Why won't we see girls in DPC
Author: Hawk Live LLC
Last updated:
The wonderful part of our community always pleases the eye, ear or their play even the most callous Dota 2 player. There are many girls among who really know how to play well.
But why don't we see them on the professional stage? And why did the girls' attempt to get into the DPC turn into a scandal and the loss of the slot?
Broken DPC slot system
How is it that players can get into DPC bypassing qualifications? The answer is simple: a broken system and the possibility to change all roster during the transfer window. Anyway, the slot can be given or sold, as it was written about in the article «DPC slot can be sold».
Therefore, when the four girls entered Division II of North America, they did not violate anything. As well as the owner of the slot, because he can do it according to the rules.
By the way, the team is interesting. These are bumble bEE's (ex SADBOYS), where Jacky «EternaLEnVy» Mao came after a conflict in the previous team - Black N Yellow. So, the fans immediately noticed that several girls were registered on the team registration site for the roster. This raised a lot of questions.
David «Moo» Hull and Zakari William Lee «Zfreek» Freedman moved to 4 Zoomers. EternaLEnVy seems to have taken a break after watching The International 10 and games with Team Spirit:
After watching Yatoro play/pick I’ve concluded I’m no longer good enough to compete at the level I want to. I’ve decided to chill for now and not play for the sake of playing and work on myself as being on a team comes with other obligations.
Whose slot this is, whether it was sold or presented - unknown. But most of all the indignation was caused by the fact that girls' level play in Dota 2 was much lower than even the average participant of qualifications.
bumble bEE's roster:
- Isabelle «Butterfliess» Goulet;
- Sayuri «Fari» Yamanaka;
- Freja «Papaya» Holmström;
- Michelle «Michelle» Gomez;
- Maxwell «Hotaruz» Bateman.
As a result, the team has new people who have not played in the DPC before, have not passed any qualifications and have a low level of play even for the second division.
Hate, scandal, blame and bullying
In addition to the previously mentioned reasons, the girls themselves gave rise to such negativity. One of the members of the squad, Freja «Papaya» Holmström, commented on the accusations of buying a DPC slot on Twitter:
THIS IS THE TWEET YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. yes, this is me. no, my team did not buy the slot. why? because the current slot system is broken and i love my girls. no, we do not represent all women in dota, only ourselves. yes, we plan on taking this seriously AND have fun.
This tweet only created more hate. Here are some comments from users on Reddit:
That's actually worse than buying the slot lol. Imagine playing a tournament in which you will lose 0-14, in order to have fun (idk what's fun about that), but what it costs? play with a guy who only invited them because he's horny.
This gonna be yet another all female disaster just because this guy wanted to play with women and what's worse is that they don't seem to understand what message they're sending.
People who cheat the system and then call it ‘broken’ to absolve themselves of any responsibility are morally questionable
No you do not represent all women in dota, just 4 low-rank attention-seekers and a sex offender
Hope Valve uses the latter point to take the slot off them and give it to a closed qualifier
Surprisingly, a guy suddenly appeared in the female cast. Maxwell «Hotaruz» Bateman who was the owner of the slot as it was later suggested. And, most interestingly, he was previously accused of sexual harassment, which was immediately noticed by other users:
why is a rapist playing with 4 girls on the same team
This is so counter productive to female players in all esports, its basically saying we will play with any disgusting piece of shit that gives us money
Kurtis «Aui_2000» Ling commented on this situation:
Genuinely, whats the upsides in taking a slot like bumblebees are? I can only see downsides (flaming/match fixing betting categories/taking a slot from people who want to compete&improve/wasting competitor and broadcast time).This is not to condone the msgs they received but why?
An attempt to protect and justify
For some reason, the female community perceived such a wave of negativity as sexism. Dota Valkyries condemned those who participated in the persecution of girls and expressed their vision of the situation:
We have been in contact with a member of team bumble_bEE. The women on the team weren't aware of the sexual assault accusations before agreeing to play, and we want to commend them for confronting the slot owner once they learned more, resulting in him stepping down from the team
So, four adequate adults did not check the one who invited them to the team.
DOTA Valkyries will always stand against sexism and hatred. We are revolted by the harassment and hostility these women have faced and are truly sorry to see it happen.
Despite the multitude of opinions we represent regarding the fairness of the team's actions or their intentions, what happened put an important issue with the current DPC system into the spotlight and encouraged debate about the DPC rulebook.
This problem was already known. And this incident did not bring any practical benefit to its solution.
We're still working towards our goal of someday seeing women playing as professionals in the DPC, and we believe it isn't too long before we see women return to this stage through qualifiers.
Due to such selfish actions of some girls, others, more worthy, will have to prove to the public not only their level of play, but also their intentions to participate in competitions. After all, now the community will not be so confident about whether she is doing it for the sake of sports interest, or just “having fun”.
That's what competition is
For some reason, the girls' defenders did not want to pay attention to the fact that, due to the broken DPC system, the slot was occupied by frankly weak players. Thus, they deprived the opportunity to take this place for other, stronger and more worthy teams, as Aui_2000 spoke about.
It is also controversial that the organization or the owner of a DPC slot can completely change the composition between seasons. However, in almost all cases, new players are those who have already played DPC. Moreover, young players with high MMR, skill and teamplay were invited to teams. There are almost no questions for such candidates.
There were cases when a slot was transferred to another squad or team. But DPC league players were involved, so this is considered normal. Hellbear Smashers gave the slot to Into The Breach, and no one was outraged. This is because these players have already played in the league.
EXTREMUM is a good example of the opposite. In the announcement of DPC in Eastern Europe, Epic Esports Events reported that the aforementioned organization decided to leave the slot due to not having a Dota 2 roster. Thus, instead of two, three teams from the CIS at once will receive places in the second division based on the results of the open qualifiers.
Although EXTREMUM could sign CIS Rejects roster or give them a slot. In any case, the squad with RAMZES666 and fng passed the qualifications without any problems and will fight in the second division of Eastern Europe.
New organization in Dota 2 - Talon Esports. They have assembled a roster of famous players who have already played in the DPC or even took part in TI. The money is available, and it would even be logical if they bought the slot. But no, they decided to play in the qualifiers. And on the second try Fly, Gabbi and others were able to secure their place in the league.
One more case. Kirill «Sunlight» Kachinsky assembled Teletubbies and won the first NA Open Qualifiers. But then one of the players goes to another team, and they have to start all over again. And they win again and for the second time go to the closed qualifiers, and then to the second division. Yes, KBU.US will play exactly where the girls wanted to “have fun”.
So why didn't bumble bEE's new roster try to qualify like the others? Answer is simple - they can't. They have no chance against other teams. And so they decided or accepted such decision.
But how much the attitude towards them would have changed in a positive direction if they had just tried. But sport consists of such endless attempts and defeats.
Esports is a quota-free competition, not based on your gender and orientation. One thing is important here - victory. Or learn from your mistakes. And not to abuse the broken system, covering up your egoism and weakness.
Resume
Tournament operator ESL, which hold Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 in North America, announced that due to bumble bEE's dropping out of Division II, three teams from the closed qualifiers will enter the DPC at once.
Officially, the reason was not announced. However, there is information that the possible owner of the slot, Hotaruz, left the team before the rosterlock. In such a situation, the team will automatically lose their place in the DPC.
As a result, those who wanted to abuse the system were thrown out by the system. The team was replaced by new team and players, whose game the audience had already appreciated during the qualifiers. Fans want to see people who can really compete with others on equal terms. People don't like cheaters.
Defenders naturally began to accuse opponents of sexism. But sexism is not a cause, but a consequence. And because of such incidents and the reaction of the community, further attempts by other, more skillful girls will be perceived differently. They will have to prove not only their skills, but also that they do it for the sake of sports interest, and not for hype and attention. Therefore, in the near future, we will not see girls as professional players in the DPC league.
