One of the highlights of the esports year is currently taking place in Katowice, Poland, with the IEM.
The 24 best "Counter-Strike" teams in the world compete on the big stage of the Spodek Arena and play prize money of one million US dollars (almost 830,000 euros).
Who will secure the title still seems pretty open.
Last year's winner Natus Vincere has good prospects but, as in every major tournament, has to pass Astralis' Danes on the way to success.
Other experts see the Vitality team ahead.
Only one thing is certain: at the end of the day, as always in esports, the prize money will be shared among the boys.
This is not only the case with »Counter-Strike«, also in other big titles like »Dota 2« or »League of Legends«, only men play among the world's best.
It doesn't have to be like that.
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In titles like “Counter-Strike” or “League of Legends” there is a separate women's scene
Photo: Rebeca Figueiredo Amorim / Getty Images
Esport does not, like many classic sports, make a distinction between men's and women's competitions.
The fact that teams are completely male, as is usual in the scene, does not follow any specification.
They could also be mixed or entirely made up of women.
Because theoretically gender does not play a role in esports.
However, in practice it has been shown that it is still a rarity for women to make it to the top in esports.
Hope in the individual disciplines
In addition to the "Counter-Strike" tournament, a "Starcraft 2" competition will also be held in Katowice.
The Canadian Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn also competes at this event, which is held in a smaller adjoining hall.
For years, she has been the only female participant to successfully measure herself against male colleagues in the scene.
This also applies to the Chinese Li »Liooon« Xiaomeng, who is even the reigning world champion in the digital card game Hearthstone.
However, the two successful esporters have so far remained rather the exception.
What stands out: They have achieved success in individual disciplines.
In the larger competitions, which are all played in teams, you will continue to look in vain for players.
In order to better understand why it is so difficult for female players, we speak to Marlies "Maestra" Brunnhofer in our podcast Game Changer.
The "League of Legends" player dared to make the leap from the all-women scene to the mixed scene, where she played higher than most women before her.
We talk to Anna Baumann about why there are no players in the team in the London Royal Ravens and Rogue, for which she is responsible - and what would have to happen for that to change in the future.
Since the problem of a lack of diversity is particularly evident in esports, but does not have its origin there, we go on a search for clues with games expert Nina Kiel.
We talk to her about the hurdles that still prevent girls and women from having a successful esports career.
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