Introduction

Video games. They don’t really have a gender assigned to them. Video games are one of the most inclusive places where you can be yourself or someone else. That is, when the people who are part of the community make it so. You could have gamer tags, assume an alias, wear a mask, and adopt a persona while you game. However, to some women who game, their gender already poses a high barrier to entry into the gaming sphere. But does it matter what your gender is when you play, and does it actually have a role in how you perform in-game? In truth, what it truly is, is gender biases and misogyny that bleed into virtual reality.

The Reality of Becoming a Female Gamer

Female gamers face significant challenges in the gaming sphere. This includes a lot of stigma, sexism, and harassment. TFR reports that almost 65% of female gamers feel rejected when they intend to join a gaming community. 77% of them suffer discrimination, sexual harassment, and derogatory comments. The statistics and experience go to greater lengths of negativity that 59% of female gamers opt to hide their identity to avoid sexual harassment when gaming.

British gamer and Twitch streamer Leviathan spends around six hours a day live-streaming. They said they never wanted special treatment, just a level playing field with their male counterparts. Even then, Leviathan gets rape and death threats while she streams. Why does this still happen, you ask? Well, the one answer is that many still reject the idea of women breaking through and entering a male-dominated field.

Up till two decades ago, in 2004, video games were still mainly marketed towards young men. It was only when games for women and girls emerged on the market that the space evolved. Even then, games marketed toward girls were less competitive, more feminine thematically, and were more… pink. These would span dress-up games like the endless options you could explore at Doll Divine, and cooking games. So it makes more sense that this issue persists, considering how female gamers grew up with this gender-based marketing. With less access to more ‘serious’ and competitive games than their male counterparts, it is no wonder that female gamers are seen as outsiders.

Video Games as A Projection of a Misogynistic Reality

Apart from the harassment they receive outside the game, female gamers are not safe from that in-game, either. In multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, more prominently, female gamers face an internalized prejudice that backs them into a corner. The game format, which allows players to choose four to five distinctive roles, puts women in boxes under certain biases. In MOBA games, players can choose to play either an assassin, fighter, marksman, support, or mage. Their roles are divided into either support, utility, or damage dealers. Yet female gamers are only expected to play support roles, more specifically, healers.

While that might sound ridiculous, stereotypes prevail in MOBA games when women step into the virtual world. They are often underestimated for their skills to ‘carry’ and play aggressive roles like assassins, fighters, and marksmen. Many see healers as a less favorable role that no one is fighting for a chance to play, so they leave it to the women. However, some female gamers would argue that they have as much talent as, if not more than, their male counterparts when it comes to ‘carry’ roles.

Even if women decide to be the support, they are still not safe from the attitudes thrown their way. Team Liquid expresses that there is a certain expectation set for girls on the team. Teammates will assume that women are generally bad gamers, and any small mistake will be heavily scrutinized, more so than their male teammates’ mistakes. Female gamers are then left under extreme pressure, working harder to be respected in the community. More often than not, support and tanks are often called ‘shot-callers’, signaling when to attack and retreat. Having a woman play these roles, who the team fails to listen to and respect, poses an uphill battle that leads to frustration and defeat. Thus, keeping women stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Gender Roles Bleeding Into Video Games

A closer look lets us conclude that women are expected to stick to support roles due to established gender roles in society. Women are seen and expected to be more nurturing, often associated with homemaking and motherhood. These characteristics fit those of support and healers. Supporting and keeping the team alive does, to some extent, reflect the role of mothers protecting their children. Some believe that another layer to that is how men believe that a woman’s role is to support women, not take center stage and ‘carry’ the team.

A double-edged sword, the expectation that women can–and should– only play support roles, makes them too nervous to pick it up. While it is seen as an ‘easier’ role for a ‘weaker’ player, some people use this stereotype to focus on the healer’s mistakes and not their own. For the record, playing support is not as easy as many would think, as you are in charge of babysitting 4 other teammates.

Case Study

Jonmar Villaluna, otherwise known as her gamer tag OhMyV33NUS, is an internationally acclaimed esports player. Formerly representing the Philippines in the Southeast Asian popular MOBA, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), she was famously known for dominating the international pro scene with her team, Blacklist International. In 2021, Blacklist secured back-to-back-to-back titles, including a world championship and a runner-up world champion the following year. V33NUS, popular and notorious for her Estes gameplay, continued to vex competitors to find a stop to their winning streak. Estes, an elf-king in-game, was a less popular healer that most players see as an easy-to-beat hero. In the hands of V33NUS, however, it was an absolute monster. It wasn’t until a final, runner-up winning performance in 2023’s MLBB Southeast Asia Cup did V33NUS underwent a career break. But this break was the start of a mess that showed MLBB’s –and their target audience’s– true colors.

In 2023, during the M5 World Championship, MLBB released a poll containing the list of players that will make it into their Hall of Fame. In a great upset, V33NUS and her partner Wise were not included in this list of names. Villaluna, who had then recently started her journey as a trans woman, spoke up about her disappointment that she and Wise were not included in the Hall of Legends, disregarding their achievements. Many seem to conclude that MLBB’s developers were hesitant to include the trans woman and her significant other in the list. Despite having been unique, undefeatable players back in their prime, V33NUS and Wise were snubbed. It wasn’t until the following year did the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines decided to include V33NUS and Wise into their own Hall of Legends.

Key Takeaways

This case illustrates how some parts of the world are not ready for dominating female gamers. Especially those who are back-to-back-to-back champions on a less popular healer. So much so that even game officials have snubbed a trans woman from taking center stage where she would stand out among her male counterparts. The fear of losing stakeholders was prioritized above the stellar performance V33NUS offered throughout her career.

This is why the gaming community cannot seem to find a shift for the better. When developers and game officials themselves reject inclusivity, their community will follow. Corporations and community members alike need to acknowledge that video games are not assigned a specific gender. You can be a woman and a healer like V33NUS, and still be back-to-back-to-back champions.

Conclusion

Many things need to change for the gaming community to be inclusive and safe for women. For one, the mindset of the developers and game officials themselves needs to shift. They need to recognize that men are not the only people who game and acknowledge the need for safer spaces for women. Recognizing the achievements of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and men alike should be equal. The stage should be shared for all, not only for the benefit of the company’s stocks or popularity. The misogyny and sexism women face in real life should be enough, we should not fail them further and have them suffer the same in a virtual one. A space where most would run to escape the stress of their real life should feel that way. Safe, stress-free, and definitely harassment-free.