After the fuss surrounding the supposedly new player “Ellie” for the Overwatch pro team Second Wind, there is now new information that fuels further discussion. Allegedly, “Ellie” was never real, which makes many fans suspect the worst. Blizzard has confirmed this to the team.
What has happened so far? The Overwatch team Second Wind signed a player known only by the name Ellie. “Ellie” was supposed to play in the Overwatch Contenders, a sort of second league of the Overwatch League.
However, from the beginning there were doubts about whether Ellie was “real.” Ellie had a very high ranking, but only a low account level and did not want to reveal her full name.
After many hostilities and doubts from the community, “Ellie” decided not to play and withdrew from Second Wind.
The hostile environment was not to her liking, and there was a big discussion about the male-dominated eSports scene. We at MeinMMO also reported on this.
This is new: Now there is new information. A streamer from the pro team Cloud9, Becca “Aspen” Rukavina, explained in her stream that “Ellie” was never real. She is the alter ego and social experiment of player “Punisher.”
Ellie draws significant controversy
What does Aspen say about it? According to Aspen, Punisher contacted her shortly after the media sensation surrounding Ellie. In her stream, she explained to the viewers that there were many discussions about Ellie and added:
Ellie is not Ellie. The whole situation was supposed to be like a social experiment. Ellie is actually Punisher, he told me that yesterday. He didn’t expect it to get so out of control.
Rumors are solidifying: In several tweets, eSport expert Rod “Slasher” Breslau confirms that there is some truth to the story. “Ellie” is indeed a real person, but “not good at Overwatch.” She did not play herself.
Instead, there are screenshots of conversations between Punisher and other players on Discord. These show that Punisher really posed as Ellie to fool others.
Punisher is not a pro, but a ladder player in Overwatch.
Breslau also tweets that the whole matter is now allegedly being investigated by Blizzard. Players and management of Second Wind are in discussions with Blizzard to clarify the situation once and for all.
Blizzard contacted the “Second Wind” team
This is what Second Wind says: Meanwhile, Second Wind has spoken out via “TwitLonger“:
- They have been feverishly looking for new players, have relied on the leaderboard, and found a top player “Ellie” in 4th place
- they approached and recruited her without suspicion
- when the suspicions arose, they contacted Blizzard and tried to verify Ellie’s identity
- then Ellie stepped down
- now Blizzard has contacted them and clarified: Ellie is not who she pretends to be. The Ellie account has been used for purposes that Second Wind cannot support
- Second Wind apologizes to the community for not handling the situation better and promises improvement.
This is how the community reacts: The reactions to the original report were already controversial. Ellie sparked discussions about the state of eSports and the status of women in this area.
Some think this has made it even harder for women to gain access.
On reddit, people are discussing another perspective. They wondered why Punisher had not already caught the attention of Team Second Wind if his gameplay was apparently sufficient for the Contenders while posing as Ellie.
The user Voidsabre suggested that teams might prefer women over men with equal qualifications.
Many players and coaches from the Contenders League are expressing criticism about the matter on reddit. It is said that the issue has brought out the toxic side of the Overwatch community. There are hopes that this was not just a “stupid PR trick from Second Wind.”
What do you think about the whole thing?
Esports itself always causes discussions. The Overwatch League can be pretty tough:
