As a result, IeSF shall have two event categories: “Open for All” events and events that are reserved for women. The events which were initially set aside as the male division will now be open to all genders, and the events which were initially set as the female division will remain as they were.
The IeSF Board addressed its reason for maintaining events for women, citing the importance of providing female gamers with ample opportunities to compete in e-Sports—currently a male-dominated industry. Female gamers make up half of the world’s gaming population, but only a small percentage of e-Sports competitors are women. The IeSF’s female-only competitions aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation of women at these events. Without efforts to improve representation, e-Sports can’t achieve true gender equality.
In order to apply the new policy with consistency, IeSF has added an “Open for All” Tekken Tag Tournament 2 tournament, which was initially set aside for female-only competition. Therefore, the amended plan for the 6th e-Sports World Championship BAKU 2014 is:
■Open for All
DOTA 2
– Participating teams may consist of 5 male players, 5 female players, or mixed team.
StarCraft®II: Heart of the Swarm®
– Players of all genders can participate in the event.
Ultra Street Fighter 4
– Players of all genders can participate in the event.
Hearthstone™: Heroes of Warcraft™
– Players of all genders can participate in the event.
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2
– Players of all genders can participate in the event.
■Female Competition
StarCraft®II: Heart of the Swarm®
– Female event is conducted separately, in parallel with “Open for All” event.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
– Female event is conducted separately, in parallel with “Open for All” event.
