UAAP Esports: Women in the War Rooms

By: Erica Ann Villasorda

They say that not all heroes wear capes. Some wear masks, some wear boots, some fly, and some have superpowers. Despite these differences, they all have the same goal—to help and to serve, regardless of how seen or recognized.

In the context of esports, every team definitely has their own version of heroes outside the game—those who help and assist them to ensure that everything is as smooth as possible, and these efforts are usually what the esports community doesn’t get to see or recognize. 

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Behind the Curtains 

Far Eastern University’s Keith Anne Delos Reyes is one of those. As the Tamaraw’s Valorant Team Manager since March of this year, she shared that being a team manager is like being a mother to her players—she has to be the one assisting them and ensuring their well-being and taking care of their paperwork, especially for tournament registrations. It’s like what mothers usually do once their children go to school. 

Keith also shared that in being a team manager, she had to make sure that she widens her connections in order to secure further opportunities for the team, because just like in life, some opportunities don’t knock, one has to actively search for them.

UST’s Nicole Paguio is the Team Manager for the University of Santo Tomas’ Valorant team. For almost a year now, she shared that her duties entail checking her players’ well-being, setting up scrimmages, and attending these scrimmages to ensure that everything is going smoothly and that her players are delivering on their responsibilities.

On top of that, she has to make sure that her players are still doing well academically because for Teletigers Esports Club, these players are not just players but students as well. Imagine, she was doing all of that for 6-7 players while being a student herself.

UP’s Zoe Monique Soliva plays a huge role as the General Secretary of the University of the Philippines’ Esports Varsity Team and the Valorant Head Manager. Aside from that, she was also recognized by AcadArena Awards 2024 as the Rookie Leader of the Year.

As the General Secretary, her responsibilities is that of an operations head who oversees the projects’ progress as well as what the committees are working on. Meanwhile, her duties as the Valorant head manager include booking all the players’ practices and even tournament opportunities for them, making sure that there are still off-game bondings among the whole team, facilitating their team talks, booking them tournaments, memorizing everyone’s schedules and habits so that whenever there is a need to travel somewhere,  transport plans can be planned specifically for all of them.

And just like in any game, being a woman in a male-dominated esports scene has its own challenges and trials—those which will either define or deny them their spot in the industry.

Biases and Stereotypes

“There’s the feeling na siguro kung lalaki ako, they would listen to me.”

Most of the time, gender bias occurs in the most subtle or most outright ways without people noticing—or choosing not to notice.

It happens when a woman is disregarded for a suggestion that is backed up with facts but when a male figure suggests the same thing, people start paying attention. It happens when a female team manager receives doubts and is ignored by her own players for her resolutions or decisions that will benefit the team but when a male executive board member with a lower position would say something similar, they start to listen. 

Nicole shared that these experiences are part of the reality she is currently in. 

These are proof that no matter how clearly a woman speaks, it will still be ignored if it falls on gender-biased ears—giving an avenue for power imbalance to thrive.

“What are you doing here? Go back to the kitchen.”

This is one of the most common insults women get once male players online find out that they’re playing against or with a woman. Disappointingly, even before a woman ventures into the esports scene, she’s already facing harassment even in the regular, casual games.

Nicole said that in her experience, it’s hard to open your mic in the game if you’re a woman as it can only go two routes: either you are sexualized or you receive sexist comments just for simply being a woman playing the game—and sadly, it becomes normalized that people just tend to shrug it off by saying, “i-mute mo na lang.” (Just mute them.)

But Keith disagrees with that option because these types of men should not be comfortable with harassing women just because they think that women will just mute them or won’t fight back.

 “Hindi dapat magpapadala sa sasabihin nila. You have to be brave enough to fight for yourself and your potential. Nandiyan na rin naman ‘yung mga pwedeng lapitan pag na-harass,” Keith added.

(We should not let what they say affect us. You have to be brave enough to fight for yourself and your potential. There are existing people you can go to when you experience harassment.) 

“Kapag babae ka, dapat magaling ka talaga or else ku-kwestyunin ka kung bakit ka nand’yan.”

When asked how Keith was introduced to esports, she shared that she has been into gaming since her childhood. When esports became a big thing, it became a trigger for her to be interested in the industry more. That’s how she started venturing into Valorant as a player. 

Now, she’s the team captain of Tams FX’s Audaxia, women’s Valorant team of the esports organization, and is competing in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Tournament in the Southeast Asia Pacific, a global esports tournament organized by Valorant’s game developers Riot Games.

“Lalo sa esports, mahirap siya. Kasi ‘pag babae ka, dapat magaling ka talaga or else ku-kwestyunin ka kung bakit ka nand’yan,” Keith shared.

(Especially in esports, it’s really hard. If you’re a woman, you have to be really good or else people will question you and why you’re in the industry.)

Keith learned in a very unfortunate way that no accolade could exempt a woman from gender-based harassment in a patriarchal society.

There was a time when their opponents were trashtalking her and accusing her that it is her boyfriend playing the game, despite multiple proofs that show otherwise, just because her game was popping off so well.

 “Tinake ko na lang siya as a compliment sa dulo [kasi] feel nila, kailangan ko pang maging lalaki para matalo sila,” Keith added.

(In the end, I just took it as a compliment because they feel that I have to be a man to beat them.)

Moreover, Keith shared that the reason why men get uncomfortable when women take up space in male-dominated industries is because gender roles have long been ingrained in our society, so much so that it becomes our identity. 

“Why does it have to be a ‘female’ leader? Why not just a leader?”

Unfortunately, despite the changing and evolving times, it seems as if gender roles and stereotypes were stuck in time while being passed down from generations to generations, creating ripples of misconceptions that are so hard to break.

The truth is, these harassments and sexist remarks exist because of the prevailing dominant ideas that gender roles have burrowed into the minds of this patriarchal society that we live in.

The truth is, these exist because somewhere out there, it is tolerated, whether it is admitted or not.  

“Nasanay kasi ang mga tao na kapag babae ka, ganito ‘yung ginagawa mo, ganito lang yung hobbies mo dapat,” Keith said. 

(People were used to the notion that if you’re a woman, this is what you do, there are only certain hobbies that you should have.)

These are proof that the fight for gender equality is still a long way to go, even if times have become more progressive compared to before.

“Why does it have to be a ‘female’ leader? Why not just a leader?” asked Keith.

labels can be complicated at times. But according to Zoe, being labeled a woman matters because a woman being successful in taking up their well-deserved space in an industry dominated by men means that women are capable, creating ripples of respect that push and dismantle that gender divide. 

“Ever since rising to my role, I have never regretted identifying as a woman and becoming a figure they all can respect. Because if they respect me, and I’m so proud to be a girl, it will definitely ripple out and improve the industry’s perception of women—because I am both a leader and a girl,” Zoe added.

And just like their roles in their respective teams, Keith, Nicole, and Zoe’s experiences on how challenging it is to be a woman in the esports scene will also remain unseen, until someone chooses to see and acknowledge it.

They say that not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes, they wear invisible armor and stand their ground as they contribute to the growth of an industry dominated by boys.