While the concept of e-sports is one that's still largely getting started, it's already drawing a bit of fire for the composition of its player base. Most of the players in e-sports seem to be largely male, and that's got some asking a critical question: where are the women when it comes to e-sports?
Polygon's Emily Gera asked the question, and then proceeded down a reasonably cogent analysis of e-sports' marketing efforts and the like, and seems to set up the basic idea that there aren't many women involved in e-sports because the marketing for e-sports is trending very much in the direction of “affluent young men,” a market that's pretty well universally coveted by most any marketing venture one cares to name.
But here's the interesting thing: despite the fact that the marketing is clearly geared toward the gents, the ladies are clearly into the e-sports field as well. Female viewership went from 15 percent to 30 percent in just the last year according to reports, and that's a staggering jump. We're talking from about one in eight e-sports viewers being female to around one in three, and that's a jump that can't be taken lightly.
The big thing about this development is that it forces an already young industry to be looked at a little more critically. Basically, to try and derive any patterns or trends from the current amount of information on e-sports is a lost cause; the data simply doesn't go back far enough as yet to get meaningful analysis out of it. But what we can do, however, is derive possible trends, and possible patterns, and that's making for some very interesting points of discussion.
Basically, there are two ideas that immediately come to mind when it comes to why there aren't near so many women playing e-sports than there are men: one, they're being kept out, or two, they're not interested. Now, one of the immediate ideas is that the marketing is clearly targeting the young affluent male, so the marketing may be making the women feel “unwelcome.” If that were the case, then why is there such a big jump in terms of viewership? The marketing is seemingly designed to pull in the young affluent male, but the female market is seeing some huge jumps. So if the marketing is making women feel unwelcome, then why are they showing up in such large numbers? Do they feel sufficiently welcome to watch, but not quite welcome enough to participate? Seems like an odd twist of logic from here, but a possibility nonetheless.
What's more, figures like the ESL's managing director Ralf Reichert are noting that there really aren't many physical barriers to entry in e-sports. Reichert went so far as to say “There is no reason why a female gamer should not be able to compete with a male one, and surpass him in terms of skill.” Indeed, that's already the case—Germany recently saw a female professional join a “normal” team in 2012—so the marketing doesn't seem to be stopping some of the female contingent from stepping up to the keyboard, so to speak.
Some, like “Super Smash Bros. Melee” pro Lilian Chen believe that the problem—such as it is—may go back decades to the origins of gaming, when males were heavily encouraged in gaming while females were largely ignored. But again, how much impact this really has is unclear; encouraged men get involved, yes, but ignored women can get in just as readily. This would seem to be a matter of perception; just because some believe they are unwelcome does not strictly mean that they actually are unwelcome. Yes, there's something to be said for encouragement, but hasn't much of the point been that women don't need outside approval to pursue interests? Indeed, Chen herself would seem to exist as proof this can't be the case.
The point I can't help but see here, and maybe that's just the view from this particular perch, is that at least some the problem is actually on the females here. Ladies, if you want to game professionally, game professionally. You have worked hard to reach such a point, so take it. Indeed, there's no physical reason—with the possible exception of differences in reaction time—you can't compete here. There is neither law nor fiat, neither regulation nor rule, that bars you from engaging. If you want to game competitively, then take up your standard, walk onto the field, and, beat so many opponents than you can't help but be noticed. You will be mocked. That's a certainty. Gaming culture allows for substantial amounts of trash talk. The field, however, is open. Regardless of what the marketing or your fellow competitors or anyone else may say, it is open. So take your space if you want to take it.
