Esport-tävling endast för tjejer utannonserad

Bilspelsutvecklaren SimBin har utannonserat Women and Wheels, en racingtävling för enbart kvinnor som ska äga rum i samband med European Women in Games Conference i London. Detta menar de ger "a supportive, female-friendly environment that encourages more women to play asports while drawing attention to the often hidden role of women in racing and automotive history". En del av intäkterna från eventet går till olika kvinnoprojekt.

SimBins studiochef Allan Speed säger:

"We're thrilled to announce Women and Wheels. As a developer, we're acutely aware of the low female participation in esports. Around 7% of our race competitors are female. Unbelievably, that's probably over average. We want to see more women enjoying the thrills and spills of the virtual track, and Esports in general. At SimBin we've achieved 50/50 gender balance in our studio workforce, so we thought we'd try to encourage more women to compete in our competitions too. We spoke to Marie-Claire Isaaman (CEO, Women in Games) and Dr. Jo Twist (CEO, Ukie), who both thought it was a great idea. Then we got positive feedback from some well-known car manufacturers and a host of great sponsors and advocates got on board. Everyone could see that Women and Wheels is all about doing good while feeling good. It's got high-octane racing fun, it's building a supportive environment for women to develop their racing skills and confidence, and it's donating to charity too. It's a real game changer."

The press release talked about the gender balance in esports, as around 50% of gamers are female but the number drops to 15% for esports viewers and as low as 5% for players, with an earnings gap between men and women existing as well.

Marie-Claire Isaaman från Women in Games hade också lite att tillägga:

"Women and Wheels is a fantastic initiative. It's a shame we need women-only teams, leagues and competitions in Esports but until the sector fully matures, becomes more gender balanced and takes steps to eradicate online bullying and misogyny, they represent a great way to get more women involved by building communities, confidence and skills. It's not true that women aren't competitive, or that they don't like cars. The CEO of General Motors is currently a women, and the founder of Autoweek, Denise McCluggage, used to race Ferraris! Esports has great potential to level the playing field for women in competitive sport, and I think Women in Wheels is progressive step towards achieving that."

Tävlingen körs via Steam och bland priserna hittar vi en Racing Simulator Chai samt två Fanatec Racing Wheel/Ped-sets. Vill du vara med så anmäler du ditt intresse här.