One of the women in attendance recalls a time when she was fighting a “Red Bull case.” This weekend, teams are competing for £15,000.
by Mickey Carroll, science and technology reporter
Saturday 20 April 2024 02:19, UK
The UK’s first professional women’s gaming tournament of its kind opens on Saturday.
Four teams of professional gamers will compete against each other. first person shooter game Valorant is the most watched esports game in the women’s league.
It will be the first time European powerhouse teams will compete in the UK, and organizers hope it will encourage more women to join the game.
“The more people understand that games can be enjoyed even by people who are new to them, the more confident they will be and the more they will enjoy the games,” says host and streamer. Meg ‘Meg Sounds Like Egg’ Gardner said.
Athletes will compete over two days. LondonThe total prize pool for the Red Bull Gaming Sphere is £15,000.
“Back then it wasn’t as big of a deal as it is now,” said Michaela ‘Mimi’ Lintrup, one of the world’s best Valorant players who has been playing professionally since she was 18.
The 26-year-old Dane further added, “We fought for a case for Red Bull or something. It wasn’t a prize pool with money. I just had a passion for it and I loved it, so I fought for it. I just played,” he added.
But that all changed.
According to industry tracker Esports Charts, fans watched more than 28 million hours of women’s professional esports last year. Contests are typically streamed on places like Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube.
These numbers also don’t include people watching on ChinaEsports is so big that at the 2023 Asian Games, more people watched esports than traditional sports.
Esports, where people compete in a variety of video games, has leagues, prizes, and legions of fans, just like any other sport.
French player Mathilde Nero Beltoise, who plays for the team Karmine Corp, said the level of fandom in France is extraordinary.
“Carmine Co. is so big that no matter where you go, someone recognizes you. Every time you walk out on the street, there’s someone wearing a jersey. It’s really big,” she said.
Because of her team’s popularity in France, Beltoise’s parents, who are teachers, warmed to the idea of her making a living playing video games.
“Sometimes one of my students will be wearing a Karmine Corp jersey and I’ll say, ‘Is that you?’ Now they love it,” she explained.
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Being a professional gamer sounds glamorous, with international travel and online streaming, but it’s also a regular 9-to-5 job.
“We practice Monday through Friday, but we plan to add Sundays as we get closer to tournament time,” Lintrup said.
“We have four games a day and they usually last 50 minutes. After that we can talk a little bit about the mistakes we made.” [for 10 minutes before the next one]. After that, you have about an hour and a half of theoretical time. ”
Lintrup is G2 Gozen’s in-game leader, and her role is quite similar to a football captain.
She said, “After practice, I usually do a stream or review, which means I go back and watch our games and point out mistakes. I have to do a little extra work. I love that kind of thing,” he said.
British contestant Sara ‘Sara’ Ahmed is an 18-year-old from Derby. She has been playing professionally for the past six months and became interested in the game through the influence of her older brother.
She said: “He had a laptop and I didn’t, so I got my first PC when I was 16. That’s when I started playing games, just like my brother.” “It was,” he said.
She currently travels all over the world and recently competed in the first co-ed tournament in Turkey. She talked about the moment she discovered her female gaming scene in Valorant.
“When I was younger, I didn’t have any friends who played video games, so I was always playing alone and it was hard to make girl friends.
“So when I saw there was a big community of girls just hanging out, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Valorant was released during the coronavirus lockdown, when the number of people playing video games skyrocketed. Host Meg Gardner believes it’s popular with women because of its storytelling.
She said, “Valorant is really good at being inclusive, so we have a lot of female characters who are not just supporting roles, but are very strong people in the game. People work together. “I want to choose them to play in the tournament.” . ”
The Red Bull Instalock tournament will be streamed live on Twitch from 12pm UK time on Saturday and Sunday.
