Home Gaming Male insecurities force woman out of eSports

Male insecurities force woman out of eSports

3 min read
36

Magicamy

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone accuse a male eSports pro of actually being a woman, I’d have… no nickels. Unfortunately, as soon as a woman climbs the ranks of eSports, speculation starts about if she really has those skills. The latest bit of internet harassment has driven a female eSports pro to leave the industry.

Last week, someone who was banned by Blizzard for Hearthstone win-trading took to Reddit to start a rumor. Eric Lee stated that Hyerim “MagicAmy” Lee was actually a persona created by a Korean girl who had a Canadian male play for her. He made this claim without any proof, but it sparked a massive Reddit debate getting a ton of upvotes and comments. In an effort to stop the witch hunt, the team MagicAmy plays for, TempoStorm, launched an internal investigation to see if anyone had ever played on MagicAmy’s behalf.

The investigation lasted three days and included 36 people. According to Yanyuk, who works for TempoStorm, the investigation totally cleared her of any wrongdoing:

It turns into this giant witch-hunt. So this girl, who is a pretty good Hearthstone player, and made a lot of content for the community, and everyone really liked her, now her career is being scrutinized by Blizzard, by her team, by the entire community–everyone is convinced she’s a man.
So what do we do? We spend three days doing a full f**king investigation, talking to three dozen people, cross-referencing times when sh** happens, when people say they met her, cross-referencing flight records, we’re getting screenshots of Skype conversations from everybody, and basically just investigating so deep into this girl’s life, just because dip-sh**s on Reddit decide to start a witch-hunt.

You can watch the entire expletive-laden video over here.

Not interested in harassment or allegations, MagicAmy decided to retire as a professional Hearthstone player. This is a major blow to eSports and women in gaming. There will always be cheaters online, as well as false accusations. However, the level of vitriol seen against this female professional is ridiculous. If any eSports pro is discovered to be a fake, it would be a major setback for eSports. However, for people to feel compelled to hurl accusations without any proof simply because a female player is perceived as being too good? This is ridiculous. While it is just one provenly unethical man on a mission, the fact is that over 2000 people upvoted it on Reddit. That means that over 2k people decided that this vicious and completely untrue rumor was worthy of more attention. While we tend to shrug and say that sexist gamers are a small minority, it’s hard to keep doing that when the numbers keep showing that it isn’t quite as tiny a minority as we may hope.

Of course, I wish that MagicAmy had stayed on once her identity was proven. However, I’m sure she simply didn’t see the point in tolerating the harassment and invasion. While we like to think that professional athletes (in any sport) are role models, they are also human – it may be great for girls to be able to look up to her in eSports, but they also shouldn’t be taught that harassment (which likely would have continued) is okay and to be tolerated.

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Last Updated: February 27, 2015

36 Comments

  1. Kensei Seraph

    February 27, 2015 at 15:08

    What the hell is wrong with those people!

    Reply

    • ReaperOfSquirrels

      February 27, 2015 at 15:11

      A lot apparently.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        February 27, 2015 at 15:29

        Nope, just one thing.

        Everything.

        Reply

  2. Frik van der Hewerskink

    February 27, 2015 at 15:17

    I don’t understand how people can think the sex of a person has any influence on the skill level of players. Honestly, I always thought that eSports was amazing in the sense that even a guy with no legs can compete against any other player. Some humans are quite stupid to be frank.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      February 27, 2015 at 15:29

      Just some?

      Reply

  3. Ranting Raptor

    February 27, 2015 at 15:20

    I hate things like this. Ugh it pisses me off.

    But let’s take a moment to reflect here on who started the original rumour:

    “Last week, someone who was banned by Blizzard for Hearthstone win-trading”

    Let’s let that sink in. This didn’t come from the community at large. It came from one stupid idiot. If he had made this claim about a male gamer who let someone play for them, the same crap would have happened. Same investigation. Same digging in to someone’s life. Not because of being a women, but because eSports has been plagued by people letting others play for them.

    That being said, something needs to be done to stop people from targeting women players like this. It’s sick and disgusting. It’s pathetic and low. It comes from people who are sour and upset about the insecurities and failures of their own lives.

    These people are the same caliber as those who get involved in swatting and you know what? I say they should get the same type of criminal punishment.

    Make false claims like this that damage someone’s image? Jail. Done. End of story.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      February 27, 2015 at 15:28

      100% agreed. It’s really fucking stupid and it undermines what skill a player has, regardless of their gender. And to see her quit because of it. That should definitely be punished in a criminal case.

      Also, 7 paragraphs. >_>

      Reply

      • Sgt. M

        February 27, 2015 at 15:31

        I counted as well (X X)

        Reply

        • Ranting Raptor

          February 27, 2015 at 15:33

          FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf

          Reply

          • Pariah

            February 27, 2015 at 15:36

            Dammit, 38. >_<

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 27, 2015 at 15:36

            EAT IT!!!

          • Pariah

            February 27, 2015 at 15:36

            More pies?

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 27, 2015 at 15:38

            I will end you

          • Pariah

            February 27, 2015 at 15:49

            … (refresh)

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 27, 2015 at 15:33

        FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

        Reply

        • Pariah

          February 27, 2015 at 15:35

          35 Fs

          35 / 5 = 7.

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 27, 2015 at 15:35

            #GlaresAngrily

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 27, 2015 at 16:18

      I know right? It’s like someone’s jilted ex-bf starting rumours…

      Reply

  4. RinceThis

    February 27, 2015 at 15:22

    Bloody hell man. Really Blizzard? How about this? Blizzard is a secret front for the NSA. Now, go investigate those bastards. Disgusting behaviour.

    Reply

  5. CiNiMoD

    February 27, 2015 at 15:44

    “Male insecurities force a woman out of eSports”…Really? When I saw this make the news last week I knew it would be you (Zoe) to pick this up, but I honestly expected better journalism from one of (IMO) the best writers Lazy Gamer has. With this news being as old as it is, there is a lot of evidence that has been found (both positive and negative) that could be mentioned here.

    Magicamy, was, and still is, one of my favourite Hearthstone players, male or female. Her playstyle and “cool” in the ESL matches is just awesome to spectate as an avid Hearthstone player, and her weekly meta update was something that I would go back and read multiple times during the week. When she qualified for the HLS finals she was by far my favourite to take the tournament. Saying all of that, I find it very suspicious that, even though she was given an opportunity to prove herself (TempoStorm said they would organise a LAN tournament so that she can silence the haters once and for all), she turned them down. On top of this, something else not mentioned in the article are the allegations saying that she botted on her accounts(which is likely…seriously, all gold heroes?).

    I still really like Magicamy, and if it is a guy sitting in Canada, I really hope he starts to play professionally. Personally though, I really didnt believe any of the Reddit BS that was posted until I saw how Magicamy reacted to it, and now, well, Im skeptical to say the least.

    Reply

    • Jan

      March 27, 2015 at 01:59

      And you should stop BM like a kid when ure playing HS. Infantil sob, guys like you shouldnt be allowed to speak about topics like this at all, You dont know nothing. NOTHING.

      Reply

  6. Marcel

    February 27, 2015 at 15:45

    She wasn’t investigated because she was too good.

    MagicAmy was investigated due to her never going to live events (This caused suspicion) and her word was in disrepute because she had lied previously to an employer regarding work she said she had done, but didn’t do.

    Maybe include the exact reason why people thought she was William Blaney and the the mistrust she had placed on herself by lying previously. It is irresponsible to leave out these details and casts the article in a light not maybe representative of what occurred.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      February 27, 2015 at 15:58

      So… because she told a lie she was investigated like this? Sweet lord above, let’s stop all forms of competition, online, sports, everything then. Because Lies!

      Reply

      • Marcel

        February 27, 2015 at 16:06

        You are missing the point…

        I don’t agree with the investigation. I have a problem with the article being written in such a way that the whole debacle gets taken out of context and painted as purely a good female gamer being harassed without all the factors being represented.

        Reply

  7. Dragoon of death

    February 27, 2015 at 15:49

    This is the type of stupid F#cK that p!sses me off, seriously I have no words. I feel terrible for this woman and the idiot that started the rumour should be lucky it wasn’t my wife he was accusing, or I would have gone GTA on his ass. My wife is a gamer and I have lost to her in a few games, but never have I felt less of a man or had resentment towards her because she is female, she was the better at the game than me. So I hone my skills, heel I have even asked her advice because she is a GAMER, there should not be sexism, its about skills, if you ain’t got it don’t blame your opponent just get better

    Sorry for the RAGE, I went the same way an idiot blame the death of a party in FFXIV on her because he felt she was female and lacked skills in it. It had nothing to do with skill, he attacked a boss to soon and she was still new to the game.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      February 27, 2015 at 15:51

      No need to apologise, any decent human is right there with you.

      Reply

  8. CAE9872

    February 27, 2015 at 16:27

    I am sorry but I have a severe problem with this article. If I read this correct one person complained; which ended up with a full investigation into another person.

    Now correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t that often happen in any competitive scenario (and lets leave out the women are different to men argument in games as that is nonsensical – any woman can kick any guy at a game; and vice versa).

    So why is this one any different?

    I am on this site often but it is starting to become a weekly exercise in flame-baiting with the articles of women vs men vs midgets vs aliens, etc. Is LG here to impart news or to comment on the industry as a whole? And if you going down the commentary route, which I have no problem with, then ALL the facts must be presented.

    Like with anything there is two sides to all stories no matter how one-sided it may at first appear. Provide me (us) with all those facts so that not only do we get your side which you are entitled to, but can also “read between the lines”, and get a full picture.

    And just to be clear, I have no idea whether some other comments made may or may not be true; but as a place I respect I would like those facts presented as well i.e. a one-sided article isn’t overly fair on the news item, people involved, readers, etc.

    Now if it is indeed true he had an insecurity – the man is a retard; however, if it turns out its not as simple as him having an axe to grind then is his such a dick?

    Reply

  9. ElimiNathan

    February 27, 2015 at 16:35

    Ah Zoe and it was such a good Friday …

    Reply

  10. Anon A Mouse

    February 27, 2015 at 17:05

    Ohh let’s do the math. Over 20 million hearthstone players, 2000 upvoted the comment. That’s 0.0001% of only the hearthstone community. Big fucking majority isn’t it Zoe?
    While we’re at it, since you want all the evidence to be show for this guy’s post, where are YOUR evidence that it was Male insecurities that’s the reason behind that post.

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      March 1, 2015 at 19:25

      Well yes. I followed the link. The Male Insecurities in the linked article on gamespot is, as it should be, attributed to a person as their opinion. That is missing from this article.

      Reply

  11. MAcethy

    February 27, 2015 at 17:32

    I’m really starting to make my way to Lazygamer less and less often. It’s constant “feminist protest” that and “male gaming insecurities” this. Seriously guys, Gamegate gate is done. Please stop turning this site into clickbait like so many others.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 27, 2015 at 19:11

      I think they’re just dong their job like most websites. This is really bad for E-sports.I don’t read that many articles about Anita for instance because it doesn’t interest me.

      Reply

  12. J_Joestar

    February 27, 2015 at 20:28

    while it is disgusting that 2000 people would upvote a cheap accusation with no real evidence, 2000 is hardly any sort of proof on how sexist gamers are anything more than just a really vocal minority.

    Reply

  13. Stan Smith

    February 28, 2015 at 19:34

    Way to go on objective reporting. There is a whole other side to the story, which you conveniently left out in order to push your own narrative down our throats.

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      March 1, 2015 at 19:22

      What other side?

      Reply

  14. Lothy

    March 2, 2015 at 07:51

    Hmm with a name like MagicAmy, the “pro” playing for her must be MagicMike!!

    Reply

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