21 ESPORTS FOCUS Women in Esports
verybody seems to agree that esports is the future of
Hegerberg, the game’s highest paid female athlete, makes around £340,000 a year. But other sports – virtually all other sports – have decades of sexism built into them – both in their fan culture and in access to the sports themselves. True story: women were told well into the 20th century that excessive sports play could dislodge their uterus. No, seriously. The number of women video game players approaches 50% of the population. This is confirmed by several studies, including a 2015 study by Pew Research Center, which found 50% of men and 48% of women play video games, with 15% of men and 6% of women identifying themselves as ‘gamers’. In the 18-29 age bracket, the numbers jumped to 77% of men and 57% of women playing video games, but with 33% of men, compared to 9% of women, identifying as gamers. So what’s esports’ excuse? A CULTURAL ISSUE Sabina Hemmi (see this issue’s Genius Interview, page 38), CEO and co-founder of popular game data sites Dotabuff, Fortbuff et al, was head of one of the world’s top World of Warcraft clans before becoming a entrepreneur. She knows first- hand how hard it is to be a women in a male-dominated gaming space. “There was a study done where they saw that men had higher reaction times. But then after you practise for a short period of time, reaction time difference between gender basically disappears,” Hemmi explains. “Any pro player in any game is going to have a great reaction time and great mechanical skills compared to an average person. I don’t know that gender plays the biggest role. That’s clearly a cultural issue.” She continues: “When I go to a sports data conference, the professional women in traditional sports feel like esports is almost proof women are not treated well, because there’s no reason on paper why women should not be able to play a video game at the same level.” Hemmi’s insights on the industry are based not just on her own experience, but on the study of the data her company collects. Is there anything in the data that shows there should be this discrepancy between male and female esports participation? “There are interesting things going on when we look at the data for a game like Dota 2, which doesn’t have any females professional players,” says Hemmi. “The skill level men need to be at before they get scouted, there are women playing now at that skill level. There are women
unscripted content. Broadcasters and producers, tech companies and advertisers are falling over themselves to get a piece of the esports gold rush. Esports athletes are global megastars, and the games they play are some of the biggest entertainment brands in existence with spin-off content including everything from fashion to music. I think we can all agree that esports is the signature entertainment for the 21st century. And there are no women in it. The website esportsearnings.com collates results of esports matches and how much money is being earned by individual esports athletes and teams around the world. Danish esports pro Johan Sundstein (“N0tail”) is the highest earning male esports athlete player and, according to the site, has earned a career total of $6,889,591. Sundstein is captain of top Dota 2 team OG and – if you don’t know it, gramps – is one of the world’s biggest esports stars. In second place is Finnish player Jesse Vainikka (“JerAx”) with a career total of $6,469,000, then Anathan Pham (“Ana”) of Australia with $5,999,411. The site also features a listing of esports’ top 100 earning females. Heading the list is trans woman Canadian gamer Sasha Hostyn (“Scarlett”) who has earned a career a total of $335,551. Hostyn is ranked 331 in earnings among esports athletes worldwide. Second in the female players list is the USA’s Katherine Gunn (“Mystik”) with a career total of $122,000 (ranked 941st worldwide), third is Ricki Ortiz with a career total of $80,780 (1418th) and fourth is Marjorie Bartell (“Kasumi Chan”) with a total of $55,000 (2069th). This disparity is seen in most sports. Lionel Messi makes over $100 million a year, while the Norwegian footballer Ada
A MAN’S WORLD Although an equal proportion of men and women play video games, pro esports players are predominately men
WHEN I GO TO A SPORTS DATA CONFERENCE, THE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL SPORTS FEEL LIKE ESPORTS IS ALMOST PROOFWOMEN ARE NOT TREATEDWELL
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