Over the weekend, a Korean company called Inven broadcast the finals of Korea’s first amateur all-women Overwatch tournament. It was a damn good match.
The “All For Ladies” tournament actually took place earlier this month, but the finals weren’t broadcast until this weekend. Two teams, Pandora Ladies and 1st.Lady, went toe-to-toe in a best-of-five match, and even though Pandora ended up sweeping the scorecards three maps to none, it was a much more competitive match than the numbers indicate.
Those dueling Widowmakers, though. Gotta admire atypical picks such as Hanzo and Orisa (!!!), too. Really, the whole first map was a dang rollercoaster ride, punctuated by many an exploding D.Va mech.
As of now, Overwatch‘s competitive scene is dominated by men, but tournaments like these can help cultivate a less skewed culture. Kotaku reader J, who reached out about this tournament via email, offered some good perspective. “Some may say that their abilities do not stack up to the (male) pro teams,” she wrote, “but these are amateurs who only practice 3-4 times a week, and some parts of their playing are already better than some pro teams.”
Comments
4 responses to “A Great Match From Korea’s First All-Women Overwatch Tournament”
Looks like they are running on the lowest graphics settings.
‘tournaments like these can help cultivate a less skewed culture.’.
No they wont, simply because your pinning girls against girls. It would be better to have mixed teams.
Yes, in a perfect word, mixed leagues would be ideal because, after all, there is absolutely nothing that says one gender should have an advantage or be more skilled than other. But unfortunately it’s not a perfect world because insidious (and false) perceptions that female gamers aren’t as adept as male gamers in the pro scene do exist. This makes attempts at allowing equal opportunity difficult.
It’s all about barriers to entry. I can understand the intimidation that some women must feel entering a largely male dominated scene. The pressure to prove yourself to be considered ‘worthy’ largely due to a perceived and falsely-atrributed gender handicap would be exhausting for many.
If more women are drawn to e-sports through the creation of women-only leagues, this will create an environment where female gamers can feel comfortable and aspiring female gamers can see representation of people they identify with. After all, visibility is a big factor when it comes to encouraging people to pursue a certain field. The follow on to this will be more women pursuing e-sports, a bigger pool of talent, more recognition of skill and then hopefully a more including league overall.