Despite the huge leaps and bounds enjoyed by the massively popular
and ever-growing world of eSports in recent years it appears the
competitive video-game is still severely lacking in one particular
area – gender equality.
The Finnish eSports Federation has come under heavy scrutiny today
following a shock announcement surrounding the upcoming tournament
for Blizzard’s critically acclaimed free-to-play MMOCCG, Hearthstone.
The tournament is scheduled to begin later this year at the
Assembly Summer 2014 Convention acting as a qualifying event for the
World Championship in Baku.
A Hearthstone player recently discovered a rather strange
restriction in the tournaments entry requirements, a clause that
requires all players to be male. You read that right, female players
are not allowed to participate in the event.
What makes matters even more ludicrous is the official reasoning
behind the restriction:
“The decision to divide male and female competitions was made
in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our
effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports,”We want eSports to be a legitimate sport, let’s ban all members of
the female variety of little reason at all.
That’s going to work!
Source: CVG