(GotFrag) - When looking at the marketing aspects of eSports, the 12-34 male demographic is the prize target. Although girl gamers are nothing new and have been around since the inception of professional video gaming, their presence has been more of a phenomenon and marketing ploy than that of real competitors. That may change after the stellar performance of team Orz and Rumay "Hafu" Wang at the 2008 MLG PC Circuit stop in Orlando this weekend.

Where the boys are.

Historically, females have mostly competed against one another or have taken a backseat to the boys in the winners circle. Although there are a few female eSports teams, players or organizations, those players have never been able to compete on a real level with the boys. A female presence in the finals of coed professional competitions have been non-existent. The girls have simply not been able to beat the boys despite some female organizations garnering impressive sponsors and endorsement deals rivaling the top male teams.

Show me the money.

Hafu and Team Orz

For Orz and Hafu coming into Orlando, there were no lucrative sponsorships and endorsements. In fact there was no financial support at all. The trio paid their own way to the event after a falling out of sorts with Mob Gaming and that organization's owner and manager. The fact that the team received no financial or managerial support makes their feat in Orlando that much more impressive.

Once Orz reached Orlando, the road was even tougher than getting there. With a 19th out of 21 teams seeding, Orz faced good teams from start to end. Starting with NMNC in the first round followed by a 3-0 trouncing of SK in the second, it was apparent fairly early that Orz was there to give another impressive performance, as the team had done a month earlier in San Diego at the very first MLG PC Circuit stop.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Orz continued on, taking what could be construed as revenge on Mob Gaming's team for the rejection by the godfather. After taking down GotGame West in the upper bracket finals and handing them a 3-0 defeat, it was time to take on the reigning champions, EG. Orz made it look easy, routing the champions in another 3-0 victory. Impressive again considering the team had no practice after San Diego and prior to this event. "We actually didn't practice before this MLG, and hadn't played as a team since the MLG San Diego. However this time we had experience from our previous LAN, so I performed a lot better" stated Hafu.

"Lots of practice on the Tournament Realm and on LAN pays off�

Although the team did not get to practice coming into Orlando, Hafu did say that practice is the key to Orz' success. "Lots of practice on the Tournament Realm and on LAN pays off. We've played thousands of games together and a large number of them on the Tournament Realm under similar conditions to the MLG LAN event."

Standing their ground.

Orz stuck to one team composition throughout the majority of the tournament, choosing to go with what had worked for them previously instead of trying to counter teams. "Our only strong counter comp is retribution paladin, warrior, druid which we take out against teams we're expecting double melee. But we only really needed it once this event" Hafu told GotFrag after winning the tournament.

When asked about her vocal enthusiasm and excitement in game as opposed to her teammates, Hafu stated, "glick and rhaegyn are just naturally shy. The computers were much closer to each other this time, allowing me to actually hear rhaegyn during the matches. We didn't use headsets last time around."

One of the things that most gamers, male or female, struggle with when playing video games at this level is parent's perception or lack of understanding of the concept of competitive video gaming. Hafu would appear to have a slightly different problem in this area as she stated, "My mom and dad follow my gaming career a little too closely but their support is much appreciated. I love you mom and dad." Hafu called her mother on the phone immediately after winning the tournament.

Orz at MLG Orlando

The majority of pro gamers have played a variety of games at a competitive level before they find one they are exceptionally talented at and many play multiple games at that level. Hafu is a bit different as she states, "I don't play any other games". Hafu also apparently has no aspirations to play any other game beyond WoW as she continued, "Like I said, I don't really play any other game, so after WoW dies out I'll be done with gaming."

When asked if she had any advice for pro girl gamers, or boys for that matter, Hafu stated "Just practice a lot, work on your weaknesses, work on coordination and strategies."

Sorry Mr. Brown, it's no longer a man's world.

Now that a female has broken into the exclusive boys club of professional video gaming, the road should be paved for those talented enough to follow. Orz will be looking to pick up a sponsor who can set the team on a more professional path through financial support. Having the first female to ever win a major coed professional gaming tournament on the team should help that process along. It should also encourage other females to strive to compete at this level and maybe help add a wider range to the eSport demographic.

User Comments

WOAH

yay ^^

less QQ, more pew pew ♥

"Starting wit NMNC in the first round..." (typo)

Also, this story plays right into the whole 'hype' over female gamers. One female who played well with two males. Big surprise? Let's see a team of three girls do the same thing.

It won't happen. Nothing has changed and nobody has paved any new path. Great job and congrats to Hafu and team Orz on winning but this isn't the beginning of anything. Just a decent girl on a team of guys.

cut that city

girlpower.

goodstuff team orz :]

#burntpink #EG ~

hafu got carried

I feel good to get that Carlin joke.

woooooot \o/ represent

DotA Coverage gogo :)

congrats glickz!

shegets 4k+3k pc. not bad :oi

Good article... congrats to Orz :)

Another interesting fact is that WoW is also the first competitive game that does not require mass amounts of micro, hand/eye coordination or timing that you see in RTS , FPS and fighting games.

Check out my Biography bro.

uh, shes not the only one on the team :S congrats to the others not the druid

"registration is a myth"

#14

arena pvp is ALL about timing. don't know what game you're playing.

/ggrhino

#14 is an idiot

Most girls don't consider themselves "professional gamer" quality in comparison to men who put in up to 4hours a day or more and probably never will. Take Counter-Strike for example, EG Girls/SK Ladies are two female teams that didn't perform even remotely good online, but kept their sponsors because they are able to compete in a separate tournament than the boys ( during ESWC ) against LESSER competition and place near the money or in SK's instance winning ESWC and taking home over $10k between their team if I remember correctly.

I really hope events like ESWC stops holding separate tournaments for females. If they truly want females to become a part of gaming then they need to do away with the crutch that is keeping them on such a lower level than the top men. I'm glad for this warcraft player, it sounds like she earned her spot on the team and performed well, but a road has "NOT" been paved for other females just yet. One successful event for one female isn't this ground breaking achievement the writer made it out to be.

Best of luck to her in the future.

How long do you think it will be before Godfather tries to pick them up, or at least another organization does...week...tops? lol

Shag: When he teases me, it hurts.

It's important to add that wow is very appealing for females. Healing your mates an run away from your opponents is much more appealing for them as shooting your enemies. wow mostly comes down to teamplay and don't require much individual skill. Everyone is welcome who knows what he/she's doing. And this understanding isn't given away at birth. It all comes down to a mix of talent and practise, so why shouldn't girls be as good as men in games.

The percentage is much higher than in other "competitive" games which means more of them will seen to reach top. That's all you've seen at this event.

everything associated with wow just screams gayandbad the fact a girl just won a top tourney is hilarious, not a skill game, knowledge/time spent game.

wow is really a skill based game. she's a dirty ugly mess

#21 agreed

#21 and cs is not a knowledge/time spent game? you have to spend more time playing cs to be good than wow

#18 - Oh yea...she definitely "earned" her way onto the team. (See below)

#19 - Godfather wants nothing to do with Hafu due to the fact that she is a financial liability. Being caught drinking at an event and the fact that she's in a relationship with a ~21 year old (she just turned 17) is certainly not kosher with ANY company out there. (Statutory rape, anyone?) Godfather wanted to keep her team even after their poor performance in San Diego--but after hearing how she broke her contractual obligations, he felt that she was too immature to represent MoB Gaming.

Don't expect many potential sponsors to be lined up for ORZ anytime soon.

This comment was edited at 07/16/2008 2:29 PM

gonna get flamed but ........ anybody can play WoW arena , it is more about class comp than anything else, there is a limit to the knowledge you can know. Once you know all about the classes in every possible way, it comes down to comps. which is sad

"I never thought I'd see hacker get bent over the table on d2, but I think it just happened" -jESUIT

I'll admit, Gotfrag can make even checkers the most damn exciting thing in the world so its no wonder people found the WoW coverage appealing, but yes its still a joke. Never gonna compare to counter-strike and starcraft, just a bunch of nerds celebrating the mediocrity of wow competition.

great effort Hafu

Even though I've never played wow before, I'm still impressed. Congrats :D

#24 once you can out aim someone in wow get back to me, because thats all ill have to do to you in cs, i can see theres a general misunderstanding of what skill is to some people where they think repetitive button pushing is a talent, basicly what theyre doing in WoW is playing a poorly unchecked version of a RTS but with a single unit that has spells, if you wanna see micro and 450 APM go watch flash or jaedong play starcraft, they have talent at their particular game.

This comment was edited at 07/16/2008 2:58 PM

Girlpower indeed Congrats ^^ :)

bAllliN

#30 i have a 2300 ranked guy WoW takes medium skill I have a druid and I can literally carry him with 5 buttons, I've been playing for about 3 months

This comment was edited at 07/16/2008 3:05 PM

she looks like the grudge

I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war. - George W. Bush

Hafu is definitely a typical attention slore wow girl scrub.

Cashing in on a game that takes no skill just because you happen to have the resolve to play it 24-7 where most competitive gamers don't give a crap about it, is ftw.

She got drunk for the first time at MLG san diego and acted like a giant dumb slore. She also met her bf on wow and has only met him twice irl (on lan her teammate glickz) and he is 21, a virgin, and completely socially awkward (I can't wait til his interview from gotfragtv is up) and she is 17, a virgin, and completely airbrushed her online pics before she ever lanned.

True skill comes without effort

" marketing ploy than that of real competitors" rings a bell ? or does it ring a bellE (coL *cough* coL)

Life is what you make of it. Dreams are what you live for.

To be honest, I just came here to see her picture.

I had no intention nor have any intention to read this article.

Just thought I'd be honest.

This comment was edited at 07/19/2008 3:21 AM

Striving for the best, Expecting nothing less, Gamer 4 life.

OMFGOMFGOFMOFOGMMOFOFMOFMFOFMOFMG A GIRL PLAYING A VIDEO GAME.

Quick, let's make a news story about it.

thanks them for not havin a country full of pretending like you \o/

#18 watch it though because SK Girls is a solid squad that can play at a pretty high level, all these "girl only" tournaments they go to they pretty much dominate :-/

#16 the timing required to play wow is nothing compared to actual fighting games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS7hkwbKmBM

#25 is right.

#34 your cross-genre knowledge is pretty baller.

IF u watched the finals , It was mostly the lock that kept the pressure on RMP combo.

She Wasnt that much of a impact on the match at all.

And like Someone already stated , 2 Guys , 1 girl , I would love to see a 3 girl team do the same.

And please compare Hand-Eye co-ordination , Reactions , Speed , Compared to any FPS game , Or The Strategy/Game Knowledge Against a RTS player.
There is no competition.

#38 , If you entered them in the mens league , They wouldnt even place in the top10 with there best perfomances.

This comment was edited at 07/19/2008 7:07 PM

Have Some Careffee , c|_| , Sorry Were All Out :(

TITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not much #42. :/

Everybody who criticizes the little girl is just a jealous little shy virgin counter-strike player.

I sex liQuidmoTion, twice

I've played both games for a while now. CS way longer and I can tell you each game requires different skills. I'm real tired of the CS fanatics saying "OH I CAN MOVE AND OUT SHOOT PEOPLE, WOW IS LIKE CLICKING SOME BUTTONS!" That is such a joke, I can honestly say that I've had a harder time time dealing with PvP and stuff in WoW than my "pro cal matches and scrims!" Sure if you spend time with WoW you get better gear, skills and knowledge of the game, but some people like that sense of accomplishment on top of winning a tournament. The same applies with CS people rather play with instincts and just point and shoot. You have to spend just as much time with CS to play well and become pro. I guess many people who haven't play think that it is some "easy game," but that all depends on how you play. You can have an easy time fighting a monster, but what happens when you meet an opposing player? You think that person is going to be predictable and simple as an enemy? This applies with Bots and then playing against other players in CS as well, so really just understand that each game is played differently and requires different skills that come from time playing.

You receive loot: [Flame Resistant Breastplate].

#45 wanna know why you found WoW harder it was probably because the class you played WoW is an unbalanced game CS isn't its different on LAN yes but you can't fight an argument like that

Honestly #34 the fact that you noticed all of that makes me think you're the one to be made fun of...not her...or her bf. wooooow.

"Get in the fast lane Grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!"

bunch of idiots, whom neurones dont have sinapsis at all, just face the fact that the girl won and cheer her up, dont try to get recognition with a low based/lame comment,if you dont play wow just keep your mouth shut!, if you just wanna be "MAN" making comments about your "MALETEAM" better start showing up something and stop making lame comments about a female that makes her way up..wasnt a female team but the news tried to give her a lot of recognizion for her SPOT in gaming.

Carlos "super" Rengifo