eSports, the most innovative branch of sport, has seen massive growth in recent years, and the trend is set to continue. Women, however, are less involved in this growth than men, even though many of them are also video game fans. There are also internationally successful female e-sports players in this country, but the proportion of women among professionals is still lower than outside the national borders. Less than five per cent of the players in the K&H Hungarian National E-Sports Championship are currently female.

Fifty-one per cent of casual “gamers” are women, according to a Hungarian survey published by LG in the spring. Far fewer are regular gamers, and even fewer are professional female e-sports players. Although their talents would allow them to achieve the same level of success in this genre, the proportion of women in the video game community in Hungary is stagnating. Yet we had a strong start, with the world’s first female Quake (a shooting game) tournament won by Kornélia Takács, the “Queen of Quake”, in 1997. The Hungarian E-Sports Association (HUNESZ) and Queens of Game, an initiative to promote e-sport among women, are also doing a lot to attract more girls to the world of e-sport. They organise meetings and presentations to showcase the role of women in the community and encourage them to get involved.

“More initiatives and programmes are needed to balance the gender balance in e-sports”, stressed Beatrice Nemeth, founding member of Queens of Game. “The key to the solution is not whether a girl even starts playing at a higher level. The point is that her role or place in the community should then be determined not by her femininity but by her achievements in the game and the knowledge that comes with it. Male/male e-sports players who play professionally are much more accepting than their counterparts who only play the game at a hobby level. Hence, the real difficulty for the novice girl player is the non-sports community. Although there is no basis for gender discrimination, it should be taken as the fact that there are fewer female professionals than in the classic “male” sports, and it follows directly that they are under-represented among the best.”

This is also the opinion of Nóra Horváth Magyary, executive director of communications for the eponymous sponsor of the K&H Hungarian National E-Sports Championship: “Many people say that girls are more adept at controlling supporting and healing characters in video games, while simulation games such as the FIFA series or motor racing are less popular among them. However, more Hungarian women are achieving international success in games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This is a shooting game and is traditionally considered very “boyish”. It also follows that, whether we are talking about boys or girls, all e-sport players share the same determination and drive to perform at their best. We see finance as crucial to promote the most innovative solutions and practices in other areas. That is why we decided to support e-sports as a first player outside the industry. We also place a high priority on the role of women in the genre. We need to get them to dare to compete”.

Bark can become an e-athlete

In addition to the players, there are also many women among the organisers. Half of the HUNESZ committee members are women, and we also find them among the tournament judges. Edina B. Szabó, chairwoman of the HUNESZ Education Committee, says that girls have every opportunity to become professional e-sports players. “We are knocking down open doors,” she explained. “We are seeing more and more women in e-sports-related jobs and positions, whether they come with skills in other fields or have been in the gaming world since they were young, as players or team managers. The difficulty is more likely to be the competitive environment that challenges girls and boys alike, and ladies are quicker to get out of such situations. But with complex education of players, presenters, referees – boys and girls – we can make sure that everyone dares to show their skills – and is welcomed by the community.”

Source: K&H Hungary