The fast-paced world of esports has witnessed the rise of female gamers joining the ranks in recent years, with the BGSU gaming program providing a virtual battleground for female gamers to showcase their prowess.
Two BGSU JV Overwatch team members share their passion for competitive gaming and help debunk stereotypes surrounding female gamers.
Entering the arena is third-year Odessa “KirraWolf” Timm, the support role player going on her sixth semester straight for the squad. Dedication to late-night practices and semester-long tournaments is no feat for her.
“I was honestly shocked when I joined BGSU with how many females are in just for Overwatch. We have another girl on my team. Club team has five or six girls in it. You see more girls than you would have thought when you first joined,” said Timm.
Her teammate is fourth-year Jessica ‘Zoloft’ Macbeth. Playing a support role with MVP accolades from frat leagues, she is said to be the best person to have on your roster inside the arena.
Macbeth shares a favorite gaming aspect of hers is discovering other girls within gameplay.
“When you join that voice channel and you have that hesitant first girl speak up and then the rest of us girls are like, ‘Oh my god!’ There’s just that feeling of sisterhood. You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes.’ It’s immediately a bond,” Macbeth said.
That hesitancy to speak comes with reason- female gamers are subject to an onslaught of online voice chat hate. According to the American Psychological Association, 63.3% of women reported being harassed while online gaming.
“They’re like, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. Go make me a sandwich.’ I’ve been told that too many times. And I’m like, ‘If you’re gonna be mean, at least be creative,’” said Zoloft.
Speaking up in solidarity can help, as observed by Timm.
“Standing up for women in general is a big thing. I know there’s so many people that hear people being toxic, and they just won’t say anything. I think if people just stood up for women more, it would help a lot,” she said.
The world of virtual adventuring and competing comes differently to everyone. Timm said she was raised with a controller in her hand – gaming was a family spectacle growing up. For Macbeth, the gaming touch came later in life during her high school years. By the time she tried out for the BGSU Overwatch team, she had only been gaming for three years.
“I lived in a dorm room with five other girls and one of the girls’ boyfriends was the president of the esports organization. I had no clue that it existed for the first whole semester until he came around. He’s like, ‘Oh, you play Overwatch? We have a team and an entire organization that plays games. You should totally come and join.’ So I looked into it, and I did,” said Macbeth.
Spots on the competitive teams call for a try-out process, in which both girls beat out other striving players to make.
“Just because I started playing like three years ago doesn’t mean I’m not trying hard. I’m working to be good at this just as hard,” said Macbeth.
The esports community at BGSU is a virtual realm ripe for everyone to conquer.
“The captain of the JV team for Overwatch- he’s super supportive about everybody playing their part. He doesn’t really care who is what gender, sex, anything like that. You can definitely tell that the people here in charge care a lot about you as a person and not just a player,” said Timm.
The community is only growing from here.
“It’s super exciting to just watch it grow. We have lots of girls in some of our other esports teams,” said Macbeth.
Despite making up 48% of gamers in the U.S. only 5% of esports professionals are women, according to a February 2024 Play Today article.
“I think for shooter games, specifically, there’s a lot of communication that’s needed in them. A lot of female gamers don’t communicate as much. I know, for me, I never communicate in a voice chat without like being with a duo or a friend because we get so much hate just being female. I do think that plays a big part in why there’s very few competitive female players,” said Timm.
Macbeth wonders if some responsibility should be put on the organizers of competitions.
“Part of it is women feeling like they don’t have a place. There could be this perception from people running competitive organizations that women don’t want to be a part of it or shouldn’t be a part of it,” she said.
Both Timm and Macbeth said they won’t be defined by being just a gamer girl.
“You don’t have the ‘soccer chicks’. They’re just soccer players. I’m a girl gamer. But I’m also just a gamer,” said Macbeth.
The esports community at BGSU is always looking for new gamers to join their ranks.
“Don’t be afraid to join and go out for it. Especially at BGSU. It is a super welcoming organization. All of the teams are constantly growing. If you don’t make a team that you try out for, we still have tons of club teams and you could still be a part of it. It’s a really great organization to be a part of,” said Macbeth.
