Earlier this week, tournament organizer ESL announced their roadmap for 2022. As part of their ‘GGFORALL’ initiative ESL would organize a circuit of tournaments solely for women to participate in. This initiative was started with the aim of tackling discrimination and giving the women in esports, a chance to showcase their skills at the highest of levels in an esport which is so heavily dominated by males. 

The idea was welcomed by most of twitter, especially the women who have worked on stage and behind the scenes in CSGO events for years. No doubt there was somewhat of a circuit for women that gave us players like ‘MissHarvey’ ‘Smix’ and ‘juliano’ but it was always overshadowed by bigger events and didn’t get the publicity it deserved. A planned out circuit by a TO like ESL was a welcome sight for all and was well received. But there were some who weren’t too keen on it.

THE DRAMA

It all started with veteran caster Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat’s controversial tweet where he asked when a tournament only for men would be introduced? He gave the reasoning for this tweet saying no one stopped women from competing in these tournaments and that creating one solely for women was discriminatory and toxic.

He completely overlooked the fact that women are bullied and discriminated against even in your regular matchmaking games and that it’s a bother for them to play a normal game, let alone fight to compete with the best. CSGO and Valorant caster Lauren ‘Pansy’ Scott pointed this out to him in a follow up tweet as well.

He added fuel to the fire by calling out RushB media founder Ryan, for having pronouns in his bio. This was ill done as in a civil discussion about women and how they’re discriminated against, someone’s pronouns or sexual orientation shouldn’t have been brought up and mocked, especially in today’s day and age.

THORIN’S SUPPORT FOR SEMMLER

Analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields came out in support of Semmler on twitter and also put out a series of tweets, that were somewhat derogatory towards the struggle of women in esports.

Semmler’s comments did not go down well with the women working in esports and this was pointed out by host and interviewer Frankie Ward  

Thorin did not back down there as well and satirically thanked Frankie for policing everyone’s behavior. He accused her of making green rooms ‘less enjoyable’ because she made everyone wary of what they should and shouldn’t be saying, turning this into an even bigger drama.

Overall this isn’t a good look at all for two veterans of the industry who are well respected and reputed by anyone who’s ever worked with them. There have been nothing but praises for Thorin from journalist DeKay, while Semmler has been an iconic voice in CSGO since its launch. 

It should be understood that there are not many opportunities for women in CSGO and a women’s only tournament is the first step towards working to bridge the gap between males and females. This initiative by ESL, much like Riot Games’ for Valorant, is a step in the right direction and will make people more accepting, and less toxic towards women.