On Aug 6, 2022, Malaysian esports athlete Bette Chia and her teammates from “Grills Gaming” won a gold medal in the Dota 2 Women’s category at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
A year later, under the name of “Team Malaysia”, they achieved another victory in the Dota 2 Women’s category of the Global Esports Games, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In a complex game like Dota 2, to hone one’s skills, using a microphone for communication and coordination is most effective. However, due to concerns about revealing her gender, Chia is hesitant to use voice chat.
This is because she has been subjected to insults and even threats of sexual assault. She has heard it all, from being told to “go back to the kitchen” to “I will rape you in real life”.
Chia (above), who uses the moniker “istarx” in the gaming world, told Malaysiakini that she reduces the use of voice chat and avoids using in-game avatars with a ”girlish” appearance to prevent trouble.
“If you open the microphone or if your profile picture uses your personal photo or a lot of girly things, then they will think that way (that you are a female).
“But now, my profile is not like that anymore. Maybe last time when I was a kid, it was very girly. I put my profile picture,” she added.
Chia’s experience is not an isolated case.
According to a 2014 study, female players who use a microphone averagely receive three times more negative comments compared to male players or those who do not use voice chat.
Chia said when not participating in tournaments, her teammates prefer not to use voice chat during normal gaming sessions with strangers.
“So, usually people would tell you like, ‘If you don’t want this problem, then you just don’t talk.’
“But I think that shouldn’t be the way. This is like people saying ‘This girl dresses in a certain manner and she’s asking to get raped’,” she added.
In tournaments, Chia said she never experienced discrimination and she did not need to reveal her gender during the registration process.
Conceding that she lacked the skills to become a professional, she also believes that being a female in an all-male team or even mixed-gender team of five players would be challenging.
“Let’s say if there is a guy and a girl, both are equally good. When a team full of four males (wants to recruit someone), who would they approach? They definitely wouldn’t choose the girl.
“Because there are a lot of other factors. They would say, ‘It is easier for us to communicate with him or we don’t have to care too much about his feelings’ and things like that.
“They would have this mentality of not wanting a female on their team. Most also think that female players are not good enough. This is just the way it is,” she added.
‘Grills’ to success
Chia played the role of “carry” in “Grills Gaming” - a name derived from the intentional misspelling of the word “girl”, prevalent among male gamers, often upon discovering a female is on their team.
Although the term “grill” is sometimes regarded as sexist and used in a derogatory manner, Chia and her friends embraced the term to challenge the stereotypes.
“We were thinking of a name and my brother suggested, ‘Why not grills?
“People back then would always make fun of us and say, ‘Are you a grill?’” she said, adding that her brother introduced her to the Dota gaming world when she was still in secondary school.
Dota 2, a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (Dota), is a multiplayer online battle arena game developed by the American video game company Valve, featuring professional competitions worldwide.
The biggest tournament is The International, hosted annually by Valve, offering record-breaking prize pools, with over US$3 million for The International 2023.
However, according to a September 2021 report by the BBC, none of the top 300 highest-earning esports players were women.
In the history of Dota 2, women have earned only 0.002 percent of the total prize money.
Like Chia, although she and her teammates won at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Global Esports Championship in Riyadh, both esports competitions did not offer any prize money.
In fact, esports was not an official sporting event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games but more of a pilot project, and the medals were not included in the official medal tally.
Chia, who hails from Klang, Selangor, hopes that the government can provide some allowances for her and her teammates.
Competitive players
She explained they are not considered professional esports players but rather competitive players because they do not rely on esports competition winnings or income for their livelihood.
“We want to continue playing not because of money but out of passion for the game. Getting money is kind of like a bonus but over time, we can’t sustain ourselves.
“Just like most people, we have to earn a living, you know, and we are not getting paid for this.
“It’s tough for us to continue because we have to think, ‘Okay what we’re going to do to earn money’,” added the social media content creator, who also live streams games on platforms like Twitch to earn extra cash.
Sharing her experience of live-streaming games, Chia said that compared to male game streamers, their female counterparts often face criticism from viewers regarding their appearance.
“For example, in a tournament, they (the viewers) would not say in the chat, “Oh my god, this player is so ugly’ when it comes to male players.
“...They want you (female players) to be good-looking, and to be good at the game as well. It’s crazy,” she added.
Chia, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said she cannot pursue a regular job if she wants to advance further in her competitive gaming career.
“If I try to balance and keep trying to do everything half-heartedly, I won’t be able to reach my goal in time.
“And by that time, I’ll be too old and have to find other ways to earn money. I cannot play like this anymore.
“So, I try to focus more on just doing one,” Chia added. - Mkini
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