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The Armchair Athleticism critical series is an opinion-base article series regarding the issues and sociocultural deficiencies of the E-Sports and StarCraft scene. All articles are perceptive-base and revolving around my own experiences and understanding of the subculture.
+ Show Spoiler [summary introduction] +The Solo Trail – Unbeaten - Posted on October 20th, 2012Short version of credentials: - Manager of 5 progaming teams (50+ professional players)
- Writer for 9 E-sports websites (5 team sites + 4 organizations: 150+ docs/articles)
- Organizer or Contributor of 11 community events (74,000 viewers/attendants)
- Some video-editing for one or two organizations, nothing big, just twitch.tv highlight-editing, presentational writing, etc.
Why are you starting your own space? I was listening to the suggestions of several friends and I finally started this space after I hit a dead-end in my endeavours in E-Sports. I’m at a point where I am not really affiliated with anyone and now’s a better time than ever to do some opinion topics. Doing my own content meant I would be alone and would work around my own initiative, drive and interest. However, it also meant that I may do something that requires more work than I thought and I would be on my own. It meant that the community reception can be more direct and harsh towards me personally and my views as I would not be backed by some credible organization as when I was writer for some. In the end, this series that took me about a month of writing, editing, verification and re-writing will really be everything I’ve learned, observed and felt throughout my time. I started out with three pieces and ended up going to ten. All of them delve into inspecting the five perspectives of the scene: teams, tournaments, players, spectators and contributors. Ultimately, it aims to really take a strong look into the many issues that inhibit the StarCraft community and E-Sports culture.
The Other Gaming Gender - Posted on November 18th, 2012
As previously stated, with the amount of professional gamers out there streaming, coaching and [under]achieving, how do females fit into the whole scene? Females are a minority receiving the community’s strongest criticisms, but also receiving the least opportunities. The game doesn’t distinguish males from females, yet some organizations like to sell females just playing video-games more so than exposing them as a different gender with the same amount of determination and deserved respect. Within this piece, we will examine weights of a narrowly-exposed group of players and how the wrong community view(s) can ultimately tear down an aspect of E-Sports that could need the most growth.
Right now, females suffer from 2 prejudices:
- “Females gamers are being signed for being a female rather than any real remarkable achievements”
- “Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team”
(It’s a vicious circle: Female gets on a team without any achievements, female remains on the team but never sent to any events or actively used in team leagues. Never exposed, she never achieves anything or is a part of any team achievements).
promote themselves through their gender. While several solutions have been tried to remedy the absence of achievements like female-only tournaments, they have not been aggressively put into use and advertised appropriately. Counter-Strike is the only exception to this and female teams have gained recognition for their achievements when playing in women’s leagues. The bottom line is, however, that community misperception is the detriment of female progaming divisions across the competitions. It is because we compare men to female that we hinder the growth of one that is quite dissimilar to the other.
Community mis-perceptions such as comparing males to females quantify two differencing genders. When we compare, we look at how much each gender has succeeded, with more progaming males, a higher rate of success whereas females are on the other end of the spectrum (less females, lower rate of success). Problem is, we criticize females for their lack achievements while ignoring the amount of failures (losses) males have accrued more of. When we disapprove of females, it is often due to our knowledge of male capabilities and chances to succeed with the omission of the overall numbers. Women-only tournaments are not about the separation from men but rather the desire to create its own female heroes.
Females should be praised for their own separate achievements; different standards and expectations for different types of people. Aren’t we then setting a lower standard for females over males? No, that is a comparison; we are actually just setting a system or scale for female E-sports. Females should have female tournaments and the reason for these events is that you want to expose all sectors of an E-Sport. As one user said on the topic of female-only tournaments:
“I just want to say chess has a female-only World championship. Women are allowed to play in normal tournaments–in fact, Polgar, the strongest female player perhaps ever, never competed in the female World championships–but they also have one that is exclusive to them.
It’s not emphasizing a disparity so much as a difference. Tournaments only for a country isn’t racist; tournaments only for women aren’t sexist. In any area where one group dominates in both numbers and skill, it’s okay to have separate systems to encourage other groups to join.
Especially since, and let’s be completely honest, e-sports/dota is pretty much male-dominated, we should do everything to encourage new players.” [[Reddit user Christoper on /r/Dota2]
This falls into place with my: “regional tournaments to promote regional champions” from my last article (Passionate Progamers). Gender/Sex has parallels with geographic location, except its biological. The argument of having regional tournaments for American and European players is the same for males and females; champions within their socio-cultural reach. While it may seem like we want to increase the number of champions in a given year, we are, in fact, asking for the term to be widened in diversity. Right now, females in StarCraft II are used for more marketing purposes and pushed less to achieve, especially when the opportunity to succeed is about once a year.
Right now, there are a wide variety of females who obtain little to no credit for their recent accomplishments: such as the IESF female winners. We need to praise those who achieve and value others who try. In the case of females, it is a lot easier to distinguish those who participate in tournaments and others who play the game for more entertainment purposes. While entertainers are found throughout the scene, a heavy favoritism should be put towards those who seek to extend the potential ability of the female gender rather than take advantage of it. In CounterStrike, female leagues and teams are still in growth (ESWC and ESL), however, they are much more ahead of the RTS scene who has had only two recent major events for females (Zowie Divina and IESF).
15-year South African, Gabriella Issacs takes second place at IESF Female. — Photo courtesy from ThisIsGame
Nonetheless, in the end, it comes down to one’s own opinion about the importance of female players. I don’t think there is a real objective answer that would soothe all mind and souls about this predicament. Females sit uncomfortably on a double-edged sword where they cannot be proud of their gender without being indiscriminately bashed nor can they earn the recognition of being who they are. Should gender matter in a fair and equal world? Nope. Should women be accepted as different and a minority? Yes, acceptance is the key here and with openness comes the push to improve.
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This informed series of written pieces could not have been achieved without the help and opinions of my peers and friends. Below are the people I wish to thank for their insight, accuracy/consistency check or expert opinion on the numerous topics: thank you
- Brad Carney (Lefty)
- Chris Chan (Founder of ChanManV's Production)
- Eric Grady (Cyber-Sports Network's Director of Events - Usurp)
- Flo Yao (Quantic Gaming’s Progamer - Flo)
- Jacqueline Geller (eSports Network Coordinator of Blizzard)
- John Clark (Cyber-Sports Network Executive Director of Operations)
- Josh Dentrinos (FXOpen’s Director - Boss)
- Marc McEntegart (Team Liquid Writer - SirJolt)
- Matt Weber (Team Liquid Administrator - Heyoka)
- Payam Toghyan (ROOT Gaming Progamer - TT1)
- Shawn Simon (Team Liquid Progamer - Sheth)
- Steven Bonnell II (Progamer/Entertainer - Destiny)
- Thomas Shifrer (ESFI World Senior Journalist)
If you'd like more information about the series (more pieces about different aspects of the scene will be released periodically), to contact me privately or to generously give me some siteviews on my website, you can follow the following link:
You can also follow me on Twitter where I tweet public news and information about the scene including roster changes, controversy and/or overall E-Sports news: @TorteDeLini
Thank you very much and I appreciate all feedback or corrections.
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Good article Torte. I definately agree we need to see more investment and development in the women's gaming scene. I think the community also needs to address the pervasive misogyny in the male fanbase by setting a standard of zero tolerance for sexism and harassment.
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Looking forward to going through all of this. I don't see Scarlett listed! Would be really interesting to hear her take on it (not to diminish the input of the others involved).
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The only, only problem I have with the discussion is the idea that female-only tournaments aren't sexist, while male only tournaments would be.
This is mostly a moot point, at least until a female wins a tournament populated with both sexes.
I don't like the way society is going about this kind of thing in general. Yes, women have it hard in a lot of ways, and I'm not trying to slight that. But men have it hard in a lot of other ways, and this isn't really brought to light ever. As a man who likes to think he's respectful and neutral regarding sex as possible, the rights that I don't have regarding my children, or a failed marriage, or any number of other issues caused by men in the past is pretty frustrating as it is. We have a huge issue of equality, where women have different rights from men everywhere and that's the bigger issue. Allowing tournaments limited to only one sex, be it male or female, while a great idea in theory, can only be a stepping stone in my opinion.
Great write-up once again, torte, and thanks for the discussion point!
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Females are a minority receiving the community’s strongest criticisms, but also receiving the least opportunities.
I don't agree with that sentence. We don't see male Diamond(?) players getting into a top Korean team or males joining pro teams as a player while having barely touched Sc2 the last months... It's much easier to get noticed (and get opportunities) as a girl in a male dominated scene and I openly admit that I sometimes prefer the stream of a random female player with a webcam over a Progamer.
Right now, females suffer from 2 prejudices:
...
“Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team”
That's not actually a prejudice but an oppinion and a question of consistency. I don't think that many disagree with "Gamers who are not achieving, don't deserve to be on a team".
I never noticed a discussion where someone asked for a female to be kicked out of a team cause she had no achievements (after the first announcement).
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On November 20 2012 04:11 Noobity wrote:
The only, only problem I have with the discussion is the idea that female-only tournaments aren't sexist, while male only tournaments would be.
That's like saying affirmative action is racist.
On November 20 2012 04:11 Noobity wrote:
I don't like the way society is going about this kind of thing in general. Yes, women have it hard in a lot of ways, and I'm not trying to slight that. But men have it hard in a lot of other ways, and this isn't really brought to light ever. As a man who likes to think he's respectful and neutral regarding sex as possible, the rights that I don't have regarding my children, or a failed marriage, or any number of other issues caused by men in the past is pretty frustrating as it is. We have a huge issue of equality, where women have different rights from men everywhere and that's the bigger issue. Allowing tournaments limited to only one sex, be it male or female, while a great idea in theory, can only be a stepping stone in my opinion.
This is ridiculous, one problem society does not have is males being discriminated against. Just look at this community, where maybe some female players get preferential treatment in some ways, but mostly they have to put up with incredible amounts of hostility from the community for their gender. They can't ever achieve anything without constant discussion about it, Scarlett for instance still has to put up with a multitude of trolls on reddit making disgusting comments every time she's mentioned - although her case is slightly different of course.
On November 20 2012 04:22 Uncreative_Troll wrote:Show nested quote +Females are a minority receiving the community’s strongest criticisms, but also receiving the least opportunities. I don't agree with that sentence. We don't see male Diamond(?) players getting into a top Korean team or males joining pro teams as a player while having barely touched Sc2 the last months... It's much easier to get noticed (and get opportunities) as a girl in a male dominated scene and I openly admit that I sometimes prefer the stream of a random female player with a webcam over a Progamer. Show nested quote +Right now, females suffer from 2 prejudices:
...
“Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team” That's not actually a prejudice but an oppinion and a question of consistency. I don't think that many disagree with "Gamers who are not achieving, don't deserve to be on a team". I never noticed a discussion where someone asked for a female to be kicked out of a team cause she had no achievements (after the first announcement).
Djokovic and Sharapova are both big tennis stars, yet Sharapova would lose without winning any games if they faced off. Stephano is the hero of the foreigner community, yet there are many Korean players that would be highly favored against him, even though he makes more money and has more fame. The WCS celebrated local tournament winners, they received a prize, were spotlighted, interviewed etc. Yet a lot of these players won't go far in a 'legit' tournament.
At one point or another you have to realize that when you have divisions in the scene, with separate audiences etc. that then each scene can have its own stars. I honestly think that the best thing for female gaming would be to have more female leagues and more females playing the game.
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On November 20 2012 04:34 Grumbels wrote:Show nested quote +On November 20 2012 04:11 Noobity wrote:
The only, only problem I have with the discussion is the idea that female-only tournaments aren't sexist, while male only tournaments would be.
That's like saying affirmative action is racist.
And as an irish american who's family never owned slaves and had to deal with quite a lot of crap themselves, I would say that it is, in fact, racist.
EDIT: this isn't to say it's not a worthwhile endeavor, it is, however, favoring races over other races, which is racist.
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I'm sitting in Sociology 101 all over again.
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Well I am sure gaming devs would share a lot of what of what you have said, they have been trying desperately for so long to get females more interested in video gaming, obviously only to increase their market and sales.
From a gamer point of view and an old school one at that I do not really care if more females are playing or not. No prejudice but I am indifferent to the subject and I am sure most other gamers feel somewhat the same way.
Maybe there could be a little more focus on female pro gaming, as in separate leagues and a little more effort to encourage females into the scene, would not hurt I suppose but should not feel too forced neither.
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I don't know why so many angry nerds get so heated up over the idea of a woman's league. To me it's just like New Zealander's having a NZ league or Fijians having a Fijian league- it;s not about excluding men or being sexist it's about giving a certain scene a chance to grow and develop. I would like to watch something like that if it had good production values.
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Grumbels Netherlands. November 20 2012 04:34. Posts 2502 ... Show nested quote + Uncreative_Troll November 20 2012 04:22. Females are a minority receiving the community’s strongest criticisms, but also receiving the least opportunities. I don't agree with that sentence. We don't see male Diamond(?) players getting into a top Korean team or males joining pro teams as a player while having barely touched Sc2 the last months... It's much easier to get noticed (and get opportunities) as a girl in a male dominated scene and I openly admit that I sometimes prefer the stream of a random female player with a webcam over a Progamer. Right now, females suffer from 2 prejudices:
...
“Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team”
That's not actually a prejudice but an oppinion and a question of consistency. I don't think that many disagree with "Gamers who are not achieving, don't deserve to be on a team". I never noticed a discussion where someone asked for a female to be kicked out of a team cause she had no achievements (after the first announcement). Djokovic and Sharapova are both big tennis stars, yet Sharapova would lose without winning any games if they faced off. Stephano is the hero of the foreigner community, yet there are many Korean players that would be highly favored against him, even though he makes more money and has more fame. The WCS celebrated local tournament winners, they received a prize, were spotlighted, interviewed etc. Yet a lot of these players won't go far in a 'legit' tournament. At one point or another you have to realize that when you have divisions in the scene, with separate audiences etc. that then each scene can have its own stars. I honestly think that the best thing for female gaming would be to have more female leagues and more females playing the game.
Why do you quote me when you don't respond to anything I said at all? You only write about something which I neither argumented for or against...
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The stereotype is just caused by the lack of an good venues for exposure. If the gaming scene was mature enough like every other sport in the world they would realize that women and men competed on different terms due to their different skill sets and have done so legitimately for the last centuries. It's just as stupid to penalize a woman for not confirming to male stereotypes and standards as it is to force a male Olympic gymnast to perform female designated stunts and moves. Many people even prefer watching female only competition over male, especially in some Asian countries in regards to say volleyball / table tennis, even though that doesn't undermine the male portion of the sport - as it should be. And indeed, mixed sets and categories exist where males pair up with females for specific sports categories and they are graded on a separate metric, why isn't this taken for granted when it comes to gaming?
The common misunderstanding is that since gaming seems to be devoid of aspects which are usually used to separate male / female metrics such as physical tenacity, endurance, etc, that it would be fair to grade them on the same metric. Forgetting of course that in any professional sport the minutest of universalized differences add up drastically, especially when there is social stigma attached to it. The top tier athletes are often competing for the 0.01% top percentile where such differences add up, even though the results may seem to encapsulate a wide range. I would refer to when the baseball / basketball leagues in America did not admit blacks to play until the 20th century based purely on social stigma which perpetuated the fact that black people could not gain access to professional equipment or training opportunities and that it wasn't seen as legitimate competition, yet now it's completely 180'd itself.
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On November 20 2012 05:05 Uncreative_Troll wrote:Show nested quote +Grumbels Netherlands. November 20 2012 04:34. Posts 2502 ... Uncreative_Troll November 20 2012 04:22. Females are a minority receiving the community’s strongest criticisms, but also receiving the least opportunities. I don't agree with that sentence. We don't see male Diamond(?) players getting into a top Korean team or males joining pro teams as a player while having barely touched Sc2 the last months... It's much easier to get noticed (and get opportunities) as a girl in a male dominated scene and I openly admit that I sometimes prefer the stream of a random female player with a webcam over a Progamer. Right now, females suffer from 2 prejudices:
...
“Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team”
That's not actually a prejudice but an oppinion and a question of consistency. I don't think that many disagree with "Gamers who are not achieving, don't deserve to be on a team". I never noticed a discussion where someone asked for a female to be kicked out of a team cause she had no achievements (after the first announcement). Djokovic and Sharapova are both big tennis stars, yet Sharapova would lose without winning any games if they faced off. Stephano is the hero of the foreigner community, yet there are many Korean players that would be highly favored against him, even though he makes more money and has more fame. The WCS celebrated local tournament winners, they received a prize, were spotlighted, interviewed etc. Yet a lot of these players won't go far in a 'legit' tournament. At one point or another you have to realize that when you have divisions in the scene, with separate audiences etc. that then each scene can have its own stars. I honestly think that the best thing for female gaming would be to have more female leagues and more females playing the game. Why do you quote me when you don't respond to anything I said at all? You only write about something which I neither argumented for or against...
Then why respond to my post which is then presumably not directed to you?
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Then why respond to my post which is then presumably not directed to you?
Cause you added my quite long quote without addressing it in any way? I am curious why you did that. To me it looks like you either assumend that I have a certain oppinion and you thought that you addressed it or you forgot to answer.
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On November 20 2012 03:03 Torte de Lini wrote:
[*] “Female gamers who are not achieving, don’t deserve to be on a team”
I don't understand how this is prejudice
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I'd say, that female leagues are okay'ish, as long as there's no restriction or rule for the women to compete in just those, as it is in sports, where the sexes are divided. Being a woman in SC2 community can be a double-edged sword, often hurting the women in question, rather than accepting them as part of the community. If people didn't fuss each time a woman appeared on the scene, it'd be much easier. and that goes for both guys and women alike; both parties are qually guilty of that, as frankly, some women do love the extra attention and guys are sometimes very happy to give it to them.
Wish the community would be mature enough to have awesome moments competing in SC2 altogether, where the sex someone was born as wouldn't necessarily be something serving as a barrier between all of us.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kwkQa.png)
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