Why is there a lack of female representation in eSports?

[Anonymous]

[lumos]

I just think women aren't as interested in forming teams and competing, and prefer more casual gaming. Not to mention how horribly a lot of male gamers treat female gamers. Yeah yeah, internet culture, bullying is normal and everyone should be able to handle a bit of shit talk. But so many men lose their shit when they realize a woman is online or on their team. I've heard that many women just mute their mics because they don't want to deal with men shit talking about their skills or knowledge. I even read one female streamer's story on twitter where she explained that she was carrying an entire team for several rounds, and then when she finally said something on mic, some dude who was on the same team went apeshit on her and started shit talking her skills, despite her being obviously better than him and having helped their team loads. Surely enough, this incident has made her mute her mic entirely.
It's difficult to want to keep playing games when the culture surrounding plenty of them is toxic as shit and women are treated as shit because "women can't play games". I'm not surprised at all that so many women a) lose interest in playing and/or b) don't even want to try to play when people have such shitty attitudes.

[YHL6965]

Well, when you play casual or popular games, you can always expect a tremendous amount of toxicity, regardless of your gender.

[lumos]

@YHL6965 "Yeah yeah, internet culture, bullying is normal and everyone should be able to handle a bit of shit talk."
I think it's a poor excuse to undermine the extra amount of totally unnecessary shit women have to deal with, though. Like you can't treat women like that and then wonder why a majority of them don't have any interest in playing games, whether it's on a serious level with teams or on a more casual level for fun. The toxicity takes a lot of the fun out of it, especially when you're being attacked for no other reason than your gender.

[YHL6965]

That's why I don't play popular games, because it's full of toxicity. Gender is just another reason, these toxic people are like bullies, they look for a random reason to spit their hate out. That's why I quit games like Overwatch, because the community is just crap and it ruined a pretty good game in my opinion. Meanwhile, there are games where you can find the most chill people in the world.

[Daniel012]

"women can't play games"... some people can, tho

[Estaroze]

Heeeey Games can be Exciting! Hmmm however, it's hard to tell the reason.
In my case, when I was at elementary school, I was excelling at on line games (starcraft, warcraft, etc) I could kick some Korean guys' asses.
However, then I became a middle school student and learned that not many girls plays the games and nobody sees girls playing the games are great. Then I lost my interest in games, (even though it still feels exciting when playing it) and since I didn't play it, my game skills were gone, and it made me don't want to play the game even more. Games are not interesting if you are not excelling at it.
So, I read books more instead of playing the games.

[Estaroze]

kick some Korean guys' asses: premising, "Of course, I was muchhh better than most of other foreign gamers"

[Jennifer_32]

Jesus fucking hell you look younger than 23. By the time you are 50 you'll look 25

[Estaroze]

@Jennifer_32 lol Thanks (?) :)

[drindyjones00]

I would say that it is because not as many girls are as crazy devoted to game as some guys. Also, probably their reaction speed in game, and some have unpleasant personas which makes it hard for other females. Out of all the females I crossed paths with only 1 was a hardcore gamer, and 5 played video games casually, and the 400 some others said video games where either stupid, for guys, too time consuming, just not interesting, or meh. Also, it would help if esports became more normalized and popular, because then they would see it as a career opportunity, which is probably the main problem. See, my professor for my sociology class explained that females think more practically, and since professional esports isn't a common job or very practical then females may stay away from trying an esports career.

by the way, watch the anime The King's Avatar, or the live-action version on Netflix.

[Definitely]

A career in e-sports is not as stable as in actual sports either. So they have to deal with taking risks, which girls don't seem to like. There's also that in the event of the job getting dismissed (game/team/person stops being profitable), they would have to learn things from scratch again for another one job, which amplifies the risk of not performing just as good on the new one and not being able to score a job with the effort they put in, all that turning into wasted unproductive time.

[GoodManDave]

I think most women tend to like other things. Locally, there seems to be very few gamers at all, and few of those are women. Like all the LAN parties I go to, there might be three females at ALL - let's say I see them twice a year; one of them usually being a child of the host (and she kicks MY butt on many of the games). Any other women tend to be upstairs hanging out (wives and girlfriends). We'd welcome them wholeheartedly, if they wanted to play.

Semi jokingly, I say women have lives (or think they do), whereas, guys that much into gaming probably don't.

I would be curious to see what would happen in a dynamic of all female teams, vs co-ed teams.

[Boppy]

I sort of assumed all teams are co-ed by default, and making an all female team seemed like a gimmick.
I don't know anything about eSports culture, though, and maybe there's some gender-based gatekeeping I'm not aware of.

[GoodManDave]

@Boppy I'm into the Overwatch league. As far as I know (and I'm starting out), there's maybe one woman (Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon) on any of the teams I've seen... So I can only speak a little about the Overwatch League.

I get some of the reasons... if anyone, but let's say a girl specifically doesn't speak the same language as most of the team, then a vital element (communication) doesn't work. That's not sexism. This is why there were a few all Korean (or other ESL) teams first, as opposed to co-ed (which came about in other seasons).

There may be some teams that are anti woman, but I honestly think that it's not a conscious decision to have all male teams. I would think the league itself would be coed, but it's just that there are not enough women who could be considered pro to choose from, but maybe I'm just unaware.

[Cynicaldreamer]

Because while there are female gamers, not many are very hardcore compared to men... at least the ones that do esports. I would love to see more female gamers doing esports though because there are some out there are that good and can compete just as well as some of the guys.

I'm a gamer, but I don't have the time, motivation, or interest to do high end competitive games like some of the ones you see people playing there. I raid with my team about 6-8 hours a week, play casually the rest of the time, and I'm content.

Plus some of those guys literally devote their lives to playing and honing their classes, skills, abilities to be top... yeah, I don't have the patience for that nonsense, lol.

[ForteExe]

Because girls aren't into video games like guys are. It has nothing to do with "representing" them, it has to do with the fact that women are already a minority in the pool of gamers by their own predisposition, and are being "represented" accurately in the pros. I put "represent" in quotes because I think the base premise is stupid. No gamer represents anyone other than himself/herself and maybe sponsors when relevant. The idea that an individual competes in a video game as a representative of his/her sex is asinine.

[TheMadAsshatter85]

Tehfeck is an esport? You mean women gamers? Because their Epeen brings all the boys to the yard. That's right, it's better than yours. One might teach you, but she'd have to charge.

Norlytho... I played wow for years- Came to realize over time there are a surprising number of female players- Wild guess- somewhere above 1/3 and likely below 1/2... They just don't broadcast the fact they're females because there's always at least a few douchebags who can't handle their sh*t and treat them like people.

Also, I've heard rumors that Gamer Girl Pee has interesting alchemical properties, fabled to give unfathomable power. But that's just hocus pocus legend. Pragmatically Xcore gamers just stick with an overabundance of amphetamines and Mountain Dew. Not to mention handy gismos like gaming catheters to eliminate the need for annoying bio breaks.

[MsElizabeth96]

I Think it's the same as any other sport, men tend to be better at it this become more successful.

Although it's not a physical sport, apparently men have faster reaction speed, which is what's key to eSports

Even when a woman is somewhat successful in the industry, she's usually transgender

[Miristheiss]

Why aren't there more male nurses?
Why aren't there more female plumbers?
Why aren't there more male daycare workers?
Why aren't there more female HVAC techs?
Why aren't there more male 1sr grade teachers?
Why aren't there more female oil rig workers and space engineers?

People are interested in what they are interested in. Careers aren't 50/50 in life.

[yikeserino]

Preach!

[Madison2001]

Honestly, men are better than us when it comes to this field, we only play for fun and to enjoy our time, while they devote their life focusing on games all the time, they see it as a real job. We don't have much time to sit all day long playing video games, we tend to have different life style than them.

[Stingray444]

Well, There's also a lot of strong women too! We're all equal, Both genders are just as good

[Stingray444]

Gotta have that coincidence and mind-work. Females are just as good as males

[Anonymous]

I don't know what is wrong with people man, it's not about "representation!" Currently they don't have a "female" league, maybe they should and maybe they shouldn't since there's no real disparity between the capabilities of men and women when it comes to being skilled at a game. It's just hand eye coordination and decision making. Differences in physical strength and endurance do not come into play. So if there aren't as many competitive gamers that are female and they also aren't as good as the majority of male players, you won't see them competing.

It's not representation, it's whether or not they're good enough or not. It's that simple! If girls want to be in the top of the eSports scene, get good! That's what they tell men. It's not about gender. It's about skill. I've seen teams of male and female players, intermixed teams. They just don't make it to the top. It's not that they couldn't, they just don't!

[Shuri]

Part of it is because women weren't really getting into gaming hardcore until recent years. The main reason, though, is flat out bullying and not being welcome into the gaming world by men. Men are very sexist in gaming to the point where we don't even use mics anymore because the second they find out you're a girl, they just relentlessly bully you and make fun of everything you do. It's even worse when you're anything other than a white woman.

Factually, we just aren't welcome. There are plenty of women gamers who are just as good as men. However, men do not really want us there. I can't tell you how many times a guy has said he's going to find where I live and rape me just because I beat them on R6 or COD. I've had 3 marriage proposals. I've been voted out of lobbies because I should be 'making sandwiches instead of playing with the big boys'.

Guys don't want us in their gaming world. Plain and simple.

[Anonymous]

Why do women want to be represented in everything. I really dont care if we're not represented in that. Because I don't follow it... I don't understand the big deal. We don't have to be represented in EVERYTHING. I'm fine with that... Why do we have to be so extra?

[Xyline789]

Yeah it is really annoying. I'm not good enough to be a pro gamer but I was decent when I was younger in HS. I had to play a lot to get to that level. It literally becomes their job 12 hours a day.

All these females complaining (about many male dominated fields) make it sound like they can't compete without men stepping aside and letting them win. It sounds really pathetic.

[sawno]

Women are less competitive and less likely to play competitive games.
Like the games i play are 99% male, girls will play some of the mainstream ones and they absolutely are all over things like MMORPG's. But among the top tier players most will be male since the large quantity of good male gamer.

[Bananaman177]

There's really a lack of female representation in anything that's difficult.

Look at how they're all complaining about how girls aren't going into STEM fields. They say women need to be encouraged to go into STEM.

Well guys who go into STEM don't need to be encouraged, in fact they go into STEM despite quite serious discouragement, they are social outcasts, often the victims of bullying, and that doesn't stop them from pursuing their dreams. But girls need to be "encouraged."

[Physics-Man]

Utterly agree! I recall reading that the top 10 best paying majors were STEM and that they are dominated by guys. While the bottom 10 worst paying majors were overwhelmingly dominated by girls. This is also the source of the Gender Pay Wage Gap.

[Physics-Man]

The bottom 10 were fields like elementary education and social work. Touchy-feely fields rather than logic driven ones.

[Bananaman177]

@Physics-Man A lot of factors go into the gender pay gap, in fact the only factor that doesn't affect it is gender.

[LegitChipmmunk]

The ratio of Male to female gamers is about 60:40, so it isn't a lack of numbers but I think it is the community that females get when they stream and stuff, causing them to sucom to twitch thot way of streaming and those that dont lose their following and any limelight they should receive

[Kaneki05]

This will change over time. And honeslty no clue.
Ethier way i know many female gamers.
And some who are high ranked in LoL.

But @ChronicThinker has a point males tend to bug girls online if they find out they are one so probably puts them off a lot.
Even this girl i know who is high ranked has to leave a couple days and not play just because of the abuse and harresment as a girl.

[winterfox10]

I gotta think that a lot of it comes down to how seriously women take eSports. Women don't really game all that much in general, and those who do are mostly doing it casually. So you take a comparatively small group of people, and then make it even smaller adding a high level of skill and a desire to professionally compete in the first place, and you just aren't going to end up with very many people.

[Britantic]

A lack of female intrest in e-sports. It's the same reason why female athletes in most sports make less money than male athletes.

[MoneyBeets]

All hail the white queen

[AynonOMouse]

I agree, they should forcibly put them in there when they don't qualify and watch them get beat.
Seriously though, it goes by qualifiers, not by gender for who is in there. That is why it is mostly young college age people that have tons of time to sit around playing a game enough to get good.

[Usernamesrdumb]

Why isn’t there a better male representation in knitting circles? Elementary school teachers? Lifetime Tv?

can't we just except males and females might like different stuff? I swear if a man likes it, better be equal women liking it, or you’ll be shamed.

Who cares.

[UncleJessieRabbit]

I agree with all of this. Besides if both of us liked the same stuff, how boring would that be?

[Bman4907]

Aren't eSports tournaments? meaning you have to play, compete, and hopefully win?

It's not like women show up to these things, then red lights start flashing and the alarms go off.
Vagina detected, lock down the building. Vagina detected, lock down the building.

Anybody that pays the entry fees or qualifies can take part. It's based off talent, not what you are or are not.

[ChronicThinker]

Because every time we log onto a game y'all lose your shit that there's a girl there.

[Kaneki05]

No joke you are 100% right lmao. Back in the day in black ops 2 everytime there was a girl on the mic everyone would get on mic and have to talk to her.
Tbf i did too but i was 12 so cannot blame me haha.

[Kiran_Yagami]

Because girls just aren't that passionate about video games. Hardcore gamers, people who play more than 20 hours a week, are almost exclusively boys with a few rare exceptions. You aren't going to find a diamond in the rough when the rough is only tiny 3x3 garden.