Do you ever feel threatened or afraid because people know you’re a female player?

 

I never really feel afraid to be a female player, it's only in the last year or so that people have recognised that I'm a girl whilst playing because they knew my username, and mostly people have been really lovely. But my experience getting my first account to level 30 as an anonymous player was just the same as everyone else. I copped the usual abuse that all the guys have to endure as well, due to being terrible at the game. I haven't personally been threatened based on my gender, but I have seen other girls who have been. There were recently a few attacks on female live streamers in the USA (playing League of Legends with their webcam visible to the public) where a certain person decided it would be funny to play a prank on as many girls as he could by calling the police and lying about a hostage situation at their home addresses. This particular person got a kick out of watching police SWAT teams break into the girls' homes while they were streaming. This incident turned a lot of girls off live streaming because they feared for their own safety. Thankfully, I haven't had any threats like these.

 

What sorts of things do people harass you about?

 

Although I don't get threatened, I do get harassed. Part of playing League of Legends, no matter what your gender, is having to deal with abuse and harassment in-game. That's just what happens when you have to play a team game in a huge community with different personalities. I do get harassment from some people who recognise my username in-game, but it's usually quite pathetic and has no basis. Some people just like to hate on others for absolutely no reason. That's where the "ignore" feature comes in handy. I basically get all kinds of sexually degrading obscenities thrown at me. I get told I'm a "user" or a "gold digger" based on who I am close with, which to be honest is quite hilarious because I don't gain a cent from anyone else (unless you count my parents!) and I work hard at my job to save up money for the trips I take and the things I buy.

 

Why do you think guys have this negative opinion of girls who game with them?

 

I just want to make clear that it's not all guys who have this negative opinion, but the issue is large enough that most girls will have experienced some gender-related harassment or judgment (unless their gender is not obvious whilst in-game). I think the reason we deal with this issue is because only a tiny percentage of the League of Legends community is female, so it's somewhat rare to come across a girl in-game. We're not used to seeing females playing games because it has typically not been ‘what a girl is interested in’. We've also seen cases where girls do use their gender to take advantage of a mostly male community, by exposing their body parts to gain viewers or by flirting with guys to get them to "carry" them to a high ranking (not always the case though). These things still happen every day in the public eye, so it's kind of a case of having a bad apple spoil the whole bunch.

 

Do you think that the attitudes of gamers towards women can be changed in time or is it too ingrained?

 

As I touched on a little earlier, I think we've already come a long way in just a few years. Seeing more and more professional women in eSports means that we are getting used to the idea of women being gamers. The attitudes of people will continue to become more accepting as the number of female players rises, and as we get used to it. If you're a female and you want to make something of yourself within eSports, you just have to make sure you know your stuff, work hard and persevere. The community gets used to those who are around for a while (provided it's for the right reasons) and in turn they will accept and respect you. Lovely ladies like Sjokz and Rachel Quirico are proof of this.

 

What do you think would help the community change their approach to women in gaming?

 

Like I mentioned, seeing more girls around for the right reasons and getting used to the fact that girls play, and girls can be pretty damn good at the game. I am ranked Gold 1 currently, and that is within the top 10% of the entire player base. There are several other girls who are just as high and higher than me who worked their way up themselves. Guys are realising that there's a good chance there are several girls out there who are better than them, but there will always be some slight negativity around a girl being better than a guy and it's not just seen in gaming but is also quite common in sports. Guys just don't like women to be better than them at certain things, which is normal.

 

Why is this important to you?

 

It's important to me that we continue to evolve as an accepting community, mostly because I want to work in this industry and I want others to feel as though they can work in this industry too if that is what they are passionate about. People will realise that just because someone may be a female, it doesn't mean they don't know anything about League of Legends and don't genuinely love playing the game. It is nice to be treated with respect, and that's important in any community. I am definitely not complaining about my experience within the League of Legends community, because I feel that the community has far more amazing qualities than the few negative ones, and that is what I focus on. I wouldn't want to spend so much time within the community if I didn't absolutely love it here!

 

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