The official Valorant esports account shared the Top 5 ACS leaders of the VCT GameChangers Seoul event, didn’t they? The caption was something like ‘They make every round count.’ That’s pretty straightforward, right? The community’s response, though? Oh my, it was very diverse or very chaotic. The top 5 list was only made out of numbers—Average Combat Score leaders from a tourney that was intended to showcase women and other underrepresented genders in Valorant. Nevertheless, the replies went absolutely opposite and the discussion got quite chaotic very fast.
To recap the news for the less informed: Valorant Esports by Riot Games has shared the top 5 ACS achievers from the VCT GameChangers Seoul tournament. This list, which was to honor the best so far in the women’s circuit, raised eyebrows and ignited a debate right away since the former two spots were taken by the players who are transgender women. The social media post was flooded with comments and ranged from congratulations to outright transphobia, which in turn provoked a very vigorous discourse about diversity and the criteria for determining the winners in esports. This incident underlines the fact that diversity promotion keeps creating disputes in gaming and other areas.
Let’s discuss the tweet, for instance. It has a graphic of five players. First on the list, is ‘shirazi’ with a phenomenal 329 ACS, and then ‘dodsvlr’ with 301 comes second. The top five follow with ‘Akitaaah,’ ‘bENITA’ and ‘kaah’ completing the list. This is a great stat check. These players surely were the best. But as usual, the internet diverted the attention to the identity of shirazi and dodsvlr. So, the comments section turned into a warzone.
The very first reply in the comments established a tone for the rest: ‘There is something strange about the top 2.’ Another one read: ‘So the top 2 of the women’s tournament are men….is that what you want to say?’ And it just continued like that. Some were very openly showing their hatred by such comments like ‘Ugly trans’ and ‘They make every round gayer 🤮’. Others were bringing ‘imposter’ memes or were making fun of ‘Y Chromosome Number ranking.’ The whole thing went way too far. But what I was trying to convey? Oh, yes, the sheer mass of it. It was not only a few trolls. Many replies were some modification of the motif of highlighting that the top two players are transgender, and often it was framed as a laughing matter or a problem.
Nonetheless, I have to say not all were negative. Supportive parts of the atmosphere existed as well. One user wished shirazi congrats for grabbing the first position. The official team account of KRÜ Esports showcased their player dodsvlr with a ‘GOAT’ message. Thus, the entire division was unmistakably apparent. On one side, there were
the official esports community and some fans appreciating the skill while on the other hand a very loud, very upset part of the player base attacking trans athletes using the situation as a platform.
And this is the unique position that VCT GameChangers has got itself into. It was scheduled to help in making the competitive environment richer and more inclusive. Nonetheless, every time a trans woman does well, the reaction from parts of the community that just… don’t recognize it or don’t want to recognize it is huge and horrible. The comments were filled with people stating that ‘There are only 2 genders’ or humorously referring to it as ‘VCT GENDER CHANGER’ as a ‘joke.’ It is exhausting. Besides, one could kind of notice Riot or the account trying to manage the situation—one reply even accused them of ‘deleting replies lol,’ which just adds another layer of drama to the whole thing.
It’s even more unbelievable that all this actually distracts from the playing action. I mean, the players did astonishing performances anyway. ACS is not everything, but a 329 is totally incredible! They won a top-tier tournament. And instead of discussing the tactics of the players, their agents, their clutching plays, the talk is drawn into this toxic swamp about identity. This is the worst thing for the players. Just think of how hard it is to become the best, reach the top of the leaderboard, and have the main thing that people want to discuss be your gender, not your aim, not your game sense, just… that.
Also, the other competitors should not be forgotten, they need compassion too. The third-placed, Akitaaah had her fans supporting her with a nice comment ‘la bossssss,’ which is nice. But the plot of the whole event got taken away. This situation raises really big questions about the inclusivity of these spaces, especially when considering the broader gaming community on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox.
