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[Soi-Fong]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/02/hearthstone-tournament/

Edit: The Finnish tournament seems to be following IeSF protocol in regards to separation of genders. The main IeSF tournament only allows males and so the Finnish tournament does not not want any females from taking any spot on the roster since they would not be allowed in the main tournament.

Tournament List:

Male Competition: Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV
Female Competition: Starcraft 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Choice quotes from the article:

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

Sounds pretty bad... So males and females can't play together in Starcraft 2 and SF is more manly than Tekken...

Edit: Responses from IeSF.

"1 - promoting female players. We know that e-Sports is largely dominated by male players and females players are actually a portion of the overall player base. By hosting a female-only competition, we strive to promote female gaming on a global scale.

"2 - International standards. IeSF is very close to get e-Sports recognized as a true sports like it should be. Part of that efforts is to comply with the international sports regulations. For example, chess is also divided into male / female leagues."

Edit: Kotaku has posted up an article as well.

http://kotaku.com/male-only-video-game-tournament-sets-off-controversy-1599047351

 

[FrontalMonk]

I...what?

This is beyond stupid.

 

[ThePeoplesBureau]

This isn't going to end well.

 

[conman]

Sounds like a case of good intentions gone horribly wrong.

 

[Tamanon]

So, what's the justification for eSports being male only to begin with?

 

[Salex_]

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

 

[FuKuy]

What's the point of separate males and females in e-Sports?

Sounds pretty stupid and unnecessary.

 

[RS4-]

...yeah that's a really stupid decision.

 

[sixteen-bit]

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

Men and women play each other in chess, and that's considered a sport.

 

[TomShoe]

I understand the rationale, but eSports is different from your average sport in that this is more of a challenge of skill/hand-eye coordination/reflexes than physical ability.

 

[Marauder Shields]

The article seems to indicate that there are female only tournaments? If so this isn't too bad.

 

[Staab]

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

Says it all really...

What is weird is they don't have the same tournaments for both men and women :/

 

[ArchedThunder]

Wait... why split people based on gender? That has nothing to do with skill in video games...

 

[Eolz]

What a shitty reason from the IeSF.
Can't make males pro players look bad, can we?

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Welp, this is going to blow up.

 

[Arcanine55]

So, what's the justification for eSports being male only to begin with?

I guess to be more "classic sport"? I don't get it.

 

[Menome]

This is fucking ridiculous towards both genders. I don't even *like* Street Fighter games and would go for a Tekken match-up, but if I was good enough to "go pro" that'd be barred at these events?

I'm absolutely flabbergasted and thought the gaming community was at least a step further forward than this.

 

[caesar]

Women and men separated in a card game. wut

 

[piratepwnsninja]

This will go over like a fart in an elevator.

 

[OnionPowder]

Video games aren't a physical contact sport so what are they going on about.

 

[erpg]

Ridiculous. These e-sports federations need to take a look at chess instead of sports leagues - Nona Gaprindashvili won the Chess Grandmaster title in 1978.

 

[mclem]

I don't understand the 'possible conflicts' reason?

And while it may be uncommon (given that a number of sports are purely athletic) there's still a number of sports where females compete on the same level as males.

 

[Tagyhag]

That's so inane. EVO allows female players to play in the male tournament if they opt out of the female one.

 

[soultron]

eSports are mental and reflex-oriented games, so why are we applying regulations governing physical sports?

This is 100% bullshit.

 

[Hybrid897]

This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

What does this even mean, where is the conflict?

 

[sn00zer]

Yeah real sports arent divided into mens and womens because of that....apparently women are at a huge disadvantage in esports beause men can overpower their keyboard and button presses....so dumb

 

[The_Poet]

This makes no sense, one of the most popular and skilled hearthstone streamers is female.

 

[Shard]

I have only words of anger for this turn of events.

 

[Platy]

Sounds like a case of good intentions gone horribly wrong.

Sounds like bad intentions gone worst

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

What is the problem of a girl eliminating a dude ? =P

Also, there are lots of chess tournments that allow everyone

 

[Intheflorsh]

That is idiotic. Straight up idiotic.

 

[Jintor]

i wasn't even aware gender segregation for e-sports was a thing. I mean, I get it regarding physical sports, but in virtual competition? That's weird.

 

[outunderthestars]

This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

What does this mean?

 

[T.O.P]

Hoping this will hit 'em right back on their faces, ugh

 

[ConradCervantes]

What conflicts are they referring to? I'm not familiar with the game.

 

[TUSR]

So what happens when Scarlett sweeps the womens SC2 competition???

 

[Fliesen]

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts...

... ok, what conflicts might those be?

(e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

ok, you officialy lost me.
It's a conflict to "get beaten by a girl?"

I have no problems with tournaments hosting special tournaments for female players (to encourage females joining such tournaments, even though many of them aren't on the same level as their male peers), but excluding females from the general tournament? where's the point in that? In e-sports, females should always have the option to participate in the official tournament.

as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

you know what's the beauty of e-sports? it's the fact that, unlike other sports, males don't have a physical advantage here... if "legitimate sports" means we'll have a "serious league" and a "girl league nobody cares about", i don't want e-sports to have any of that so-called legitimacy.

 

[Some Nobody]

The article seems to indicate that there are female only tournaments? If so this isn't too bad.

But why separate them at all? A Women's League isn't necessary when you could just have one do the job for both.

 

[Tamanon]

Ridiculous. These e-sports federations need to take a look at chess instead of sports leagues - Nona Gaprindashvili won the Chess Grandmaster title in 1978.

Or hell, in Hearthstone's case, look at normal TCG tournaments.

 

[CosmicQueso]

Insulting to all of humanity.

The article seems to indicate that there are female only tournaments? If so this isn't too bad.

So, separate but equal is okay? So, segregation? Dunno.

 

[mclem]

Ridiculous. These e-sports federations need to take a look at chess instead of sports leagues - Nona Gaprindashvili won the Chess Grandmaster title in 1978.

Or, for that matter, blinkin' Magic the Gathering itself.

 

[Mozendo]

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

That's just terrible.

 

[Afrodium]

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

Why is this a problem?

 

[Phantasmal Repose]

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

How would that result in conflict?

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

What?

 

[Mr-Joker]

Yeah this is stupid and really scream "no girls allowed."

Says it all really...

What is weird is they don't have the same tournaments for both men and women :/

This pretty much.

 

[Gaus]

Why isn't the headline, 'Males excluded from Tekken Tournament'?

 

[AtomskEater]

This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

Also requesting clarification on what the hell this means.
"It'd be a problem if a girl beat a boy" is all that I'm getting.

 

[Marauder Shields]

But why separate them at all? A Women's League isn't necessary when you could just have one do the job for both.

I have no idea, but if there are female only tournaments then it's not as bad as what I thought when I read the thread title, i.e. females being excluded all together. They seem to be trying to promote the females divisions as their own thing.

 

[conman]

Wait... why split people based on gender? That has nothing to do with skill in video games...

Being generous, the idea would be to create a division for women in order to encourage more women to participate and increase the pool of female players. This is why "legitimate sports" (whatever that means) have separate gender divisions. But it's as though someone somewhere (or multiple someones in many places) have twisted that well intentioned idea into an excuse for exclusion rather than an occasion for inclusion, proving yet again that e-sports have a long way to go before they can be treated as a "legitimate sport."

 

[DrROBschiz]

Lmao

It made sense for physical sports but for effing E-Sports?

Should be a level playing field for all

 

[KojiKnight]

Maybe change the title? It implies that this is somehow Blizzard's (Hearthstone's) fault versus some random tournament.