<span class="t-location">Beijing (AFP) – </span> For women e-sports players in China, mastering the game is just the first hurdle to carving out a space for themselves in the male-dominated field. <br><span class="m-pub-dates__date">Issued on: <time datetime="2025-01-12T03:31:16+0000" pubdate="pubdate">12/01/2025 - 04:31</time></span><span class="m-pub-dates__date">Modified: <time datetime="2025-01-12T03:27:04+0000">12/01/2025 - 04:27</time></span><br>To compete, casually but especially professionally, they must also overcome vicious trolls, gender norms, familial expectations and limited opportunities.<br>China has become one of the world's largest markets for e-sports. Its teams participate in the top tier of international competitions, despite state media once dubbing video games "spiritual opium".<br>But more than 90 percent of the 195 professional e-sports clubs in China are exclusively for men, by industry insiders' estimation.<br>"People wouldn't recognise my skills because I'm a girl," professional e-sports player Liu Anqi, 23, told AFP after a game with her all-women club RE-girls.<br>"I wanted to prove them wrong and earn the title of 'professional player' so they couldn't say I cheated or wasn't good enough."<br>Unsolicited, malicious comments follow them everywhere: their skills and strategies belittled, their voices and appearances picked on -- even their choice of character or usernames can make them targets.<br>"If you make a mistake, they say you don't deserve to play professionally," said Wang Qianna, an e-sports player from Killer Angel Girl E-Sports Club (KA).<br>Women gamers also face misogynistic accusations that they use sex to get promotions.<br>"I just throw these insults right back at them," Wang said.<br>The challenges extend beyond online abuse. <br>Structural but often unspoken inequalities, like a lack of recruitment opportunities for women, make it harder for women players to progress.<br>Liu said a lower-tier club rejected her for a rookie training programme -- despite her clear over-qualification -- seemingly because she was a woman.<br>"They asked me why I only had experience in women's tournaments."<br>That reluctance by elite and more established clubs to train women has led many to start clubs of their own.<br>It was like "wanting to punch but finding no target", player Wang Fei said.<br>"E-sports was basically just for men," said KA coach Chen Bo, adding that official tournaments for women only began to emerge in the past few years.<br>Although the times are slowly changing, women players still see fewer opportunities and receive less recognition than their male counterparts.<br>The prize pool for 2024's Honor of Kings Women's Open in December amounted to $140,000. <br>By comparison, last year's inaugural King Pro League Grand Finals, the most prestigious championship for the same e-sports title, handed out $9.6 million between 12 male teams.<br>Liu says most women players are still "generating electricity for love" -- meaning they play for passion rather than financial gain.<br>And with so few examples of prominent players, those who do seek a career in e-sports find it much harder to convince their families that what they do is worthwhile.<br>"I really understand nothing about this e-sports industry," said Liu's father Liu Yuanjun, who did not support his daughter's career choice at first.<br>He has slowly come around, but still not watched any of her professional matches.<br>The financial solution, Liu and coach Chen said, lies in increased investment from big gaming companies and more supportive policies from authorities.<br>"Only with substantial prize money can clubs invest in top players and coaches," she said.<br>"If the prize money is only $135,000 or so, and there are only two tournaments a year or... none at all, who will spend the money running a club?" said coach Chen. <br>On a chilly December evening, Liu and her team battled rivals in the semi-final of last year's Women's Open for "Honor of Kings" -- one of the world's biggest mobile games.<br>Her opponents, the blue team, inched through the last line of defence and the red bar indicating the health of her team's crystal became shorter and shorter until it exploded -- game over.<br>Liu's team lost 3:0, but she was unfazed.<br>"There will be next year and many other opportunities to come," Liu explained as she processed the defeat.<br>"What others think doesn't matter as much anymore. Winning a championship isn't as important as before."<br>"What matters is finding self-validation."<br>© 2025 AFP<br> © 2025 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. Audience ratings certified by ACPM.<a href="https://www.acpm.fr/Support-Numerique/site/france24-com" class="a-brand-logo a-svg a-svg--logo-acpm" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" title="ACPM"> ACPM</a> <br>The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.<br><br><a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirwFBVV95cUxQa0NFOHl4VHRrLUNGVFpWRU9UZmVjOHEzN1lSNExQeGRyakl5bklobmNqU1ZEUE9XT3RDUDRKRjdON0hLUFl5dU9kMXUxOEtfMDNPSV9SUVgzUzJZZmkySm9Ibk55YVZ1Nzl4YVlMTmtCbEoySEdLMWlOcVRieFR3YlloTHlDX1B5QUloUURiV2FZZ2g0Y2xTMjJlc1hiaWY4V3llSW91b1RSUUpKN1Jz?oc=5">source</a>
