This is my application for the extra diablo 3 beta key which is currently up for grabs!
Before writing this long winded and probably extremely controversial article which is sure to earn me many flame hating posts, I would like to take the time to say that in general I have nothing against women. (Believe it or not).
Cracking my knuckles, brewing a massive pot of V, releasing all energy and tension from my neck, I will now begin the post that will probably get me hated by just about every person on SEA.
So, girls in e-sports. Who'd-a-thunk it. There are a few various reasons, circumstances, and clear results that most of the time, women and e-sports just don't seem to peacefully co-exist. One such reason is because for the longest of time every thing that male "geeks" have been doing has been scorned by women and men alike, but of course we lash out at women because no one likes to be insulted by the ones we could potentially love, with hate being a much closer emotion to love than apathy will ever be, for which we leave to the guys who pick on us. Another reason I have a few grudges with women in professional gaming and broadcasting is because of the quality (or lack there off) they posses, and still manage to get into the same spotlight/success as their male counterparts, simply because they are girls. Lastly the issues a lot of women face in gaming are the problems they have been facing for centuries, guys who feel like being misogynistic assholes for the sake of being misogynistic assholes.
Now then, I hope that after reading the first paragraph you simply haven't thought "TL;DR", and typed "What you got against girls you sexist pig" etc, but please bare with me, there is light at the end of this bigotry tunnel, just let me exacerbate a few of the ideas I mentioned above, starting with the reason why perhaps a lot of gamers dislike women in general.
As previously aforementioned, people have (thought not always) criticized and ridiculed us geeks. Be it out of jealously because we are so obviously good looking but also brilliant and smart (insert troll face), or just for the fun of it, being a gamer will get you bagged. However, the problem comes when the girls of the schoolyard have possibly said these things to us, bare in mind I'm not even close to saying that every single gamer was abused by girls and this is why they hold such hostilities for them, this just may be one reason. So, continuing on with my point, nobody likes to be genuinely insulted and emasculated by the ones we hold sexual desires for, and no I'm not kidding this time. It is out of this hate for feeling inadequate by the ones that we wish to hold dear that I believe a lot of the hate for women come from. After all, hasn't everyone here had their heart broken by some girl for one reason or another, and then felt it impossible to not feel anger towards them? (except for me because in writing this article I am obviously demonstrating I have no heart). So, since high school or perhaps earlier, sometimes even later, we harbor this anger towards women, only to see them emerge in the very games that we play alienating us from them in the first place! The travesty!
To preface my next point, I have no idea about how many female gamers attempt to get into the coverage scene, but it appears that many of the ones who do, are able to do so with less trials and tribulations, and overall less skill at whatever they do, simply because they are female and sex sells.
I feel it is undeniable that some women get special treatment in the e-sports scene purely because they are women, and have some idea of what they are doing, however, how much of an idea is debatable. This pains my very soul, because I don't think we should be sacrificing the finish and expertise of e-sports coverage simply so we can have a few pretty girls talking about games, whilst having desperate geeks who have never held a woman in their life lap it all up because they are simply in awe of a beautiful woman. The very reason I was inspired to write this article that will mutilate my reputation on this site (crits for over 9000, WoW jokes are lame but I thought it relevant) was my utter dissatisfaction whilst watching the IPL pacific qualifies today. The quality of the casting by the 2 girls (I don't know their names tbh) was pretty poor at best. Now don't get me wrong, I've heard kellymilkies cast before and aside from her slightly annoying voice (had to put it in sorry, but I hate moletraps voice as well!) I actually think her casting is pretty good. She brings up relevant strategies and ideas at the right time, she has good synergy with whoever she is casting with, and overall knows whats going on in the game and can guide and engage the viewer with what is happening in the game. These 2 casters today however, could not. I open the chat of the IPL stream to see the views of my fellow gamers, and little to my surprise I see two arguments. The first saying "They are terrible *insert sexist jib here*, the second being Don't be sexist you *insert generic insult here*. My problem with this, though, is that the latter of the arguments were defending them purely because they were women, and not because they were casters who are trying to work hard to bring a better experience to the viewer, where as the former argument seemed to have some valid grounds for disliking their casting. I will admit, I know absolutely nothing about how hard these girls have worked to become casters and to get the gig at the IPL pacific qualifiers, but I feel confident in saying it wasn't half as hard as some of the guys who didn't get the job have worked. I also could have forgiven these 2 casters (I really should go google their names) had they been a bit nervous, stammered here or there, and maybe had less than synergistic speaking properties with one another. Unfortunately, sources say they are silver and gold players, who obviously don't know much about the game, yet still get to be in this prestigious spot of casting big names in sc2 in front of thousands of online spectators, a dream not many get a shot at fulfilling. This paragraph seems to have been a horse thrashed after death many times over so I will let you guys make up your mind about that one.
Lastly, more guys are gamers and pursue gaming professionally than girls. Fact. Unfortunately humanity is not perfect and the minority will always get picked on, with this being a clear example of it. It sucks, I have no disillusions about it, I personally would hate to be a casual or even aspiring pro gaming female in this industry, but that is kind of the way it is, and if you are truly passionate about it I think a lot of haters (myself included) would respect that and probably leave you alone and we could co-exist peacefully which I wholeheartedly do want.
To wrap up let me say this: It is obviously not the girls fault that there are so many problems at the moment with girls in the spotlight at televised e-sports events. A lot of it comes from companies who know that sex sells (lets face it, it does) and think it would be a great idea to put these women who are keen and willing to be a martyr to help promote their business. You might ask then why the hell am I writing this article? I'm glad you asked. The reason is because I love e-sports so much. I have been playing games since I came out of my blessed mothers womb and I intend to teach my eventual kids to do the same, and it pains my very soul and existence when I see events that could be truly great, but have an Achilles heel in UN-qualified girls who are casting and presenting the events who, in a very large portion of the time don't know anything about the game or the organization they are being hired by, and I feel that the quality of the even suffers because of it.
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