Why is diversity important in esports?

Diversity in esports has been something that has been the centre of attention for the last few years. While esports has been widespread and popular for a long time, there was certainly a lack of diversity. Nowadays, we can see many kinds of people in the gaming community.

One can see that community involvement in video games has gone significantly up and instead of being limited to interaction inside the game, players are building various communities around different games. The game developers are also making sure to make the games as inclusive as possible for everyone.

Here are the reasons why diversity is important in esports -

5. Uplift underrepresented communities

Esports nowadays is coming up as a platform for underrepresented people to have a voice. For the largest period, the gaming community was mostly male gamers. Now, Females, LGBTQ+, people of colour and others show they are as talented as any other player. Granted, it’s not perfect, but gaming companies have started encouraging everyone further.

Some of the most popular streamers and gamers are from a diverse background. Not only in the gaming aspect, companies are also diversifying their game development studios for those who like to make games. The only thing limiting people nowadays is themselves.

4. Provides opportunities for everyone

The current popularity of esports has now made it hard not to find different opportunities for players. Esports events are now taking place across every region regularly, and players can use these as a stepping stone to reach higher levels.

There are now esports events completely dedicated to female professionals, and while the regular esports events do not stop anyone from competing in the teams, having dedicated events for them provides a better opportunity to shine by themselves.

3. Larger community

Including a new audience will ultimately result in a larger community for any game, which is one of the best things any company can ask for their game. For esports titles, this also acts as a huge advantage as players have fewer queue times to get in the game.

More players mean more sources of revenue for the company and better content for players, alongside feedback on how to further improve the game with community involvement. A larger active community will also attract more players, which ultimately repeats the aforementioned cycle, benefiting everyone in the process.

2. Combat toxicity

Toxicity has been a huge issue in esports, which sadly cannot be completely eradicated. Often there has been news regarding one player spoiling the game for everyone with toxic behaviour. This can include racism, sexism, hate speech or sandbagging teammates throughout the game. What can be done is put safeguard measures to protect the community.

Having a diverse roster of players on a team can also help combat these situations, as most of them know how it feels to be discriminated against. Furthermore, it also forces developers to take action against these people to retain players across the game.

1. Create role models that inspire others

With more players getting more opportunities to shine, there will be more pros across different communities. This can act as an inspiration for the other community members who also aspire to become a professional gamer or get into the esports industry in other roles they love.

These role models are not limited to their communities and can also inspire players from other communities. The various aspects that people discriminate and judge others for are almost completely gone when they have players they like from the community.