Female Pro Players

Hello lovely readers, today we are discussing the potentially controversial topic of female pro players, the history, the future, the current active players, the steps the industry has taken and is still needing to take… we are looking at it all today, so let’s get into it!

To take a look at any international tournament within League of Legends esports, would show a lack of female pro players. But this is no anomaly, and has been the ‘norm’ for quite some time now. You only have to read that Valorant only just got it’s first all female pro team in 2020 in the shape of Godsent, and Cloud9 have followed this path with the launch of C9 White in 2021; both of which participate in NA’s female only Valorant tournaments. It is of course not entirely unknown within esports that female pro player representation has been lacking, and there is now a rhetoric that proceeds it based on the prior notorious unsuccessful efforts.

And notoriety should be emphasised, notorious for all the wrong reasons. If all we have to show from female pros in League of Legends is the heavily mocked Team Siren (disbanded), and Vaevictis Gaming (female team active in female only League tournaments following being removed from LCL in 2020), it’s quite easy to see why women capable of being pros would not be lining up to be one. Of course, the prior reason doesn’t take into account the ‘usual’ reasons women aren’t pro players, to name a few reasons – women are thought to not being interesting in making it to the top, don’t see esports/professional gaming as a career – playing just for fun, or don’t want to spend hours in front of a screen levelling up.

Aside from the fact that many of these ‘reasons’ are highly generalised, there is another reason I’d like to add to the list. Being a streamer is arguably more lucrative, and less in the firing line of judgement that has become esports. If the choice is between working completely on your own terms and building a community that support you or being the next team to diversify the LOL esports, which may or may not fail and subsequently be mocked and have hate aimed at you for years to come. Which would you choose, honestly? And of course if you watch the streams – or perhaps the clips that appear on other sites such as TikTok, you can see the ordeal female players (at any level) often go through in lobbies never mind the treatment and comments in game. Why would you want to put yourself in the firing line for that?

This of course brings us to the topic of forced inclusion, by no means am I suggesting this is a solution, women shouldn’t be forced into being a pro player to be the next poster of diversity, that’s not going to solve the issue. As many before me have said, having women for the sake of women is not solving the problem, if anything it adds to the problems. If like in the case of Team Siren, the female team are not on equal footing as their male competitors (assuming the team are playing on the professional stage versus male opponents), then it’s clearly not going to prove the points that these teams often set out to prove. It’s just going to bring down the image of women as pros even further, and this is evidently, the last thing we want moving forward.

To give my opinion, Cloud9’s scholarship programme for women interested in becoming pro players in a variety of esports, is a step in the right direction, it’s the step forward that esports needs now more than ever. Especially following MSI 2021 where the first ever female pro player attended – Diana Nguyen – the substitute support for Pentanet.GG (an LCO team from Perth, Australia). These are undoubtedly signs of the progress that we need to see in the industry as a whole; but one team offering females who want to turn pro, an opportunity to become pro, is obviously not enough. Especially when it is only one team, only open to one region of women (as the Cloud9 programme currently is – though they do have hopes to extend into other regions in the future).

Someone has to lead the way, but others have to continue to pave the path. Glass ceilings are made to be broken after all. We need to see more of these scholarships and training programmes on offer, on an international basis, across all regions, and we need to see all women and girls who are interested being accepted. We can teach strategy and technique, we can train mechanics, but we can’t teach enthusiasm, passion and interest; and therefore, esport organisations need to drop the idea of finding the best talent when running these programmes and search for those with the biggest passion. Those who are dedicated and determined. It might be an old age quote, but hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Yes, my suggestion of dropping the idea of ‘the best only’ is not immediately financially viable and probably sounds like a fantasist’s solution, but the solution – if you can call it that – of waiting to find the ‘perfect’ player clearly hasn’t worked for such a long time. The choice is either do nothing, or do something, and there is no halfway or in between option that is suitable. All or nothing. C9 White and Godsent’s Valorant teams were the start of what we needed to see, as were Gen G’s Team Bumble (first ever female Fortnite team) but now we need to see it continue. Of course, in League of Legends, a new female team might be difficult to start, the reputation of Team Siren and Vaevictus’ Gaming are still fresh in many peoples’ minds, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start again.

These two teams might be mocked for their less than perfect runs in competitive LOL facing off against male opponents, and while all female teams facing other all-female teams is still some form of female inclusion (see PandaCute, established 2016) (also see GIRLGAMER.GG – an international all female tournament in Valorant, LOL and Counter Strike). Female pros should not be diminished or ignored because of something that went wrong years before, the future can always be changed, so why not change it. Why keep the same rhetoric going?

Furthermore, it is not enough to hand out the aforementioned reasons as reasons to not run scholarships and programmes to get more women into pro play. To do so, implies that women are simply not capable of competing and are therefore not worthy of the chance (a reason given in several Youtube videos detailing the failings of Vaevictus Gaming and Team Siren). I highly doubt I'm the only young woman who wanted a way into pro play and found very few opportunities – if any were open to me or the region, I live in at all. This might sound like a whiney vengeful person, but I assure you it is not, my point with this entire blog, is to start a new, positive conversation surrounding the encouragement and inclusion of women as pro players in any esport (despite the focus of LOL and Valorant).

As I said earlier; I'm not trying to encourage forced inclusion or doing something for the sake of it (or media coverage), but I do want to see women who want to go pro, be supported and encouraged in this endeavour. And no, I don’t think that is too much to ask, especially not in 2022. We know better than to just brush someone off, so let’s not repeat history. Women are already involved in almost every job in esports, so why not pros too? Why is this a space women aren’t encouraged as much as they are in other roles? One female pro player may tick the representation box and inspire the next generation, but whole female teams on the world stage should be the end goal.

It is a goal that we should all have, whether we work in or watch esports, the goal should be inclusion. Inclusion because we want to include everyone and not just because it looks good. We all know the gaming industry is inclusive but can be toxic, so it’s our job to change that. We owe it to every girl and woman who wants to go pro, to help her succeed, no excuses. Why should women and girls capable of battling on the world stage miss out? I'm not talking about the frankly insulting reasons listed above, I'm talking about a real genuine reason. Because I for one, am yet to see one.

This article is not meant to be me banging the drum for ‘we need women too for equality,’ this is me writing because without research and opportunities, talent will slide through the net. If Faker had never been picked up (by SK Telecom T1 2 in 2013), would he be known as the GOAT of League that he is today? No. So women shouldn’t be allowed to slip through the net either. DSN at MSI and C9 White are the best start we could have asked for in 2021, so it’s time we keep it up, no excuses, no ifs, buts or maybes. And now with G2 and other huge organisations creating all female teams, 2022 and every year after it, should keep the inclusion and encouragement of female pros, in every esports, going.

For everything I have said up to this point about the need for women as pro players, attitudes need to change, the hatred aimed at Team Siren and Vaevicits Gaming wasn’t purely because they lacked the required level in League to succeed. A lot of that hatred is also misogyny, and anyone who has done research on this topic should be able to tell you that that isn’t news. It’s time for change. Not just a change in who can become a pro player but how we deal with the hatred thrown at pro players, gender aside, it is time for a change.

Gaming is an incredible industry, and this goes without saying, and as people who have grown up with the gaming industry, we need to keep it an incredible place for the future generations to come through. Especially the future pro players, female, male or anything in between.

So, to end this on a positive note, we know there is a future for women in esports, we know they can go pro, no questions asked when talent and hard work speak for itself. So, let’s not go back to expecting women as pros to turn out the same way previous efforts have, and instead judge them on what they bring to the table. Because the time for change, encouragement and support is now, and if not now, when. And if not us, who.

Notable Sources of Information - 

YouTube Kudo 2017 The Story of the Infamous Team Siren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alAzuD2-Qks

YouTube Nicolai 2018 Why is there No Female Players in Pro League of Legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOS8tmMZ2E&t=3s  

YouTube Nicolai 2020 What Happened to the All Female League of Legends Team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbH8BhgKXbM

YouTube Nicolai 2022 What Happened to the FIRST Female Team In League of Legends (Team Siren)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo8e7vjUlXE

YouTube Cloud9 2020 Cloud9 White VALORANT Announcement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udYWafjeWaU&t=39s

Dot Esports 2021 DSN as First Female Pro to Attend MSI 2021 https://dotesports.com/news/pentanet-gg-introduces-dsn-as-substitute-support-msi