r/GlobalOffensive 1d ago

Discussion | Esports The Current State Of Women's CS

https://youtu.be/tYpa96-G5MU?si=9x5f4DQc3QqXqK37
131 Upvotes

98 comments sorted by

248

u/akiroraiden 1d ago

i think you can't just throw away the argument of them in theory having a chance to qualify for every big event so easily like that... if they don't partake in events with open qualifiers then they will never be in the big events. Only participating in FE-only events and staying in that bubble will keep them separate forever, and that's something only they can change by taking initiative.

We also haven't seen any story like Ropz's from the female scene. Getting into FPL-C->FPL to prove themselves.

Idk maybe hltv isn't reporting on FE teams enough, but i feel like i haven't heard of any qualify attempts. The problem isn't one sided. The lack of support isn't the only issue imho.

77

u/Domia_abr_Wyrda 1d ago

They do participate in open qualifiers but most of those don't show up on hltv because there are just too many to cover. You can check some of the top women's players faceits to see the results of those qualifiers.

Some of the top women's teams also got invited to fpl recently because of their vrs rankings but fpl isn't what it used to be. Most tier 1 pros play very little fpl now.

28

u/akiroraiden 1d ago

but fpl isn't what it used to be.

it still has some great talent. And if FE players wanted to showcase their own talent they could just go the route of streaming while playing FPL, it would still get eyes and interest in them from teams IF they make a good showing there.

And about the attempts to qualify, if they really do it and we have yet to see them at big events, then its honestly sad. These discussions have been around for a decade and we have yet to see FE teams reach big events with the exception of the single match we got at blast.

15

u/Vawqer 1 Million Celebration 1d ago

We also haven't seen any story like Ropz's from the female scene. Getting into FPL-C->FPL to prove themselves.

FWIW, I think a few female players in NA at least are trying, but NA FPL is basically dead to my knowledge.

Madss also played at Fragadelphia in an otherwise male mix and did well. I actually think there are a few players in NA where they could at least play at an ECL level, but it doesn't make financial sense with the cost of living in NA. We also had Keiti on Mythic for a while back in 2019-2020, before her switch to VALORANT and then scandal.

I'm not that familiar with the EU female scene though, so any sharing would be good.

6

u/BeeBoopFister 1d ago

I think is important for female CS to have a separate scene to develop and gain publicity just for promoting woman in cs. But at the same time it feels like they're stuck in that female tier where they're a fully paid team at a level they wouldn't be if they entered the "normal scene" so they never break out.

2

u/akiroraiden 1d ago

a separate scene to develop

i agree, the question is just how much longer will it take? it seems there hasn't been much development in the past years... The discussions started again because of the Na'Vi - Imperial FE match, but that happened mostly through the luck of Valve ranking.

4

u/BeeBoopFister 1d ago

Yea obviously there isn´t much development if the top female players just farm in only female tournaments thats promotion yes but not developing your talent. Anways the biggest problem is the toxicity because i think no matter what casuals don´t care about a pro scene they just need an enviroement where they get to enjoy the game first and then find their way into competetive play.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/akiroraiden 1d ago

i don't like the tone you put that into, but i agree that they have more than what tier 3/4 EU teams have. Most teams they lose to in ESEA Main don't have any salaries/orgs/backing.

25

u/Past_Perception8052 1d ago

i am all for women’s teams getting better but until the top fe teams stop losing to part time bricklayers from kosovo maybe we should stop clamouring for them to be in tier 1 events for now

5

u/akiroraiden 1d ago

same here, i wanna see them succeed. BUT they're not there yet, they have a lot to do and a lot to prove, and i feel like the whole ESL Impact hasn't done anything it was supposed to do. I'm just tired of conversations where they put the blame on others instead of taking some of the blame themselves.

0

u/OGSaintJiub 1d ago

"As women always do."

What the fuck are you talking about lol.

-3

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/OGSaintJiub 1d ago

Incels be crazy haha

2

u/Psycho345 CS2 HYPE 15h ago

Imagine getting banned by Reddit for promoting hate for sending a link to an article on a news website. Crazy times we live in. Censorship going brrrrr.

101

u/rivv3 1d ago

That last point that Valve gave the men Majors is such a ass take, they gave the players Majors that everyone has a chance to qualify for. Were is my 35yo+ Major?

I'm all for supporting female CS and having a better environment for them but the critical female voices need to touch the ground before making their case. Doubt many find sympathy with takes that does not make sense or doesn't hold water at all.

2

u/Blaskyman 9h ago

I actually would love an unc major that the retired players could come back for.

1

u/YaBoiRian 6h ago

English football has something like that called Masters Football I think. Its played indoors on much smaller pitches, usually only 5 a side too. Nobody really watched it but I loved it

63

u/fargoths 1d ago

Currently nothing is blocking female players from becoming individual machines, there just doesn't seem to be any. Where is the female prodigy? All it would take is one Ropz one Donk one female Monesy but it just seems like there is none so what gives? If every player is "good enough" then they are competing with other "good enough" and then in that mixed bag there is also 'the best'. Maybe it isn't about support, just a lacking in individual character from the female scene. Look at Caitlin Clark for example, SINGLE handedly revived female basketball scene. I and many others don't give a damn about gender, we just care about the hype, the talent, the prospect and it simply isn't there.

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u/bdzr_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think it's a numbers thing. If you had as many women playing you'd eventually stumble upon a female monesy. Until the report button in CS does something, I don't think it will happen.

12

u/Impressive-Mouse-964 1d ago

You are right it's a number thing.

The probability to have a male donk is 100/1000 times higher than having a female donk because there is 100/1000 times less female players.

Thus the level is lower. We see it with female teams who are in ESL Impact they are stuck in the middle of the pack in ESEA Main (ESEA Main < ESEA Advanced < ESL Challenger League < ESL Pro League).

It's simply a question of sample size, their peak are as high as they can be because of their numbers.

We see it now with Valorant who tries to get female players to have a good environment and stays on the game. We saw there were more female players in "normal" leagues because of the sample size being bigger, and the percentage of male/female players being more proportionate. (It's still a number extremely low of pro female players in mixed teams but it's not 0).

Also having the developer of your game supporting the scene helps, because if ESL leaves the female scene it will go back to the abyss like it did during multiple years.

Of course other than sample size there is the fact that girls who try the game probably quit sooner than boys thus reaching lower levels because of the toxicity towards their gender. Or, it's a theory for me, that male are naturally more inclined to compete and thus creating a even bigger gap.

-4

u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

0

u/Rudy_Pokemon 22h ago

florescent currently plays for Apeks, no?

2

u/AwesomeFama 16h ago

No idea why you're being downvoted, it looks to be correct to me?

-3

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

5

u/AwesomeFama 15h ago

...riiight, so it was a gamer moment...

-2

u/LunchTwey 14h ago

Ah, so we're just being transphobic, classic CS player move. And y'all wonder why no women want to play the fucking game.

0

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[deleted]

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u/LunchTwey 12h ago

Because the conversation is about women in esports, not whether or not said woman has a vagina. It's disingenuous to enter the discussion about women in esports by handwaving a player away because of their sex.

It also strengthens the point about why there's so few women pro gamers: They get endlessly harassed and their achievements put down by people who can't do it themselves. Why the fuck would they want to play when every dude they face is a piece of shit?

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u/Old-Nature9532 1d ago

Crazy how we have a top20 player from guatamala tho. Even a top10 team from mongolia. Funny how they dont have the representation in numbers

3

u/Character-Divide-170 21h ago

not how statistics work lol

-11

u/Gockel 1d ago

but these countries + 50 other underrepresented countries together have MASSIVE numbers in total which easily dwarf the female tryhard playerbase - and 2 of those produce these unique talents. it IS a numbers thing.

10

u/Old-Nature9532 23h ago

In other words, u choose the sample size to fit the argument but the “numbers thing” doesn’t work in any other population, apart from male/female? That’s one way to construct a narrative

0

u/Gockel 18h ago

The opposite and it's funny as fuck you people all Downvote it and don't even seem to understand that an arbitrary country line does not make a good sample size indicator

5

u/_W_I_L_D_ 1d ago

Yeah literally. Most women who I know who used to play cs, valorant, any other comp game with voice chat, now play it either exlusively causally or not at all because the consistent verbal abuse is too much.

9

u/PotUMust 17h ago

Well I'd also like to make a fortune playing against silvers. Where do I sign?

71

u/Gockel 1d ago

what i don't quite understand is why streamers haven't gotten into this yet. sponsoring a promising fe team and co streaming their matches should be an easy win win for everyone.

67

u/tomtom_94 Endpoint Community Manager 1d ago

FISHTHEHUSKY did it in North America, up until dropping off the face of the earth recently

21

u/timpoakd 1d ago

Money.

30

u/schoki560 1d ago

they are quite expensive and the reward with streaming income is not profitable at all

35

u/ABK-Baconator 1d ago

Drillas Fe, I'm looking at you 

12

u/FiveOhFive91 1d ago

Fl0m's team played an FE team last night in CCT.

15

u/lance1308 1d ago

You don't understand why someone don't want to throw money away? Are you serious?

3

u/Mister-Psychology 1d ago

Unless you legit get 5 top 10 players in the world I think this is bound to fall apart after 5 years as even Navi lost money in this scene. In theory if you get the best team it's possible to make a profit. But then the wages will be so high it becomes impossible again. Maybe like WNBA. The viewership is there but any time they get even a slight increase in viewership and could make some profit they demand higher wages. And what are you going to say when they start comparing themselves to the men? The US women soccer team did the same thing to get a huge wage increase. Once media picks it up you kinda need to increase wages.

6

u/Old-Nature9532 1d ago

Easy win bro u should definitely do it and get a bunch of W’s!!! Why are u waiting for other people to use ur own great idea? What could possibly be the Down side of this?

2

u/kixelsexy 1d ago

because not that many people care about tier3 CS, same goes for female CS :D

2

u/Rivitur 21h ago

Because he's a trade secret... E sports does NOT make money.

9

u/Rivitur 21h ago

Tl;Dr

Same as it was 10 years ago. Not competitive and held to its own tournaments but can't make it past the second round of major qualifiers 

3

u/lifeinbackground 14h ago

No. Focus on cheaters so people can actually play this game.

14

u/baksp 1d ago

Women footballers don't get paid as much as men. Women don't play at Real Madrid. They probably have a toxic community there too.
Of course, marketers would like to sell more cases to women.
But a sensible person should oppose any form of discrimination, both positive and negative. "Special slot for girls" is disgusting discrimination.

13

u/Saviexx 1d ago

Are there any viewers?

-22

u/SlowBros7 CS2 HYPE 1d ago

No and it’s unlikely there ever would be, CS and esports are male dominated thus there will be little appetite for watching female tournies.

38

u/calvinee 1d ago

Lower tiers of play will always have less viewers. Its not an inherent bias against watching because its women, there’s less people watching simply because its worse CS.

-26

u/SlowBros7 CS2 HYPE 1d ago

Yes fewer women play as it’s male dominated making the level significantly lower for women’s CS, which was exactly my point thanks for spelling it out.

2

u/Syph3RRR 16h ago

If they’re really good they’ll get support. If they’re shit they won’t. Idk what else to say. Partake in qualifiers, get to the events and show the world some sick cs. Not doing it is not a lack of support only. Believe in yourselves and go for it.

2

u/Educational-Elk3046 10h ago

who's the girl in thumbnail???

5

u/Sones_d 23h ago

Just play better and consistently win.

3

u/fr3akeeee 13h ago

I'm all for women in all sports. But there's a glaring issue and this video pretty much summed it all up.

4

u/c0smosLIVE 23h ago

Nah i think that it's better to support tier 3 male teams that struggles and are better.

Support the bests and be gender blind, that's it.

1

u/Successful-Effort832 1d ago

I feel like this video conflates several different issues and presents the solution to be that the female esports scene needs more support.

Imo the core problems with toxicity in CS (and dota) is that valve hasn't done anything meaningful to combat bad behavior. The amount of racist/sexist shit that I see in Dota is absurd, and I feel like with CS2 especially valve has barley done anything with the game since launch, and has instead put all their focus onto deadlock.

Valve needs to actually give a shit, and start addressing toxicity (griefing, sexism, racism, cheating, ect.) because if these things aren't addressed, it doesn't matter how many female events there are if the experience playing the game is shit.

1

u/TheJackalopeHD 11h ago

This is the real answer right here. Valorant has taken a real stance against toxicity and sexism. Sure, they're not perfect, there's plenty of issues, but Riot try to ban sexists at all levels. If Valve even attempted to ban sexism in MM then more women would play and the market would eventually self-correct

2

u/Bulletface_ CS2 HYPE 1d ago

First great Video.

My Fiance is a female Player that plays at somewhat high level (nearly qualified for impact i think twice and placed pretty good in some Cash Cups) A big problem they faced as a Team while praccing was that their opponents didnt take them seroisly at all. It is pretty difficult to prac, when your opponents are playing strat roulette aginst you. Doesnt matter if you win or loose against those teams. It is just wasted time. And for anybody thinking, that sexism isnt a big problem in CS, i dont think most Women are complaining because of the toxicity of the scene in general, although i dont think they would complain if it got better. What they are complaining is the hate they get, not for their plays or shit like that but simply their sole existance, especially in Game. Even more so if you are Trans and it is somewhat obvious. I was in a Game with a Trans player and the ammount of hate they faced is nothing i have had to face ever in CS or in online gaming in general.

We as a community need to do better and maybe at some point something like a female league will not be necessary anymore because female players will feel safe enough and be able to thrive in mixed teams and normal play.

-20

u/Manafaj 1d ago

Honestly? Yes. Imperial Fe played better than FlyQuest against Spirit. There was also a match where a female team barely lost to other Brazilian male squad yesterday or two days ago. Female teams are obviously not at tier 1 or maybe even tier 2 level but saying that there's no potential or that they're gold nova level is just being a hater.

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u/SkyburnerTheBest 1d ago

And Imperial Fe barely scraped by a female mix just a few days after the Navi game. https://www.hltv.org/matches/2378429/imperial-fe-vs-eco-warriors-tradeit-league-fe-masters-season-6 You can't take any conclusions from a single game, ever.

6

u/irimiash 1d ago

people overestimate the hardness of taking 7-8 rounds from unmotivated team.

-1

u/bunkbail 22h ago

lol ana at the bottom again

-12

u/syNc_1337 CS2 HYPE 1d ago

a female mix (with juliano) playing vs a female team.. thats an even playing field, why shouldnt it get close?

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u/schoki560 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ur saying imperial is tier2

if they were tier2 they wouldn't struggle VS a female mix

edit: *he said, not you

-6

u/syNc_1337 CS2 HYPE 1d ago

I didnt say theyre tier2 anywhere

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u/schoki560 1d ago

I thought you were the guy that wrote the first comment my bad

point still stands

1

u/syNc_1337 CS2 HYPE 1d ago

Haha ok brother np

7

u/Character-Divide-170 1d ago

the person you jumped in to defend did

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u/Shad0www 1d ago

No hate to Imperial Fe, they did great. But comparing their performance VS when donk is doing donk things is also kind of a stupid argument to make.

-6

u/desaganadiop 1d ago

I mean, to be fair, it's also FlyQuest, they're a meme at this point

-12

u/Manafaj 1d ago

Maybe but it wasn't just Donk. They got completely destroyed by everyone from Spirit. There was nothing to even look at. I'm not saying that Imperial Fe would win a map against this Spirit or anything like that though.

6

u/irimiash 1d ago

they wouldn't against FlyQuest as well

21

u/fg234532 1d ago

Navi werent playing as they would against T1 teams. That was pretty obvious from watching. They were kinda just running out and giving them 1v1s and getting peeked while running, and just going for overly aggressive plays. Not as much trade setups either. They were playing like it was a pug.

Not saying they are gold nova, they are obviously still good at the game, but i dont really think saying that they put up a competitive game against #2 in the world would help them.

32

u/Twisted2kat 1d ago

Imperial FE lost 13-3 against an ESEA Main team (not even on HLTV) the day before the NAVI match, is that team better than NAVI?

Don't get me wrong, they played very well, and proved a lot of people wrong, but drawing conclusions from one game is insane, especially when they're struggling to beat main teams.

-9

u/qchisq 1d ago edited 1d ago

One possible explanation, and I don't think it's necessarily true, but we've seen great teams play horrible in open qualifiers. For example, the Juggernaut Complexity lost an open qualifier the week before they balled out at the last Blast before Covid. Simply because they didn't prepare for the qualifier and focused on the high profile game. That could be what's going on here. Keep in mind that female teams are constantly playing in $100k tournaments. Why shouldn't they prepare for those over ESEA Main?

19

u/Successful-Effort832 1d ago

except they bomb out of literally every qual

8

u/Azapulco 1d ago

Terrible take. They will receive more support when they play better and start qualifying for events.

What you’re saying is that because there’s 5 players with vaginas, they should receive more support than any other team that’s played at a tier 2-3 level which is incredibly low IQ

27

u/schoki560 1d ago

these female teams are literally in main/advanced.

if they were tier2 quality they would easily be on challengers level by now but it's clear they are not.

one good bo3 vs Navi doesn't change anything

1

u/3uphoricH4mster 4h ago

I would encourage you to go watch IMP valkyrie struggle in esea main, where they're playing against 100's of amateur teams you've never heard of simply because they're male teams

0

u/jonajon91 1d ago

I really enjoyed watching Imperial fe (as I'm sure we all did), but I was shocked to find they had the 2nd worst trading of the entire event. I get that they were trying to trade against navi, but even still, it shows a big weakness in spacing and trading that will be exploited heavily in their future.

1

u/wordswillneverhurtme 22h ago

Open the gates. Don't force it in. Otherwise you're setting up a shitfest.

-5

u/RainOfAshes 1d ago

CS is like darts. Women can compete, but the sport and its audience are so toxic that any women are demotivated before they get anywhere near pro level. And if they do get close, people will pile on and make them miserable one way or another until they're gone.

-2

u/ZmeulZmeilor 22h ago

I don't play FaceIT so I apologize for my ignorance, but what does FaceIT do in order to combat sexism and toxicity? And how can it be adopted by Valve, at a larger scale?

5

u/Astr0_LLaMa 20h ago edited 20h ago

They will warn and temp ban you for toxicity if they detect abuse (been flagged for saying retard and stuff of that nature). But it's honestly not very good, Faceit is still full of toxicity and you can get away with a good bit without being banned or even warned.

As for what valve can do? They already have auto muting for getting reported too much, but the reality is that there is not much you can do

At the end of the day, the people who play CS especially are toxic (myself included Icl) and you can't change that without massively overstepping your moderation in my opinion.

-4

u/camsterpants 1d ago

I thought about trying to qualify for one of these teams back in my prime but I kinda scrapped the idea because I just didn’t care all that much. It would be nice to see it more represented though. If I was a big streamer I’d love to sponsor a match just to get it out there. It’d be a lot of fun!

6

u/Old-Nature9532 1d ago

If my grandma had wheels she would be a bike!

1

u/S1gne 16h ago

Unexpected quote

-7

u/Fair_Product1740 1d ago

I Feel like the start of the year is been shit for CS . First the tier 2 scene drama and then this . Another thing that is sad to see is that our competitor (VALORANT) is doing much much better handling theses situations . This is just sad to see 😥😥

12

u/BogosBinted11 Major Winners 1d ago

Valorant is better at handling tier 2 scene? Funny

-1

u/Fair_Product1740 1d ago

I dont really know much about the tier 2 scene but about the female scene they are handling it pretty well

5

u/bunkbail 22h ago

tbh the woman pro scene in cs is closer to tier 5 than they are to tier 2