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| Livibee on the mainstage at MLG Anaheim, 2013. |
American self-titled ‘Supermodel nerd’ Tara Babcock has had a
difficult time in the eSports community. Despite the fact that
she streams often, and
promotes
the sport and game, she is often accused of doing nothing for, or even
hindering, community development. I’ve come to wonder why this might be, and
have turned to Australian professional gamer, Olivia Seeto, known by her SC2
alias ‘Livibee’, to share her thoughts on the subject;
"Women in eSports is always a sensitive
topic” she says, “
and I do believe
women do get treated differently to a degree.” Olivia has been gaming for
over 10 years, and clearly sees the hobby as an inclusive, rather than
exclusive pastime:
“When I was younger we would have family LANs where we played a whole
range of games including, 'Z', 'Duke Nukem', 'Starcraft: BW' and 'Quake'… my
brother and I were addicted to Brood War while I was attending primary school
and high school.” It might be this early and very positive introduction to
gaming which has helped shape Olivia’s clear passion for the enterprise, and
why she’s keen to help pave the way for female gamers to enjoy it as she does,
“
I believe that women are missing out
when it comes to gaming. I do feel a little bit upset how there are so few
women in eSports; on the positive side, there’re no bathroom queues!” This
is despite the fact that more and more women are getting involved in gaming
generally; in fact, a survey conducted in 2004 by the Entertainment Software
Association found that 40% of online gamers were women. This is a number not
reflected in the professional Starcraft 2 scene; at a glance, thousands of male
players are listed on the Team Liquid database – even though many of these have
retired, it’s a far cry from the 32 listed in the section devoted to female
players (were the ESA’s figures reflected here, the number would be closer to
1400 female gamers).
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You don't have to try hard to find special
individuals invading female gamer chat streams. |
So why the difference? Components of the eSports community have been accused in the past of making the gaming community uninviting to
female players. There is some truth to this theory, and one need only visit a
female streamer’s channel to get a glimpse into some of what they have to put
up with; in addition to all the usual criticisms of being a professional in a
public arena, it seems that female players need to deal with what can only be
described as gender based affronts. Where does it come from? Some of the
criticisms leveled at female gamers seems to be based on the idea that they’re
not in it for the love of the game, but rather the desire attention or money, “The average male gamer will most likely
question what are the motives the girl has to do with the community, what
interests she truly has for gaming, or if she is there as somebody’s girlfriend”
says Olivia. She, herself, is not immune to this seemingly unshakable aversion
to eSports estrogen, though she deals with it in her usual chipper fashion, “…people question my motives [and] that’s
alright too, they are allowed to do that; but eventually when they actually
take a look at what I am doing and what I'm trying to accomplish, they will
realise that I am here because I love the game just like they do, and I'm just
trying to improve too!” She does think that there have been instances when
women do get into the gaming scene for the wrong reasons, but that they are far
from the norm “…when they realise that
the attention they get isn't deserved and that there actually isn't much money
to be found, only the passion for gaming remains - and since they don't have
that, they generally disappear after a while”.
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Olivia and her sister at a barcraft
in Sydney, Australia. |
It seems clear that Olivia is in the race for the long
haul, and she’s keen to get others to join with her, “Don’t let what others think hold you back, because if you ignore the
initial hate, then eventually they will realise you aren’t in it for fame or
attention, you are there to game just like everybody else.”
So, if you're a female gamer and Olivia has inspired you to take the next step, where can you start? Twitch.tv’s ‘Justin’ had
this
advice to help ensure any female gamer’s channel is a safe place for them to
stream and develop their craft. The final words really belong to Olivia
however, whose enthusiasm for the profession will hopefully rub off on the next
generation of gamers,
“If you are a
female and have a passion for gaming just like I do, don’t be shy to step in
the competitive scene and give it a shot! It is an incredibly rewarding
experience.”
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