League of Legends Tournament: LGBT Players Have "Unfair Advantage" - Update

[Steven Bogos]

League of Legends Tournament: LGBT Players Have "Unfair Advantage" - Update

A League of Legends tournament in the Philippines is openly discriminating against LGBT players.

Update: Whether due to intervention from Riot, or just the general bad press, Garena has completely reversed the ruling change [http://esports.garena.ph/newsArticle.php?contentid=00000604&cat=NEWS&subcat=LEAGUE%20OF%20LEGENDS] limiting teams to one LGBT player per team. "After discussing the ruling with our partners and re-examining our approach, we have decided to remove these restrictions completely. This means that any player who self-identifies as female will be allowed to participate," said the organizer in an official statement.

Source: Garena [http://esports.garena.ph/newsArticle.php?contentid=00000604&cat=NEWS&subcat=LEAGUE%20OF%20LEGENDS]

Original Story: Garena eSports, a Philippines-based competitive gaming league, recently announced that it would be running an "Iron Solari all-feminine tournament" in the region, and has made some interesting conclusions over what kind of players should be allowed on the teams. First up, it does acknowledge that LGBT members will be allowed to participate in the tournament... but only at a rate of one per team, because, get this, some people apparently think they have an unfair advantage.

"We always want to make sure we are able to have an inclusive environment where no one feels left out, and of course for everybody to enjoy," the league explained in a ruling update [http://esports.garena.ph/newsArticle.php?contentid=00000600&cat=NEWS&subcat=LEAGUE+OF+LEGENDS]. "On this angle, we believed that allowing more to be eligible to join is obviously the answer and as many of our female teams have expressed -- Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members are their friends too."

"On the other hand," it added, "for any competitions, we seriously look at ensuring there's a fair level playing field for all participants. And there are arguments and concerns from other participants who disputes that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage."

So if you live in the Philippines and you want to play League of Legends competitively, you're good, so long as you only have one LGBT friend. I'm seriously struggling to think what "unfair advantage" having more than one LGBT member would cause. Are they worried they would start making out or something and distract their opponents?

For what it's worth, League of Legends developer Riot Games has condemned [https://twitter.com/riotgames/status/562711265899188229] the ruling change, and claimed that it is "Working with partners to ensure consistency with our values across all regions."

Source: Eurogamer [http://esports.garena.ph/newsArticle.php?contentid=00000600&cat=NEWS&subcat=LEAGUE+OF+LEGENDS]

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[Fappy]

Bahahahahaha! What the fuck?! This is so weird... like... what?! They don't even specify why!

I feel kinda bad for these devs. They keep getting all this shit PR from morons running tournaments in other countries.

 

[Zontar]

Well, that's disgusting, but I do have to wonder what the odds are of them even reaching that level of trans taking part given demographics.

 

[Laser Priest]

This is just a mess.

LGBT people are getting basically pushed down by this tournament for reasons they were even too lazy to actually come up with and now Riot will likely be the ones getting bad PR for it.

Hopefully Riot will sort this out and whoever is actually running the tournament will maybe discover what it feels like to be a human being.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Oh come on! They can't even tell us what the advantages are? Because I really want to know. I am honestly curious as to what type of crazy theory people came up with that says liking the same sex gives you an advantage in video games.

 

[deth2munkies]

Basically what they're scared of is a male LPL team suddenly identifying themselves as female to just clean up the tournament. I mean that's the problem with gendered tournaments nowadays. The whole point is to get women into playing LoL at a high level and get some more exposure to hopefully fix the 100% male pro scene. You can't really do that if guys exploit the ridiculous sensitivity displayed to the issue by just claiming they've always identified as female. It's not something you can actually refute since it's an internal state of mind, and trying to find actual brightlines is just a minefield to the politically correct.

It sucks, but some kind of rule like this is a necessity in gendered tournaments in order to preserve the integrity of the event. It has nothing to do with suggesting that females are worse at gaming or anything like that. Merely that they're underrepresented currently, and the entire point of the tournament is to give female teams exposure to hopefully go pro and bring some diversity to the scene.

EDIT: The best way to actually do this without causing a fuss is a simple "may disqualify any team for any reason" clause, which would let them spontaneously stop this kind of abuse, but not have to seem intolerant.

 

[Erttheking]

I want a three page essay, single spaced, one how the FUCK that is supposed to make any kind of sense.

It's discrimination, pure and simple.

Fuck these guys.

 

[Xeorm]

Can also get the chain of logic where lesbians like women because they're more manly than normal. More manly means they're better at gaming, giving them a major advantage. Similar thinking with men that are now considered women having similar problems.

 

[Lance Icarus]

I think that this rule change is terrible and misses the point entirely about trying to include more groups of people into LoL. However, I think there's a chance there's a mis-communication here about what they mean by the word "gay".

In the Philippines, they use the word "gay" to also refer to "bakla", a term used for homosexual men who may self identify as a woman. I think when Garena mentions Gay, they are probably thinking in terms of men self identifying as women and not in terms of a woman attracted to other women.

My guess is that the rule is to keep the tournament "pure" by only allowing women who have been the same gender since birth and excluding women who used to be men or men who self-identify as women.

The rule is still discriminatory and should not exist in the first place, but I feel it helps to know who's being discriminated against when reading these kinds of stories.

 

[Pyrian]

Basically what they're scared of is a male LPL team suddenly identifying themselves as female to just clean up the tournament.

Okay, but what does that have to do with lesbians and cis-female bisexuals?

 

[deth2munkies]

Basically what they're scared of is a male LPL team suddenly identifying themselves as female to just clean up the tournament.

Okay, but what does that have to do with lesbians and cis-female bisexuals?

Like I said, it's too broad a brush when they can handle it with a simple, non-offensive clause.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

This is dumb, period. I get it in physical competition women have no chance of beating men with any real regularity so keeping biological men turned women separate is a... discussion, not a fun one but there is a conversation to be had there.


But video games are video games. I suppose with all the "toxic masculinity" BS talk getting thrown around it might be tempting to think men are just more aggressive and competitive than women but in a "competition" hypothetically everyone would be aggressive and competitive right? I mean that's kind of the idea isn't it?

Game tournaments would be better off with no segregation at all. if it turns out women can't hang with men even digitally well it'll be mostly men until a woman comes along who can reach that level. people seem to forget that if you can't run a mile changing the requirements so you only have to run half a mile still means you can't run a mile. even if it takes you twice as long or 3 times as long as someone else to run that mile it's better to go for it, you may not succeed the first time, or even the 5th time but eventually you'll get there. the first step to success is often times failure. having two standards or two leagues just ensures that those two groups will NEVER be equal.

 

[Redryhno]

Basically what they're scared of is a male LPL team suddenly identifying themselves as female to just clean up the tournament.

Okay, but what does that have to do with lesbians and cis-female bisexuals?

In some ways, the same psuedo-problem that alot of pro teams have at the moment. In that there's some that have female benchers(mostly Chinese and Korean teams however), but with the team house dynamic being a big part of the culture, they'd like to avoid as much weirdness and possible controversy as possible.

 

[Baresark]

These rules make little to no sense. It's an all girl tournament. It seems easy to me. If you were born a girl and self identify as a girl, then you can play. IF you were born a man and genuinely self identify as a girl, you can play. If you are a lesbian, you can play. If you are a gay man who self identifies as a man, then you cannot play. If you are a girl who genuinely self identifies as a guy, then you cannot play because it's for girls.

There, it's super easy. This shit is stupid seeing as how gender means little to the actual play environment. Just stick to your all girls guns and go off of that so far as who is allowed. I don't honestly understand the complaints about an all girl tournament though. It's fine if such an organization exists. There is no harm in it at all. LoL tournament organizations are so common.

 

[heroicbob]

are they trying to say that lgbt players are more masculine and somehow do better at the game because of it?
I think the only reason female pro players might be considered worse is that there are less of them or less that have had the chance to establish themselves as skilled players, I mean the only one I can think of off the top of my head is scarlett

 

[Scorpid]

... so trangendered men are good to go? Also I'm confused by transgendered women. Is it natural females transitioning to males or males transitioning to females? If your going to be a bigot at least tell us exactly what it is you are aiming at exactly. Oh what does it matter you're wrong anyway.

Also the idea there needs to be a girls only tournament at all seems bizarre. Are women at a natural advantage/disadvantage in league or are the men such savages that they can't control themselves around female competitors.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

That's some bullshit right there, I cannot even begin to imagine what they were thinking.
Yeah fuck these guys, doing something like this is entirely arbitrary, pointless, and quite frankly sickening.
It almost seems like someone was intentionally trying to create a controversy in order to generate publicity... I mean hell, can you think of any other reason to do what is obviously PR suicide?

 

[List]

Basically what they're scared of is a male LPL team suddenly identifying themselves as female to just clean up the tournament.

I'm pretty sure this is the reason. A lot of people still think that male gamers are better than female ones. And I'm also sure some guys wouldn't mind acting gay to get a chance at that tournament prize.

If there's no limit, I'm pretty sure more than 3/4 of the competitors will be "gay" guys... *wink**wink*

But then again this is an e-sport, so there's really should be no advantage for a male player against female ones.

 

[walrusaurus]

Wait what? You mean to tell me i missed the day at gay training camp where they handed out the better-at-video-games powers? I feel gypped. All i got was the ability to color coordinate and this booklet on the secret gay agend- i mean, TOTALLY INNOCENT FASHION MAGAZINE.

 

[Shinkicker444]

Honestly I'd have thought Riot would be the one to set the rules since its their game, regardless of who is hosting it. Still, that is one weird ass rule. I really don't see how gender would affect an e-sport team, unless the other team is worried the opposing all lesbian team is going to flirt with them the whole time and jump them afterwards. But srsly, weird rule is weird.