Home Editorial When Girl Gamers Go Pro: SlayerS Eve in training

Starcraft-2-Slayers-EVE

Some sectors of the Starcraft 2 world were abuzz a few weeks ago when the professional talent farm known as SlayerS Clan announced that Kim Shee-Yoon would be joining the team as SlayerS_Eve. While not much is known about the 22 year old, the fact that she doesn’t own a penis sent shockwaves throughout the pro gaming community. I mean, how exactly is she supposed to humiliate her opponents post-match without a sausage slap to the face?

Oh, wait. Maybe an end to literal and figurative dick-waving is just what gaming fucking needs.

Let’s face it gentlemen,* videogaming as a collective whole isn’t exactly a nurturing environment for females interested in joining in on the fun. Sure, things remain fairly civil within the confines of a shared gaming space, but factoring the anonymous internet asshole variable into online play means female names, avatars, or voices are often greeted with suboptimal behavior. In most cases, it’s confined to simple derision, bragging, or frequent references to fellatio. Or, in the case of Team Fortress 2’s community, a slew of instant marriage proposals. Keep it classy, soldiers.

The problem, of course, is that the gaming community as a whole is not mentally prepared to accept outsiders into its hallowed halls. “Non-traditional gamers” may be ready to give Halo 12 a shot, but that doesn’t mean the legions of dropship troopers out there are ready to welcome them, especially if they have breasts. Or they’re…. okay, I guess that’s pretty much the only thing other than “old” that’s encapsulated by “non-traditional gamers.” Sue me.

So, what will SlayerS_Eve change? Nothing, yet. As it stands, she’s not a particularly talented player, with rumors circulating she’s currently placed between Gold and low Masters league (mind you, in Korea of all places). Instead of being hired for skill, she’s being taken in for a bit of an apprenticeship to see if SlayerS can turn her into one of the first real female pro gamers. And, assuming she puts in the same practice as the rest of her compatriots, why shouldn’t she? Starcraft 2 doesn’t require brute strength, reaching high cabinets, or forceful penetration, so there’s no physiological reason Kim Shee-Yoon can’t compete.

I’m not expecting Eve to be amazing… at least, not any more than I’d expect myself to turn pro if SlayerS pulled me straight out of Gold League and into battle bootcamp. What I do expect, though, is for guy gamers to slowly raise their expectations of how females can perform in professional matches. Of course, the primary challenge is up to the ladies to conquer; they’re the ones who must make it into finals rounds of major tournaments or… god forbid… take home a trophy. It’s only a matter of time until a woman stands in the victor’s circle of NASL or MLG Dallas or EVO, but the reality is it’s going to be a while. In the interim, try to play nice, maintain a professional air, and for everyone’s sake, stop screaming about your dick into the mic.

Thank you.

 

* I use this term as loosely as possible. And the fact that you’re snickering over the word “loosely” isn’t helping things, either.

13 replies to this post
  1. And, for the sake of doing more than spamming a site I like, I also think it’s up to the guys not to be such cocks all the time to women. It’s like, gamers get so upset over the stereotype that they’re basement-dwelling, fat, socially inept neckbeards, but it seems many are all to happy to embrace the women-hating, sex-soliciting side of the stereotype. I say we reject both.

  2. “Instead of being hired for skill, she’s being taken in for a bit of an apprenticeship to see if SlayerS can turn her into one of the first real female pro gamers.”
    Why he doesn’t take the best female player then, and save up some time?

  3. Speaking as a female gamer, I am sometimes reluctant to use voice chat in games like TF2 where I don’t know everybody, for the exact reasons you listed.

    That being said, I’m not above speaking up if I think people knowing I’m a woman will give me an advantage, advantage meaning people stop yelling at me for my skill (I’m an average player at best). I don’t care WHY they stop, whether politeness or shock, I’m just glad they do.

    And all the ones that go ‘omg a girl!’ just give me a good laugh.

    • ^
      I wish for everyone to kick ass.
      Or at least for 50% of the people to kick ass, if everyone is kicking ass there’s no one’s ass to kick :(

  4. I agree with obscurely Destiny’s opinon on this matter. I don’t think this is nuturing girl gamers but just being sexist and insulting to the girls who are trying to be pro. She was really only hired from such a prestigeous team based on the fact she was a girl. Would slayers ever take in any male gold-low masters under their name to teach them? No. You cannot deny that right there is sexisim. Now people justify that by saying female gamers in sc2 need to be nutured and accepted, again I agree with Destiny that it’s not that female gamers are unallowed or taunted based on gender but no girl gamer has the skill to compete with the best of the best males yet. You should try to see if the interview between Destiny and megumi is on youtube. It is a very good interview of megumi’s reactions to this event and how a girl gamer actually good enough by herself to compete in mlg feels insulted by this event. Well to end this wall of text look up Destiny’s reaction on youtube and the interview to see basically my opinion on the matter.

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