Every gamer, whether a girl or a boy, starts the same way: playing with friends to pass the time after a hectic day of work or studying. The same was the case with Laxmi Chouhan, who started playing PUBG Mobile in 2018 with her friends after a hectic day in college. “I was studying B.Sc. in Chemistry and played at night to just to clear my mind. Soon after, I started playing competitively and got better to a point where I was certain this is my calling,” said Chouhan, passionate about gaming. Chouhan’s story is similar to many other girls who have taken up gaming and eventually decided to make a career out of it.
The Voices‘ Aaryanshi Mohan interviewed a few Indian women gamers to learn about their gaming journey, the hurdles they face, and why they chose a career that is so heavily dominated by men.
Finding their space in a saturated niche
Imagine going to a gaming cafe with your friends and seeing other groups enjoying various games. Who do you think the other groups consist of? A team of all boys or girls? If you imagined it to be a group of boys passing the time, you are not the only one to do so. Despite gaming being a very gender-neutral niche, it has always been associated with ‘boys’ rather than ‘girls’.
However, today, just as many female gamers as boys play esports. Streaming, which involves players broadcasting their games to a live online audience, has witnessed increased demand amongst game enthusiasts. Christeen Qwyneth Sun, a content creator for Revenant XSpark who started streaming in 2021, revealed her journey. “I started streaming on YouTube in 2021, mostly because we had to give our Match’s POV. Due to the lack of storage in my device, I found streaming to be an easier alternative to submitting my POV, ” said Sun.
Most Indian female gamers start by playing the more popular PUBG Mobile. However, it was different for Sugandha Tiwari, a content creator for UP50. A recent entrant in streaming, she started her streaming journey by picking up an unpopular game amongst the Indian audience. Still an occasional player, she said, “I’ve been playing Pokemon Unite for more than a year, but I am not a full-time gamer. My YouTube journey has had its ups and downs, but I’m satisfied with my achievements. The people I’ve met on this journey are very precious.”
How to survive as a female gamer in the world of online trolls
Choosing gaming as a career isn’t just about being on stream, playing various games, and entertaining the audience. It also comes with many challenges that female gamers face daily. The biggest being facing the trolls. Chouhan, who has been a part of this growing internet community for a long time, has a way of dealing with trolls. “There are always some people who want to see the world burn. Earlier, I used to respond angrily to every negative comment and chat. However, I soon realised it affected my performance and ability to stream with energy. So, I started ignoring them and let my moderators take care of them. I still lose my temper every now and then, but mostly, I try to be sane and happy,” said Chouhan.
Sun recently started streaming full-time and echoes Chouhan’s sentiments, “I usually don’t engage and just ignore all the hate. I’ve clarified on my stream what behaviour is unacceptable in the community. I have moderators who control the chat.”
Typically, girls are asked to ignore troublemakers who catcall them on the streets and elsewhere. A similar non-confrontational attitude is also being witnessed in the gaming world. In a world where anyone with an active internet and mobile connection can troll anyone, female gamers tend to ignore what online trolls have to say to them.
And yet, everyone has their trigger point. Even Tiwari, who has a relatively smaller audience because of the choice of her game, has people writing hateful comments. “Regarding trolls, I don’t mind whatever they say. I don’t respond to them unless they say anything about my family,” she said.
Is finding an audience enough for female gamers?
While the internet has a space for everyone, not everyone survives it. Chouhan, who has seen the ups and downs in the industry, feels, “There is an opportunity for new players in the streaming scene. But it doesn’t work out for many. I think they are streaming for the sole purpose of making money. They don’t care about viewers, and they don’t have attachments, causing them to fall out. Some viewers too move away as they watch different categories of gaming streams, such as comedy, speedruns, or tryhard.”
Sun and Tiwari agree that one must stand out and make a place for oneself in order to attract an audience. “I think this year (2024), we saw a lot of opportunities for people who are new to YouTube streaming,” said Tiwari.
While statistics might call the gaming industry booming, the reality can’t be further from this. As the number of gamers has increased, there is also a debate about the market hitting its saturation point.
Sun believes the market has not yet saturated, but the viewers decide the streamers’ fate. “There is a certain bias from the viewers, where they always want to watch one particular type of game being played according to their interests. Apart from this hiccup, I wouldn’t really call the gaming market ‘saturated’ as the scope is absolutely vast with every single content creator adding their personal twists in bringing the best content for viewers to enjoy,” she added.
These girl gamers are just the tip of the talent pool. Many women and girls are waiting for similar opportunities. Opportunities will only come when we begin making space for them in our gaming teams, gaming cafes, and esports arena.
Copyeditor: Dipta A Joshi