The next sports revolution: women in the world of esports

How does the world of gaming and modern gaming manage to attract and integrate more actresses and streamers than ever before?

Opinion column

Yoav Agent

12/02/2022

Saturday, 12 February 2022, 12:50 Updated: 12:52

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Gaming.

Often the word itself evokes associations and stereotypes that are usually concentrated around pale and overly thin children and men, who sit alone at home in the dark and play on the computer / console without any social or human interaction.

For those who play, and certainly have been playing for many years, these descriptions sound detached.

Today everyone is playing, whether it's the new FIFA, Voice of Duty, or even feature games like God of War and the like. When series and movies based on games like Arcane occupy the ratings charts one can say in a confident tone that gaming is already considered mainstream.

While many people enjoy the diverse content worlds of gaming, there has always been a phenomenon that was less pleasant to address - there are very few women who play online.

Contrary to statistics that speak of an almost equal division of 52/48 between men and women who play (for the benefit of men), these statistics also include hyper-casual games that are often a distraction while traveling, or phone calls and not an integral part of the modern gaming industry.

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The change that has begun in recent years

The most popular games of the last decade are community-based games, with social and competitive elements, sometimes at a level that are becoming an e-sports industry with leagues and competitions that will not embarrass many popular sports.

In the last two years slowly and under the radar there has been a turnaround: two of the newer hits - Apex Legends, and Valorant are attracting casual, streamer and even competitive actresses in higher numbers than any shooting game ever.

Games like Valorant and Apex Legends attract more players than ever (Photo: Official Website, Riot Games)

Is there an explanation for this?

Yes, and in a less prominent place than one might think.

It is clear that over the years, as gaming as a hobby and entertainment medium becomes more common, there will also be more women playing.

But, what happens when a woman is in the lobby, squad or team in a competitive online game opening the microphone?

In rare cases she will receive completely equal treatment as a full-fledged player on the team.

In the average case it will absorb at least some comments and bites.

And in the severe case (and unfortunately still relatively common), harassment and even cyberbullying.

To be fair, competitive online games are a relatively competitive and impatient environment in which regardless of gender one often experiences unpleasant social situations and even broadens horizons.

For example, I learned how to call my mother's profession in various languages.

From Serbian to Finnish, the human linguistic richness is spectacular, especially when creative curses have to be found.

But when it comes to a woman, it is doubled.

So it can be concluded that this is a pretty hostile environment for women, and it is possible that many gamers install these games, play a few games, experience harassment and bullying farms and decide not to continue playing.

So how did games like Apex Legends and Valorant solve this?

Very simple, very requested, and so elegant that EA even patented it.

Ladies and gentlemen, get to know the

(Ping Wheel).

The ping wheel introduced by the game Apex Legends (Photo: Official Website, EA)

This is a semi-transparent menu that opens with the push of a button during the game, and allows with a single additional click to transfer tactical information to the team member quickly and clearly.

You don't even have to open the microphone, the characters in the game have full dubbing for all this communication, and even different variations for the same choice for each character.

The concept itself existed before, even in single-player games, but Apex Legends adopted it into the multiplayer lap and perfected it.

Beyond the wheel itself, you can also mark objects or locations in space, and contextually the game understands what information you are trying to convey.

Whether you are missing ammunition, you have found an interesting weapon on the floor or you want to mark a place where people can be seen passing by.

The ping wheel revolutionized, allowing gamers for the first time to play without the choice between snatching harassment once it is discovered they are women, and playing without a microphone and a tactical disadvantage due to the inability to transmit important game information in real time.

The game's automated communication has proven so effective that EA has decided to allow free use of the patent, to help more gaming companies increase their game's accessibility to women, or in other cases with speech disabilities, and more.

The idea of ​​the ping wheel was so successful that EA patented it (Photo: Official Website, EA)

Valorant's version of the ping wheel brought about the necessary changes

In games like Counter Strike and its competitor Valorant, world-class players in many cases consider it a game around information.

Both teams strive to receive and communicate in real time every shred of information that can indicate where the other team players are, where they are trying to attack or defend, with what weapons and grenades, and where they are fortified / where they attack on the map.

It is so critical that in these games it is customary for the team coach to communicate in real time with the players and coordinate the passage of tactical information, and make decisions during the rounds.

In games like this there is a huge disadvantage for a player who cannot speak into a microphone and transmit information in short commands: "Two defenders in Bomb Site A", for example.

In VALORANT the wheel allows you to transfer all this information and point out points on the map that you keep as a defender, suggest ways of attack, ask and offer to buy weapons for another player.

Ask for savings on purchases in the current round and more - just like Apex Legends did.

Removing the initial hurdle to start playing and improving the game, has created new momentum for action-loving gamers and competitive games, once they get through the game and start gaining confidence, many gamers feel comfortable opening the microphone and communicating with their team confidently, demonstrating their in-game abilities and being accepted as equals , Because there is no reason not to.

Valorant's ping wheel ... (Photo: Official Website, Riot Games)

... Cells and made changes according to the game (Photo: Official Website, Riot Games)

The numbers are on the rise

Another factor that contributes to this combination is a more historically inclusive genre - character-based shooting games.

Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Apex Legends and Valorant, all games in which the player chooses from a collection of existing characters, who have different abilities and a different contribution to the team.

In Apex Legends and Valorant, there is without a doubt the most diverse cast of characters in both gender and global.

50% of the characters are women, and the representation is almost absolute for the different cultures.

Apex Legends does not have absolute numbers, but it is enough to look at the top 100 streamers on the Twitch platform to see that about 35% of them are women.

Women play and participate in the Apex Legends Global Series, in women's teams as well as mixed teams, and many initiatives that arise each month for women-only competitions.

Something that is missing in most games.

In Valorant, on the other hand, there are numbers provided by Riot, the game's developer herself in an interview that took place around the launch of the Women's League - the GameChangers in 2021.

About 40% of the users in the game are women.

This is an unprecedented figure.

While we have no way of verifying this, from a sample test conducted by the gaming channel team (by the "full play" method, but what), over a hundred games we reached an average of about one player with us on the team in 4 out of 5 games.

Considering that we have no way of talking to the opposing team and finding out what's going on there, we can assume that both teams play at least one gamer in 4 out of 5 games, which surprisingly amounts to exactly 40% of what Riot Games has stated.

In recent years, shooting games based on "heroes" have begun to incorporate a wide range of characters, including almost complete representation (Photo: official website, blizzard)

The question always arises in the biggest competitions in the world: "Where are the women?", And the sad answer is that they were not allowed to be accepted in the "neighborhood field" at all, since he plays online matchmaking.

So how will they have the motivation to deepen the game enough to become professional players?

Gamers can be hostile at times.

But development companies have the ability to engineer and develop tools and interfaces that will close that gap.

It all starts online, where the game's keys and distributors control every aspect of the game with a level hand.

It's time to take responsibility for cyberbullying, make games accessible to less represented audiences and show the world that even in the most demanding and stressful games, there is an equal place for everyone.

Many of the big game distributors mostly understand the profit line.

If the gaming industry today, with minimal appeal to women, is rolling in greater revenue from the film, music and television industry, there is no doubt that reaching equal involvement of women will fly the profits to the moon.

And more importantly, I want to believe in the world of new consumers.

Consumers who are first and foremost looking for a product with values, game developers who will not give everyone a place on their platform will abandon in favor of the safe and open equal game for everyone.

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