Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s game on in cyberspace
Every sport can be played by men and women. This is true for e-sports as well, and Simone “Psymone” Eskelsen is out to prove this.
Eskelsen, 21, from Edgemead is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) player, and captain of LeetPro.Fe, a team of female gamers with members from all over the country. She started playing CS:GO two years ago, and began playing competitively last year after watching the first Mettlestate Valkyrie Challenge, a CS:GO tournament for female teams.
“Since I had been interested in e-sports long before I started CS:GO, my sights were already set on forming a team and taking part in the next competition, which happened to be the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) qualifiers,” said Eskelsen.
As a female pro gamer, Eskelsen has received her fair share of criticism, but she believes it is about more than just her gender.
“I have received criticism like any other gamer. When someone tries to turn their passion into something more, they will get judged or criticised regardless of gender. It’s about how you take that criticism and turn it into something constructive.
“When I was younger I would get constantly asked why I was playing games when I was a girl, and I believe that set the tone for many females in the gaming scene who are too scared to take the leap into competitive e-sports,” she said.
Eskelsen works as a freelance graphic designer, and practices her skills by playing matches in the evening.
She and her team will be participating in this year’s Valkyrie Challenge finals, in the first week of June.
Eskelsen said: “We entered the Valkyrie Challenge as soon as we got word of it through social media. The idea of an all-female CS:GO league was exciting, to say the least. It was an amazing opportunity to not only showcase the current female teams but also to encourage further participation and growth within the female gaming community.”
LeetPro.Fe will be up against nine teams of five in the tournament, and the team captain is confident in their chances of victory.
“Now we are approaching the final stretch, the matches are getting tougher. However we still feel good about our coming matches,” she said.
Eskelsen loves what she does and hopes to one day devote her life to it.
“I definitely enjoy doing all gaming-related things and would love for it to become my career,” she said. “I love this community and the experiences that come with gaming, at any level. It’s exciting and constantly changing.”