Pro-gaming tournament attempts to limit gay and transgender players
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Version 0 of 1. An eSports league based in the Philippines has withdrawn a ruling that sought to limit the number of gay and transgender participants in its all-female gaming tournaments. Garena eSports, which runs competitive events throughout Southeast Asia, particularly around the popular multiplayer battle game League of Legends, posted a message about the rule on its official blog on Tuesday. The organisation announced that it would limit teams to one “gay/transgendered woman” for each tournament day. Explaining its decision, the statement read “there are arguments and concerns from other participants who disputes that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage.” The blogpost was quickly shared across social media and specialist gaming sites, with dozens of furious gamers questioning the decision. “In what universe would somebody’s sexual preferences, gender identity, or current genital load-out have any impact on their ability to compete in a digital medium?” asked one commenter on the Garena Sports site. Some observers tried to clarify the nature of the ruling, particularly its definition of “gay” team members. On the discussion site Reddit, gamers familiar with the region pointed out that cultural and translation issues could be obscuring the fact that in this context “gay” may not refer to gay women, but to “bakla”, a Philippine term for men who present as women but do not necessarily self-identify as female. It was theorised that the tournament organisers were attempting to prevent teams of male competitors from identifying as bakla in order to compete. Whatever the reasoning, the clumsy nature of the ruling has drawn widespread consternation from the LoL community. On Tuesday evening, League of Legends developer Riot Games provided a short response to the escalating controversy via Twitter, stating, “LGBT players are welcome at official LoL tourneys. We’re working with partners to ensure consistency with our values across all regions.” By Wednesday morning, Garena eSports had posted an update to its ruling, and a statement: “Our initial ruling on LGBT player restrictions within the Iron Solari League has created a lot of good discussion and debate over the past 24 hours. After discussing the ruling with our partners and re-examining our approach, we have decided to remove these restrictions completely. This means that any player who self-identifies as female will be allowed to participate. We sincerely apologise for any offence we caused to the LGBT and gaming communities.” This is not the first controversy to affect gender-segregated events in the eSports scene. Last year, a Finnish tournament based around the card-trading game Hearthstone was criticised for inviting only male competitors. The organisers claimed that they were acting in compliance with International e-Sports Federation rules, and in response to an internet outcry, the South Korea-based body changed its position on gender segregated tournaments, offering both “open for all” and women only events. League of Legends is one of the most popular titles in professional gaming, with around 30m active players a day. Last year, 27m fans watched the game’s world championship tournament via online streams. However, an infographic released by Riot Games two years ago showed its player base was over 90% male. Related: Esports for all? How to get more women into pro gaming Similarly, professional eSports is overwhelmingly dominated by male players and organisers are actively looking at ways to encourage more women and LGBTQ competitors. Riot Games is supporting university and school leagues, hoping to bring in a more diverse user-base at an earlier stage, while the Electronic Sports League has pointed toward the need for more women in leadership roles. The answer, it seems, will not come from orchestrating rulings based around complex issues of gender identity and representation. |