot more men who are more dedicated. As a result, the ratio is still heavily imbalanced, so naturally, you would see more men with high ranks. But that does indicate males are superior females, just that more play and spend more time on it. In fact, I personally know far more male league players, but amongst the few females I am associated with, some are very skilled and play alongside some of the best players out of those friends of mine without feeding. In addition, those girls are also more outgoing, choosing to socialize more with others rather than leaguing all day. Therefore, we cannot just use the basic or unadjusted data such as leaderboards or ranks, but we must compare males and females relative to their ratio in league. This includes other online games as well.

     Even in professional gaming, we can use the same argument, despite the fact it is virtually all males. However, it is more difficult to notice it given there is little supporting evidence (as in there is only one professional female league player out of the entire field). But professional gaming does not only refer to league. In other games, we have seen females rise up and eliminate males from tournaments. In Hearthstone, a very popular online card game, female players, such as Eloise, have become extremely popular. They compete in numerous tournaments, defeating men in the process. Their skills and abilities are comparable and better than millions of other men, although males are still at the top albeit.

     In the past, online gaming has always been seen as a male activity and unfeminine. However, the women’s revolution in this industry has already commenced, with more and more populating today’s games. Although it is improbable they catch up to males in the near future, given the “head start” males have had, impacts are still being made. League, as well as gaming overall, can no longer be considered masculine, as many females are joining non-professional play. Even though in well-known games such as league and hearthstone, the best players and vast majority of professionals are males, that is expected due to the correlation between the two primary genders. It is just more likely that more males will be considered a professional, since there are more males in the game. However, this revolution is a working process, and it is only a matter of time (not saying a short amount of time) that more dedicated and skilled female gamers arise. We have already seen some females enter the field (Sakuya), so that amount will only increase in this modern age as gaming attracts the interest of more women. And as that occurs, professional female players will no longer feel the need to hide their identities on the competitive stage and can freely put themselves out there. Who knows, one day we may see more girls in high ranks than males, or a female rise to the top of esports and/or other online competitive games.

So now you know!

- Daniel Lin