Posts by Sjonsson

  • Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

    WOHOO! GO BLIZZARD!

    http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/02/e-s…-with-blizzard/

    E-sports league that prohibited women Hearthstone players reverses policy after talking with Blizzard


    After causing a controversy, an international e-sports league is changing its rules to welcome women players.

    The International E-sports Federation (IESF) is ending its policy that prohibited women from competing against men in pro-gaming competitions, according to a post on its website. Earlier today, the Finnish Assembly Summer 2014 e-sports tournament came under fire from critics when people learned that women could not enter a number of its competitions. The Finnish league explained it was making its rules in accordance with the South Korean-based IESF. That governing body originally decided to segregate men and women because it is trying to get e-sports into the Olympics, which does not have any gender-integrated events.

    “The IESF has listened to the gaming community and has carefully considered their opinions,” reads the notice. “Upon hearing these concerns, the IESF convoked an emergency session of the IeSF Board to respond.”


    As a result of that meeting, the IESF tournaments will have an “open for all’ category, which were previously the men-only events for Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Ultra Street Fighter IV. The IESF tournaments also had women-only events for StarCraft 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 — those will remain as they are.

    We reached out to Hearthstone developer Blizzard earlier today, and it made it clear that it was not happy with the IESF’s policy.

    “One of our goals with e-sports is to ensure that there’s a vibrant and also inclusive community around our games,” a Blizzard spokesperson said in a statement provided to GamesBeat. “We do not allow the use of our games in tournaments that do not support this, and are working with our partners to ensure they share the same goal.”

    Blizzard told GamesBeat that it was in touch with the IESF, and that it understood the organization would change its rules. Soon after that, the IESF posted the policy change to its website.


    If you’re wondering why the IESF still has women-only events if it is trying to stamp out gender discrimination, the organization explained that it wants to provide extra opportunities for women.


    “Female gamers make up half the world’s population, but only a small percentage of e-sports competitors are women,” reads IESF’s note. “The IESF’s female-only competitions aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation of women at these events. Without efforts to improve representation, e-sports can’t achieve true gender equality.”

  • Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

    So this just happend!

    http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/02/hearthstone-tournament/


    Hearthstone tournament explains why women aren't allowed to play [updated]

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    A user on Reddit's Hearthstone community yesterday shared this image—from an announcement pagefor a Hearthstone qualifier taking place during Finland's Assembly Summer 2014. What made "Karuta's" post notable was a single, highlighted sentence: "The participation is open only to Finnish male players."

    That is, to state the obvious, a strange requirement for a Hearthstone tournament; and it makes the qualifier's organisers seem like childish boys in a treehouse, hanging a "no girls allowed" sign on their front door. Only, the qualifier is for for the IeSF World Championship, and it's this global event that has stipulated the all-male line-up.

    "Your information is indeed correct, the tournament is open to Finnish male players only," said Markus "Olodyn" Koskivirta, head admin of the Assembly Summer 2014 Hearthstone IeSF Qualifier, in a statement to PC Gamer. "In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

    Koskivirta's argument is that, by allowing women into their qualifier, there's a risk that the winner wouldn't be eligible to enter the IeSF's World Championship final.

    The IeSF, or International e-Sports Federation, is a global organisation based in South Korea that is comprised of e-sports associations from across the world. Their stated aim is to promote e-sports as a "true sport". The IeSF's sixth World Championship will take place this November, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

    Here's the tournament list, from the organisation's Facebook event page:

    • Male Competition: Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV
    • Female Competition: Starcraft 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2

    It's an absurd division. Seemingly it tells us that Ultra Street Fighter IV is for boys, and Tekken Tag Tournament is for girls; that women aren't meant to play Dota 2 or Hearthstone; and that while both men and women can play Starcraft 2, they damn well better not do it together.

    Of course, that's not what the IeSF are saying. Their reasoning is far more insidious than that. In a reply to a Facebook comment asking why men and women had been divided, the IeSF responded with the following:

    "The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports."

    It's a bizarre statement, attempting to defend a seemingly indefensible decision. E-sports can be recognised as a "legitimate sport" while still staying true to the differences that exist. Hearthstone is not a game that requires any division by gender—to do so is a completely arbitrary decision that smacks of a desperation to be taken seriously.

    As for Assembly Summer 2014, Koskivirta told us that all other tournaments were "open to all genders". "We would also like to point out that the Finnish eSports Federation is currently lobbying for the equal rights of male and female players in the IeSF tournaments," he said. "This is an ongoing process and we of course welcome any support in this matter."

    We have contacted the IeSF for a statement.

    Image source: IeSF.

    Update: The original version of the article stated that Assembly Summer 2014 was organised by the Finnish eSports Federation. This is not the case, and has been corrected.

    Update 2:

    The IeSF have responded to questions about their stance on male-only tournaments on their Facebook page, giving two justifications, quoted below.

    "1 - promoting female players. We know that e-Sports is largely dominated by male players and females players are actually a portion of the overall player base. By hosting a female-only competition, we strive to promote female gaming on a global scale.

    "2 - International standards. IeSF is very close to get e-Sports recognized as a true sports like it should be. Part of that efforts is to comply with the international sports regulations. For example, chess is also divided into male / female leagues."

    To point one, there isn't a Hearthstone competition for women, who are only allowed to enter StarCraft 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament contests, and segregation has historically proven to be a pretty poor basis for the promotion of equality. To point two, we're unsure to what "international sports regulations" the IeSF are adhering to, and why separating men and women would "get e-Sports recognized as a true sports." The Chess example is odd, because while there is a separate competition for women, women can enter the World Chess Championship and compete against men. Just ask Judit Polgár.

    Update 3:
    Another update from the IeSF on Facebook, which suggests they're absorbing the feedback.

    "In the last hours we have received lots of feedback from your regarding the IeSF 6th e-Sports World Championship, particularly regarding the male/female tournament division.

    "We want to thank you for your interest in e-Sports and for sharing your opinions. The e-Sports community opinion is always important to the IeSF.

    "Our top priority is to promote e-Sports in the best ways we can. We believe that listening is important, are we're now collecting your opinions from the social media, and we will update soon.

  • What's going on with your life?

    Quote from Puddy

    It's been exactly one year since I was rolled out of my second, and succesful, heart surgery. So we had cake!


    Nah, it was really because it was my mom's birthday. Which happens to be on the same day.


    JORDGUBBSTÅRTA! <3 (Yes that's Strawberry cake in swedish for you non-Vikings.)

  • What's going on with your life?

    Quote from FMPONE

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  • [Chivalry] AOCTO_Paramount

    Here is the version of the map I handed in on the deadline, I will continue and work on it when/if I get some feedback rolling. I wouldn't stretch as long to say its a final version, still a lot of things I want to do but then again, that's one of the problems I have, never being content with my stuff. Therefore, I'm really happy I handed it in!

    Steam link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=276444730

    I hope you like it!

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  • [Chivalry] AOCTO_Paramount

    It seems like my map will not be eligable for the contest because bots won't work with my map. Why? Because bots can't drop from height or jump unless the obstacles are really low and I don't think I can get around this with my map.

    Dammit!