i may have been the only one who noticed this but why is overwatch league not diverse? it’s just a bunch of white or asian dudes. why aren’t there women/queer players (besides violet)?? why aren’t there brown or black players?? like… maybe it all depends on who wants to play. but there has to be someone who wants to play for a team that isn’t a white/asian guy lol?? 
There were black and woman players in OWL before
4 Likes
I dunno what kind of an answer do you want? Blizzard doesn’t allow them?
They just aren’t there. Also, how do you determine someone’s sexuality in OWL? Also, there is a woman.
21 Likes
sigh Do you want a quota in OWL ?
People are different, with different sets of interests and affinities. That’s just how it is.
31 Likes
When people ask this question sometimes I think they believe there is a box on an application form you check out:
Are you gay? Check.
Are you a woman? Check.
Are you anything but caucasion or asian? Check.
K no you’re not allowed in.
ok.
9 Likes
There is no real answer to that, interests I guess
1 Like
Because Korean’s farm games like OW to be the best in the world. To play at that level you have to be the best. OW has a small girl (trans girl inc) population and the majority of players are gold, so odds are most of them are not able to play at that level, the same as most of the guy players/non-binary/other.
There’s also the fact there’s nobody 40+ in the OWL because with age comes deterioration. They’re all young guys who have been FPS gaming on PC for years and still have rapid reflexes, get money from it and have no other responsibilities (e.g. children, regular job, full-time education, etc)
14 Likes
It’s all about skill and rank.
Most players in the top level are Asian or white.
Idk why asian to be honest but there’s probably an explanation for that revolving around the culture and/or the everyday life there.
but white people are simply the majority so make sense most of them will be there.
Women just don’t play video games as much a boys. that connects to an old condition where people had to choose where to put video games on the shelves in the boys section or the girls and it happened to be boys… At least that’s what I heard.
I think it’s best to pick players based on skill and rank not be appearance.
idc what a plyer looks like, I just want to see a good match.
5 Likes
Geguri
Muma
Do you just want a list of the non-caucasian and Korean players?
Why do we need these check boxes anyways?
12 Likes
I think it is much more culturally acceptable for both Asians and white people to go into professional gaming, and in both places (America/Europe and Asia) FPS gaming has been highly monetized. It’s not culturally acceptable for other minorities to go into professional gaming, and there isn’t a large foothold for them, therefore they just aren’t doing it. It also takes a LOT of dedication, which means a support system of some sort. I don’t think a lot of Black/Hispanic/Trans/Females ever get much support to do that. Trans people wouldn’t really have a place to start in professional gaming, and gaming culture is TOXIC. Think about all the trashtalk and profiling Geguri got.
1 Like
Well for one there’s no affirmative action in gaming.
For another pro gaming is kinda a rich person sport. I mean it’s becoming more affordable, but those cases of people getting GM with 40fps and then realizing they should invest (and even having the ability to do so as a young person) into a high level machine to go pro with are rare. Those cases happen, but the norm is they had a pretty decent computer early on. Most of the esports players started relatively young before college or shortly into college years.
So we expect a couple prerequisites for going pro:
- decent set up
- good internet
Now those will not always be the case. Some OWL level players will come out of 30fps 150 ping garbage land. But it’s the exception. Less rich people buy their kids consoles not computers because those are a way bigger upfront cost with accessories and monitor if you want anywhere near the experience you get just slapping a console on the family TV.
As a result we see higher concentration along ethnic groups that are relatively richer and in urban populations with good internet. Which isn’t that far off from where we see the league.
Then we come to cultural differences and normative measures. I would say nerdiness overall is more common among those populations. I’m sure you know many many exceptions same as I do, but video game nerd I have a particular image of. From a normative standpoint you’re more likely to get into PC OW if you:
A) have friends that play it
B) played previous blizzard games
Since this also requires decent PCs which again are pre college usually a rich family’s console, then we expect you to be more likely to fall into those categories if your friends are also from decently well off families. If all your friends instead are console gamers that’s what you’ll probably get if you do game. If none of your friends are big gamers you’re less likely to be one, and less likely to stick with a grind then if you have friends amazed you’re in masters, gm, t500 for example.
Just some basic ideas.
Why does Seoul produce so many world class gamers? Is it discrimination against non south Koreans that leads to this? Of course not.
Seoul has:
-Widespread access to pro gaming level set ups ($0.70/hr high end gaming basically)
-Some of the fastest internet in the world
-Culture where many of your friends are gamers, and gaming is cool (at least relative to other countries)
There’s pretty much no place on the planet that’s better suited for raising esports players. And I’d put rich Cali kids as a distant second for having most of the same.
1 Like
Violet =/= Viol2t
The only female player is Geguri for SHD.
There are/have been a handful of LGBT players who have played in the league e.g. Muma, EFFECT.
We’ve had some representation from outside NA/EU/Eastern Asia, but it’s been very limited due to the lack of success OW has found in those regions. Eqo (Colombian/Israeli) is the only example I can really think of who came from outside these regions. Snow (of Ethiopian descent) played on Boston Uprising in S1, but he had been a US resident for most of his life anyway.
One thing I’d like to note, Ta1yo is the first ever Japanese OWL player, having signed or the Shock a few months ago. Strict gambling laws have made it hard for many people in Japan to pursue careers in esports. This is undoubtedly the case for other countries as well, not to mention that the career path is often looked down upon by many, even in countries where it’s successful.
1 Like
More diverse besides asian guys?
I assume there’s more.
1 Like
They’re just arent any women (apart from one) that are playing to the quality of the pros.
1 Like
affirmative action based on what exactly? all those laws barring certain people from owning pcs and getting good at the game? because they dont exist.
1 Like
Affirmative action is a way to increase diversity. I’m just saying OWL doesn’t have it. I don’t think it should have it because I don’t think attempting to try and equalize access to esports careers makes any sense. Nor does it make sense in the context of professional sports for example.
1 Like
Absolutely, but I’m sure many aren’t even interested in having their private life subject to the judgement of the public. Even for those who may want to speak out, there will always be a small but vocal group of which won’t be pleasant towards them.
This sort of thing is why very few professional athletes have ever come out to the public. To date, there hasn’t been a Football player in the Premier League that has come out whilst still playing in the division.
OWL maybe a far more welcoming place for players to feel comfortable in compared to traditional sports leagues, but there’s only so much you can do against the angry trolls on the internet.
2 Likes
it wont be long before the crazies are enforcing it. i think i fancy an olympic gold medal myself, far too many athletes winning them, lets see more non athlete gold medalists please.
1 Like
there is a female player, geguri
and muma is gay
(btw violet isn’t in owl, just a team streamer)
the Asian players are brown (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and thai (I think at least, dont know if mickey is still on an active roster)
there are a few middle eastern players and a few black players
1 Like