A college in Missouri takes the leap and establishes a completely female eSports team for Overwatch, which is even supported by scholarships.
All-female teams are still a rarity in the competitive shooter scene. Sure, there are a few teams for Counterstrike, but a roughly equal distribution of genders is still a long way off.
Overwatch – a game with strong and diverse female characters
A small college in Missouri is now taking a bold step and plans to establish its own professional eSports team in the fall of 2017. Since it is a college exclusively for women, the team will also be entirely female. The chosen game is Overwatch, “due to its strong and diverse female characters.”
In general, eSports is simply seen as another form of sport that should be nurtured and promoted just like traditional sports.
“It’s different, it looks different, and it feels different, but it is – as you know – one of the fastest-growing industries and sports in the world,” says Dianne Lynch, chair of Stephens College.
The team is to consist of a total of 12 women. 6 of them are the core and the fixed team, 6 more are substitutes.
An atmosphere where female gamers feel comfortable
Women still face challenges when entering video games, as in this predominantly male domain, sexism manifests in the form of insults.
“Our hope is to establish a culture on campus where the only people playing in the room are women, so that a dynamic arises that eliminates that other, negative culture from their immediate environment.”
The team of Stephens College is set to make its eSports debut at the Tespa Collegiate Series.
The best part for the members of the team? The positions in the college’s eSports team will be filled with scholarships that cover a large part of the students’ costs.
One wishes to be a little younger again …
What do you think about this? Should eSports – like any other sport – already be supported in school? Or is it still more of a hobby that should have nothing to do with career during studies?
The cover image is from Blizzard.
