Gamers are hardcore video game players. Recreational players may spend multiple sessions playing video games each week and interact with the gaming community on streaming platforms like YouTube Gaming and Twitch.
Professional gamers earn money playing video games. Some game competitively, while others stream their gameplay for subscribers. Today, 41 percent of gamers in the United States are women. Many of these women are professional gamers inspiring another generation of female gamers to embrace their love of video games.
Dozens of women in professional gaming are making their mark on the industry.
Women gamers from around the globe are triumphing in eSports tournaments. A list of the top 20 professional female gamers (based on income) included gamers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russian, Sweden, China, and Indonesia.
Indonesia’s Annialis was the sole representative of that nation. Sarah Lou and potter put the UK’s total at two, which was matched by Sweden’s zAAz and juliano. China’s BaiZe and GLHuiHui also made the list.
Female gamers from Russia and North America dominated the top 20. Canada’s women eSports gamers in the top 20 earners were Scarlett, KittyPlays, missharvey, and xchocobars. The U.S. matched Canada’s numbers with Mystik, Ricki Ortiz, Kasumi Chan, and FemSteph.
Russia had the highest number of pro female gamers in the top 20, with vilga, Ant1ka, Candy, Nast1a, and Ailey all making the list.
The most successful pro women gamers include Ricki Ortiz, an American gamer with over $80,000 in earnings, Mystik, who has earned $122,000 in eSports tournaments, and Canadian Scarlett, who has taken home over $296,000 in winnings.
Games mastered by pro women gamers.
Female gamers play some of the most challenging games on the market. Scarlett plays Starcraft, which is a strategy game. Hearthstone is another strategy game, played by GLHuiHui and BaiZe. Dead or Alive 4, on the other hand, is a fighting game mastered by Sarah Lou, Mystik, and Kasumi Chan.
Women also play first-person shooter games, such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Candy, Ailey, Ant1ka, juliano, Nast1a, potter, missharvey, zAAz, and vilga have all had success playing Counter-Stroke: Global Offensive.
Annialis, FemSteph, KittyPlays, xchocobars play the post-apocalyptic zombie game Fortnite.
Women are also making gains with games such as League of Legends. What is League of Legends, you ask? League of Legends is a multiplayer game made by Riot Games. As game go, League of Legends has a steep learning curve. Players attack other players’ turrets, kill their minions, and kill champions. The six types of champions are assassins, fighters, mages, marksmen, support, and tank. Five teammates coordinate their attacks to try to defeat each enemy team. Girl gamer team OOB won League of Legends at the Girl Gamer Madrid competition.
Women bring their style and their passions to gaming.
Girl gamers bring their sense of style to gaming. From headsets with cat ears to women’s sleep shirts, girl gamers feature their style in their streams. They aren’t afraid to use color, and whether they’re streaming in their pajamas or loungewear, many professional female streamers pay attention to their image.
Women gamers are passionate about safe spaces for female gamers. Leena van Deventer wrote about experiencing sexual harassment from other gamers in her book, Game Changers: From Minecraft to Misogyny, the Fight for the Future of Videogames. Female streamers on sites like Twitch impose strict rules to prevent harassment.
A new crop of professional gamers are making strides in competitions and streaming.
Since the list of the top 20 professional women gamers was compiled, other women have made strides in competitions, with Chinese gamer Liooon becoming the first girl gamer to emerge victorious at both the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals and a BlizzCon eSports tournament. HaganeNoTema is an Australian gamer who plays Attack on Titans Tribute.
Canadian streamer Fantaxxia went pro in 2020 and streams gameplay on Twitch. BasicWitGirl streams gameplay on both Twitch and YouTube Gaming. ClarusDracarys is another Twitch streamer developing a significant following while advocating for safe spaces in online gaming for all players.
Pro girl gamers are making strides in all types of games, including strategy games, first-person shooter games, multiplayer games, and fighting games. Pro women in gaming are also rising as successful streamers, developing large followings while streaming gameplay online. One of the most successful girl gamers to date is Scarlett, a Canadian gamer who’s earned more than $296,000 from eSports tournaments.
