A pure meritocracy blind to identity: Exploring the Online Responses to All-Female Esports Teams in Reddit

Abstract

Despite recent growth and popularity, esports as a scene is struggling with a number of problems ranging from payment problems and cheating to questionable treatment based on various factors such as race and gender. In this paper we seek to uncover how perceptions of women in esports are guided by stereotypes of all-female teams and ‘female professional players’. Our data consists of 952 Reddit comments on two announcements of all-female teams in League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The nature of esports was perceived as a working meritocracy where only player skill matters. Especially all-female teams were seen to be a threat to this order, since they were considered to lack dedication and have ulterior motives for playing the game. Ultimately, getting to visibly exist as a woman in the scene was a reward for compliance in the esports meritocracy: exhibiting skill, playing in mixed teams, and tolerating harassment.

Gender and Toxic Meritocracy in Competitive Overwatch: Case “Ellie”

“…There exists a great amount of earlier research on the role of gender in game cultures and competitive gaming (on the latter, see, e.g., Maric 2011;Groen 2013Groen , 2016Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018;Ruvalcaba et al 2018;Voorhees and Orlando 2018;Witkowski 2018;Zhu 2018;Siutila and Havaste 2019;Hayday and Collison 2020;Taylor and Stout 2020). A large part of this work is focused on women (e.g., Groen 2013Groen , 2016Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018;Ruvalcaba et al 2018;Witkowski 2018;Siutila and Havaste 2019;Hayday and Collison 2020), as they are perhaps the most visible and largest group of marginalized gamers.…”

“…There exists a great amount of earlier research on the role of gender in game cultures and competitive gaming (on the latter, see, e.g., Maric 2011;Groen 2013Groen , 2016Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018;Ruvalcaba et al 2018;Voorhees and Orlando 2018;Witkowski 2018;Zhu 2018;Siutila and Havaste 2019;Hayday and Collison 2020;Taylor and Stout 2020). A large part of this work is focused on women (e.g., Groen 2013Groen , 2016Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018;Ruvalcaba et al 2018;Witkowski 2018;Siutila and Havaste 2019;Hayday and Collison 2020), as they are perhaps the most visible and largest group of marginalized gamers. The GamerGate movement, initiated in August 2014, signified an extreme harassment campaign targeted particularly against women and non-binary game creators, journalists, critics, and researchers, and affecting everyone identifying with gender identities marginalized within hegemonic game culture (Braithwaite 2016;Mortensen 2018).…”

“…In a previous study (Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018), we found that the community had noted the lack of women in the Overwatch League. Potential reasons for this were discussed being structural and cultural, such as the fact that FPS games in general have been a genre dominated by men, meaning there are less women gamers who have spent enough time developing their skills up to the required level, and also the culture being hostile toward women (for similar findings from other games, see also Siutila and Havaste 2019).…”

An Extended Study on Training and Physical Exercise in Esports

“…A number of journalists, policymakers, and academics have thus ended up conceptualizing the cultural identity of the phenomenon: what are the relations between esports and sports, e-athletes and athletes, and esport play and physical exercise (see Taylor, 2012;Ferrari, 2013;von Hilvoorde, 2016;Freeman & Wohn, 2017;Karhulahti, 2016;2017;Jenny et al, 2017;Kane & Spradley, 2017), furthermore, what are the related socio-cultural implications and what makes esport engagement rewarding to begin with? (See Lee & Schoenstedt, 2011;Witkowski, 2012a;Harper, 2013;Martončik, 2015;Nielsen & Karhulahti 2017;Hamari & Sjöblom, 2017;Hallman & Giel, 2017;Siutila & Havaste, 2018. ) This study is not explicitly concerned with the above questions but brings them into a new light.…”

An Extended Study on Training and Physical Exercise in Esports

“…A number of journalists, policymakers, and academics have thus ended up conceptualizing the cultural identity of the phenomenon: what are the relations between esports and sports, e-athletes and athletes, and esport play and physical exercise (see Taylor, 2012;Ferrari, 2013;von Hilvoorde, 2016;Freeman & Wohn, 2017;Karhulahti, 2016;2017;Jenny et al, 2017;Kane & Spradley, 2017), furthermore, what are the related socio-cultural implications and what makes esport engagement rewarding to begin with? (See Lee & Schoenstedt, 2011;Witkowski, 2012a;Harper, 2013;Martončik, 2015;Nielsen & Karhulahti 2017;Hamari & Sjöblom, 2017;Hallman & Giel, 2017;Siutila & Havaste, 2018. ) This study is not explicitly concerned with the above questions but brings them into a new light.…”