How to present females in the SCII-community? - Page 13

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On July 18 2012 17:51 Shinobi1982 wrote:
Here's what I think. People get dealt shitty cards in live. Just because someone like Lauren/Lindsey got aces it's no reason to hate on someone like them. A "professional hot chick" will always get more people watching the event then almost any other option. Just deal with it!

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
I have been playing Starcraft for quite some time now and as every other player have I gotten to know the scene. I have seen a positive, supporting community, that is very male-dominated. It is natural that the community is dominated by the target audience of the game companies. From this you could come to the conclusion that hiring a good looking woman to be a host at an event is not a bad idea, since the majority of the audience might appreciate it.

I am not going to go on about why objectifying people is bad etc, even though there is a lot to say about that. Instead I am going to talk about the Starcraft II scene and how it is affected by this, seemingly harmless, choice of an attractive hostess.

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
First of all, what you look for in any kind of host is of course things like showmanship and charisma, but since this is a specific event, also the knowledge and love of Starcraft II is essential for a host not to make a fool out of oneself. There are several female profiles in the StarCraft community who possess the acquired knowledge and are passionate about the game, but Lauren Elise is, according to me, not one of them.

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
Second of all you have to consider what message the choice of host sends. Does it say “we value people the same, regardless of what gender he/she is “? In a thread on TeamLiquid, the “NASL 3 Feedback thread”, Lauren is mentioned as “eye candy” by several different people. This attitude towards women is world-spread and nothing significant for e-sports, but unfortunate nonetheless. Having a playboy model as hostess gives the image that a woman in e-sports is a decoration for the male-dominated audience to enjoy. She is not a part of the event, even less so because of the fact that she was (probably) headhunted and has nothing to do with the community whatsoever.

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
Lastly, Lauren Elise should not be blamed for this, even though she probably will be by some people. Comments on TL and other places sometimes express how “unfair” it is that girls get more attention than guys in the community. In Lauren’s case I agree; the attention is not well-deserved because she did not accomplish anything. Employing women this way will make it a lot harder for other people, who happen to be of the same gender as Lauren, to be taken for something serious. A girl like Lauren is not a good representative for the female gaming community, especially since she’s barely part of it. Hiring her gives the impression that women are qualified hostesses as long as they’re good looking. It is needless to say that the same does not go for the male hosts. The NASL should understand that, and the people working with big events should take the responsibility that comes with popularity. It is only until the majority of the people in e-sports want equality as we can have it that way. Competent hosts of big events, the male ones as well as the female ones, is just a start, but something that I think is important to build an equal community. What do you people think?

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
This is not criticism of her in any way, but only my own reflections on how much of an issue gender is. I hope I put this in the right forum. If not so, please redirect me..

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On July 18 2012 17:41 Euronyme wrote:
No, not unless they're being photographed / taped and published / put up on the internet. What kind of weird question is that anyway? Being naked =/= porn. Being naked while having a film crew around you filming you = porn. Unless it's for some kind of art or medical thing, but that's a different story and not really relevant.

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On July 18 2012 18:10 Dosey wrote:


Your inability to interpret my meaning further proves your cluelessness and tells me I should just end this discussion now.

I'll leave this here for you though.
+ Show Spoiler +
Enjoy.

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On July 18 2012 18:19 Opera wrote:
Lots of people here state that sex sells. While that's true for a lot of industries, I'd love to think that it's not the case in eSports, because we, as gamers, value knowledge and skill more than physical attractiveness.

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On July 18 2012 17:44 Exia0276 wrote:
Sex sells - particularly to a male-dominated community. Denying it is futile, naive and turning a blind eye to the reality of business. What do you think the purpose of race queens are?

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On July 18 2012 18:31 Xapti wrote:

I'll just repeat a question I asked earlier:
Is the Starcraft audience the same as the football and MMA audience? Will people want or appreciate eye candy as much or enough for it to work well? I don't think that can just be assumed. While it is likely, we should realize that we're dealing in a global thing —Chinese, and Swedes may have different opinions or be raised in different ways than "Americans" (USA), Russians, or Brazilians. The demographics are also different too; while it's still male, it's younger male, and perhaps less women-obsessed males (just throwing things out there, not saying it's true)

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On July 18 2012 07:58 Vildhjerta wrote:
Dear people of TeamLiquid. What I am writing is about how women are represented in the SCII community. I got to thinking of it because of the NASLs recent choice of hosts, in this case Lauren Elise. This is not criticism of her in any way, but only my own reflections on how much of an issue gender is. I hope I put this in the right forum. If not so, please redirect me..

I have been playing Starcraft for quite some time now and as every other player have I gotten to know the scene. I have seen a positive, supporting community, that is very male-dominated. It is natural that the community is dominated by the target audience of the game companies. From this you could come to the conclusion that hiring a good looking woman to be a host at an event is not a bad idea, since the majority of the audience might appreciate it.

I am not going to go on about why objectifying people is bad etc, even though there is a lot to say about that. Instead I am going to talk about the Starcraft II scene and how it is affected by this, seemingly harmless, choice of an attractive hostess.

First of all, what you look for in any kind of host is of course things like showmanship and charisma, but since this is a specific event, also the knowledge and love of Starcraft II is essential for a host not to make a fool out of oneself. There are several female profiles in the StarCraft community who possess the acquired knowledge and are passionate about the game, but Lauren Elise is, according to me, not one of them.

Second of all you have to consider what message the choice of host sends. Does it say “we value people the same, regardless of what gender he/she is “? In a thread on TeamLiquid, the “NASL 3 Feedback thread”, Lauren is mentioned as “eye candy” by several different people. This attitude towards women is world-spread and nothing significant for e-sports, but unfortunate nonetheless. Having a playboy model as hostess gives the image that a woman in e-sports is a decoration for the male-dominated audience to enjoy. She is not a part of the event, even less so because of the fact that she was (probably) headhunted and has nothing to do with the community whatsoever.

Lastly, Lauren Elise should not be blamed for this, even though she probably will be by some people. Comments on TL and other places sometimes express how “unfair” it is that girls get more attention than guys in the community. In Lauren’s case I agree; the attention is not well-deserved because she did not accomplish anything. Employing women this way will make it a lot harder for other people, who happen to be of the same gender as Lauren, to be taken for something serious. A girl like Lauren is not a good representative for the female gaming community, especially since she’s barely part of it. Hiring her gives the impression that women are qualified hostesses as long as they’re good looking. It is needless to say that the same does not go for the male hosts. The NASL should understand that, and the people working with big events should take the responsibility that comes with popularity. It is only until the majority of the people in e-sports want equality as we can have it that way. Competent hosts of big events, the male ones as well as the female ones, is just a start, but something that I think is important to build an equal community. What do you people think?

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On July 18 2012 18:31 Xapti wrote:

I'll just repeat a question I asked earlier:
Is the Starcraft audience the same as the football and MMA audience? Will people want or appreciate eye candy as much or enough for it to work well? I don't think that can just be assumed. While it is likely, we should realize that we're dealing in a global thing —Chinese, and Swedes may have different opinions or be raised in different ways than "Americans" (USA), Russians, or Brazilians. The demographics are also different too; while it's still male, it's younger male, and perhaps less women-obsessed males (just throwing things out there, not saying it's true)

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On July 18 2012 18:21 MadProbe wrote:
On topic : WTF someone is actually complaining about having a playboy model on stream? WHY in the fuck would you....

Then it hit me. OP is a woman. Vildhjerta is a swedish girl name. Google it. She made an account just to post this.

...It all makes sense now.

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