The Brief: Esports is the term used to describe competitive visual gaming, an industry which has grown massively over the past couple years. The industry is very inclusive compared to other sports, anyone of any gender and almost all ages can play and compete, and it’s something everyone has potential to excel at and compete with the pros. To increase interest and understanding further we want to encourage more people to step into the world of competitive gaming by creating a gender inclusive organisation that allows to showcase the talent of people with diverse gender identities. Pushing out further into the diversity of the industry and showing that women and non-binary people are just as capable to compete in the same leagues and teams as men.
My Insight: Despite the industry being ‘mixed’ gender wise, it’s not an even split and is predominately male dominated on screen. Behind the scenes there are lots of women working hard, we just don’t see as much in tournaments as part of a team. Most pro teams consist of men, although anyone is capable to play on a professional team, but we more so see women play in a league or tournament made specifically to make a point that there is a team of women. Why isn’t there an open space in the Pro scene for mixed teams to compete?
My Solution: --> To further create a space for this team, I also created a professional tournament / gaming festival which will welcome this team and their community into the world of Esports, a space for all Orgs and teams to compete:
Equilibrium is a gaming festival which was created to make an inviting environment for people to enter into the world of competitive gaming and Esports. While also making the experience welcoming and allowing people, especially women to feel safe within the community which is mostly Male dominated. Within the festival is a Equilibrium Pro League. The first ever tournament that, at a professional level has mixed gender teams all competing against all male teams or all female teams.
