In Fortnite , the eSports organization Gen.G has formed a team of four female players. The team is sponsored by a dating app. The players have noble goals: they want to be pioneers for women in eSports.
The problem is: There is a gap in Fortnite eSports:
- According to Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, about 35% of Fortnite’s 250 million players are women – that number is an estimate.
- However, of the 200 participants at the Fortnite World Cup, 0% were women; not a single one was able to qualify by securing one of the coveted spots.
Women are generally rare in eSports and almost considered exotic, not just in Fortnite but also in other competitively played games.
Those who stand out as women and belong to the top are treated quite strangely:
- In Teamfight Tactics and Hearthstone, for example, Hafu complained that although she was statistically better than some well-known other players, she never received the respect she deserved – she was mocked, saying she was only known because she was a woman, not because she was a good player.
- In Overwatch, the player Geguri is often in the public eye, doubted, and has to prove herself, apparently because she is a woman.
While there are successful Twitch streamers – like the 13-year-old Ewok in Fortnite – women have played hardly any role in Fortnite eSports so far.
Women are afraid of failing or being harassed
Why are there so few women in eSports? As Fortnite players highlight in discussions with The Verge, it is difficult to be recognized as a woman in eSports. They do not have the luxury of “just being a player.”
Often, they are the only woman competing. Day by day, they receive video messages or emails from players expressing negative views about women, especially when they were killed by a woman in Fortnite, explains Madison Mann, a player who has had a contract with Gen.G as a professional Fortnite player since October 2018.
Many are afraid of being harassed or mocked. There is a lack of “female role models,” says teammate Tina Peres. And you really get a lot of backlash; one might hear: “There’s a reason why there are no women at the World Cup: You just suck.”
Peres believes that this is because many women are afraid to compete. They fear the reactions just because they are women.
This is the new team: The eSports clan Gen.G signed two female players for its Fortnite team back in October 2018, Tina “Tinares” Perez and Madison “Maddiesuun” Mann.
In 2019, they added players Carlee “Carlee” Gress and Hannah “Hannah” Reyes to have a full four-woman squad in Fortnite.
Dating app signs a 3-year contract with women’s team – streamer helps
This is new: Gen.G has entered into a three-year deal with “Bumble BFF”, a dating app that particularly favors women. Only women can initiate contact with a partner in male/female pairs.
Bumble would likely like to incorporate more gaming into its offerings. Users can now identify as “gamers” to find partners who also play.
Bumble has also hired the well-known streamer Kristen “KittyPlays” Valnicek. She has a million followers on Twitch and is now the new “Head of Gaming Initiative” at Bumble.
In her role, KittyPlays is supposed to help the team create content. KittyPlays says she has long hidden her “gamer side” but is now proud of it and wants to be open about it.
Being a role model for female gamers
This is the team’s goal: As Tina Perez tells the magazine Verge, they want to open the door for women in eSports with the new team, so that other women can also receive contracts.
Perez says she has always lacked a role model as a woman, a female eSports athlete to look up to. She now wants to be that for future female players.
Women have a really hard time being recognized in other games as well:
