Efforts to increase diversity in eSports are right and important. Without a general non-profit status, however, they unfortunately only remain a flash in the pan. A commentary by Benja Hiller.
It should be the simplest thing in the world: People playing a game with people. With its low barrier, eSports has the potential of absolute equality. With the right equipment, almost anyone can get in. But instead of enjoying the commonality of shared passion, deep trenches are dug.
Those who don’t start out as an obviously white boy or heterosexual male have to reckon with assaults within the public sphere, in chats and comment columns until their professional careers. eSports is an environment where sexist hostility towards women and racist comments are the norm. We are far from experiencing equal (entry) conditions.
Heteronormative thought patterns are the norm within eSports relevant games. The consequences are manifold: from rejection and exclusion to false addresses, toxic chats, shitstorms and assaults. Due to such expected reactions, sponsorship also often fails to materialise.
Clearly, eSports does not sound like the best idea for a coming out of people from the LGBTIQA+ spectrum. Especially in the field of eFootball, the pattern of real football seems to become more entrenched. Homosexuality is taboo.
Efforts for more diversity are right and important
This leads to people either not being able to be who they are within their passion or not getting into eSports in the first place because of it. Coming outs happen, similar to real sport, mostly only at the peak of success or after the career.
There are good approaches in Germany such as the mentoring programme of the ESBD, the eSport Player Foundation and other efforts, among others by the German Games Industry Association (game). Efforts that were detailed in the eSport Talk on homosexuality and diversity in eSports.
But these always depend on the will of some organisations, sponsors or volunteering. To achieve real equality, it takes more than a few good initiatives.
Homophobia and transphobia – still a problem for society as a whole
Because homophobia and transphobia are a problem for society as a whole with structural and institutional roots. Without the non-profit nature of eSports, not only in Germany, this problem remains the exact life image of a person from the LGBTIQA+ spectrum. And that, unfortunately, is still marked by discrimination.
Only since 1994 has paragraph 175, which prohibited homosexual acts between adult men, been deleted. Only since 2016 have homosexual couples been officially entitled to jointly exercise guardianship over children and young people as foster parents. Marriage for All was introduced on 1 October 2017.
With “Divers”, a third option besides male and female has been made possible on the identity card since 18 December 2018 – but only for intersex people. Non-binary and genderfluid people are excluded from this.
A bill to strengthen gender self-determination was only rejected in spring 2021. In order to realise name changes and adjustments of personal status, transgender and transsexual persons must continue to follow the path of the Transsexuality Act, which has been certified by the UN as violating human rights. There is foreign determination instead of self-determination.
Article 3 of the Basic Law still excludes sexual identity
Failure of acceptance in the environment and bureaucracy entails a high suicide rate among trans youth and adults, a 2018 study by the American Academy of Pedriatrics confirmed. 50.8 per cent among trans boys and 41.8 per cent among trans girls aged 11-19 here had already made one or more suicide attempts.
Who wants to voluntarily place themselves in another toxic environment when even the real one is not suitable for a stable, loving upbringing?
Article 3 of the Basic Law on equal rights for all people still excludes sexual identity. We’re talking about about 10 percent of the population, who are thus deprived of the basis against discrimination. But hey, at least homosexual people have been allowed to donate blood since the end of 2021.
A mirror image
The eSport is a reflection of our social development, as Marius Lauer also confirms in eSport Talk. Why should things be any different in eSports with exclusion when we have not yet arrived in society where we actually need to be. The slow overall development reflects its thought patterns on eSports.
What is not legally anchored also always leads to problems on an eSports level.
Even if the gaming scene is indeed as diverse as the entire world population, equal rights for queer people are still not achieved in Germany. But, and this is the good news, we are getting closer.
Representation and attention, such as that created by StarCraft 2 player Sasha ‘Scarlett’ Hostyn for generations to come, are important. Therefore, isolated initiatives to strive for more diversity and coming out are extremely significant. Visibility creates tremendous motivation. But without the big bang, it doesn’t work.
This is where non-profit comes in. There is currently no organised amateur eSport in Germany. Only those who are lucrative for companies and sponsors make it onto the big stage.
And under the current circumstances, those are exactly the ones who have to reckon with little headwind on their way to becoming professionals. So mainly boys and men without LGBTIQA+ backgrounds.
Community benefit as an important pillar to more diversity in eSports
The non-recognition of eSports as an “official” sport effectively prevents the expansion of an amateur sector, as the Lord Mayor of the City of Cologne, Henriette Reker, also wrote in her guest article for eSports. We need this area for more diversity in eSport.
There is a lack of structures to explicitly promote individual groups of people within a club. It needs a social underpinning. With the non-profit status of eSports, not only financial inequalities in entry could be avoided, but also safe spaces for people of the LGBTIQA+ spectrum could be created.
Similar to city facilities for queer youth, there would be a place for them to grow in the community with trained contacts. Any failures in education could be compensated for through pedagogical guidance and education within the community. A socio-educational model now frequently used in schools and clubs.
Access to eSports can be made more widely available through financial independence within city/state funding and financial relief. More clubs could offer an eSports section without losing their favoured club status. Diversity could benefit from this.
At the moment, in eSports we can only react to current events and selectively improve acute, individual circumstances for those affected. Increase visibility and sow motivation with tournaments for women and queer people. Facilitate entry for some through individual initiatives and mentoring programmes.
But only with far-reaching measures in the course of non-profit within an overall societal change will we be able to tackle the root causes of inequality.
