E-Sports is Fresh But is Held Back by Archaic Structures

Toxic masculinity and racism stains a great emerging market of E-Sports. “It’s a shame that something so innovative must deal with something so old-fashioned.”

This is what former professional gamer Harry Sykes had to say about racism in E-Sports. Sykes, formerly part of teams Viperio and Enclave, recently walked away from professional E-Sports. “E-Sports is new and fresh, built on innovation and independence, to see racism in it is a failure and must be addressed.

E-Sports has been growing rapidly for years, especially during lockdown. Professional leagues used licensed games to host tournaments between real world professionals and streamed it online for millions to view. By 2024, Newzoo predicts that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for eSports enthusiasts from 2019 to 2024 will be approximately 7.7%. They expect that the number of occasional viewers will grow to 291.6 million. And that there will be 285.7 million eSports enthusiasts, making the total audience 577.2 million.

In a climate of social justice and waves of progress against racism, sexism, homophobia and more, sporadic incidents of these evils still occur in the UK. Many of these occur in the world of sports, professional players being abused online after games, especially in instances where they’ve made mistakes. Vile comments are made every day by gamers across the world, in ways where it’s almost accepted. Often the phrase “you wouldn’t survive an Xbox 360 lobby” is thrown out at perceived ‘snowflakes’, this rose tinted view of the past is detrimental to the progress the gaming industry is trying to make.

In E-Sports, it tends to be player-to-player interaction where most derogatory words are exchanged. Freeman Williams, Content Creator at Excel and Fortnite Game Advisor for British Esports, said: “discord direct messages have been pretty bad. That normally occurs after you beat someone, and they throw some insults your way!” It is in intense and charged moments when moments like this occur, this is no excuse and no comfort to those who suffer this hatred. Most games created today give a player the opportunity to report hate speech and specific players in the hope they are punished. Toxic behaviour is prevalent and can be seen in twitch chats of many streamers. ‘Edgy’ kids flood chats and comment sections with hate speech and racial slurs, calling it banter and claiming anyone who takes offence is a “snowflake.”

Shoubna Naika-Taylor, Team Manager of the Coventry Crosshairs believes “Esports is such a huge industry globally that yes, POC are represented well for some ethnic backgrounds, but there are some that are still underrepresented; predominantly from black and to lesser extent in the West and Western tournament, South Asian communities.”POC in Play is an initiative to get more people of colour involved in the gaming industry. According to a recent survey, conducted by Intel and NewZoo, 47% of gamers do not play games they feel are not made for them – showing that diversity and inclusivity matters to players. POC in Play is trying to address issues like representation in video games.

Lower incomes can also affect the inclusivity of gaming and E-Sports. The necessity for an up-to-date console or pc is a barrier to entry for many who cannot afford either. On top of this steady internet connection is also required.

There are positive changes being made to improve the opportunities for people from low income and minority backgrounds. Initiatives to ensure there is inclusivity in the games being put out and that targeted groups are part of the creation of games. The industry is also targeting cases of racism and all types of hate speech, moves towards a diverse industry where racism is a thing of the past are ongoing, it’s unlikely cases of these crimes will be zero, but E-Sports is trying its hardest to address it as best it can.