It is no secret that women are extremely underrepresented in eSports and games in general. Unfortunately, many tattooed gender stereotypes in their brains, stating that almost all female professional players aren’t able to compete with their male counterparts.
That’s why many women who play competitive games are constantly encountering all kinds of comments, insults, and humiliations. With this in mind, most female players who play online video games prefer to keep their gender hidden. And more than 50% of them have claimed that they have been treated differently due to their gender.
However, it’s also true that the eSports community and relevant figures on the scene are turning to rejecting this type of behavior and supporting the victims. More and more organizations seek to combat in-game toxicity and match manipulation. As a result, 2022 has become important for the eSport’s women’s scene thanks to the different tournaments that have been held.
Of course, this made us think about whether female teams could at least hold their ground against most male counterparts. Without further delay, let’s find out!
Women’s Performance at DreamHack Valencia
The female CS:GO scene is taking shape and showing some solidity during 2022. Mainly thanks to ESL and their #GGFORALL initiative, we had an opportunity to see possibly one of the most solid women’s circuits in the history of Valve’s shooter and eSports in general.
The ESL Impact women’s circuit has been dominated by the Nigma Galaxy team from start to finish. The Russian players have won the ESL Impact finals in Dallas and the ESL Impact Valencia trophy, becoming, without a doubt, the best women’s team in CS:GO followed by the Brazilian ones from FURIA.
According to the statistics extracted from https://cover.gg/, the above top-level CS:GO teams performed ESL Impact 94% as well as male pros teams did at ESL Challenger in Valencia. Below, we leave you with an in-depth overview.
Avg Male vs Avg Female at ESL Valencia
Even though the men’s teams still won in every category, the female squads put up very similar stats, as follows:
- First Bullet Accuracy: 55.75% (53.03%)
- Time to Kill Rifles: 521 ms (467 ms)
- Headshot Percentage: 18.9% (17.8%)
- Grenade Usage: 81.8% (73.2%)
- Time to Damage: 246 ms (244 ms)
As you can see, there are two categories that significantly favors men: grenade usage and time to kill with rifles. Women are 8.6% less likely to use a grenade, while men are more eager to throw this utility. However, it’s worth noting that this stat does not track utility effectiveness, only if the grenades were used at all. As for TTK, this factor depends on many nuances, including reaction time, crosshair positioning, and aim accuracy, to mention but a few.
Of course, this data is only from two CS:GO events and it doesn’t reveal every difference between women’s and men’s squads. However, even this small sample is enough to show that such top female teams as Nigma Galaxy, Na’Vi Javelins, and FURIA, could at least hold their ground against most male counterparts.
Another Initiative for the MOBA
The CS:GO women’s circuit has gained great popularity recently, allowing it to grow by leaps and bounds in terms of numbers, events, and competition. In addition, Riot Games would be considering launching the initiative of a women’s circuit in its flagship game, the League of Legends.
G2 Presents the All-Women Team of LoL
The recent announcement by G2 Esports on the incorporation of a LoL women’s squad has opened up more opportunities for women to get involved in eSports and inspired more girls to start competing.
Recently, the GirlGamer 2022 Oradea Festival event was held and the current Samurai roster lifted the champion trophy under the name of G2 Hell. The European female players won the Grand Final after beating the Grow uP Girls squad with a 3-2 on the scoreboard.
In addition to this project, Riot would be considering adding other isolated tournaments. There is still no official confirmation from Riot Games, but in case it is confirmed soon, G2 Hell would be the main protagonist of the scene.
A Final Word
The year 2022 is full of opportunities and possibilities for players in the eSports industry. By breaking gender stereotypes, we are becoming closer to creating a much more global and inclusive world of electronic sports. And this future seems more possible thanks to the circuit of various tournaments throughout the year on major stages, such as DreamHack Valencia, among others.