02.05.24 - 14:5702.05.2024 - 14:57·15m15 Minuten Lesezeit·

Von Armand Luque

Interview with Pivotless: The Women & Non-Binary Scene, Gender Issues, and Chester Gaming.

With the Equal Esports Cup beginning shortly, Chester Gaming are set to make waves in the competition. Pivotless delves into the beginnings of the team in this exclusive interview.

Chester Gaming and its Equal Esports Cup 2024 Roster, with Pivotless occupying the position of team captain.

Chester Gaming is Ready to Play and Upset the Competition.

Evie, best known as Pivotless, is the captain of Chester Gaming, the Equal Esports Cup's most surprising and atypical team. A band of underrated players, the squad proved itself by powering through the open qualifiers last weekend, earning a spot in the league. Having competed in the Women & Non-Binary (WNB) scene for a few years, Evie now delves into her thoughts and experiences before discussing Chester Gaming's prospects in the league.

A Portrait of Pivotless

Pivotless: "My in-game name is Pivotless, but most people just call me Evie. I first started playing competitively through the "Belong Arena Clash", a series of tournaments in the UK. Through that, I learned more about the ERL system, and I played mostly in lower-division Prime League teams before being scouted by Klanik Esport to play in 2021's "La Coupe Féminine" for them. Since then, I’ve played in a mix of both WNB and mixed leagues."

| How do you treat competitive play? Is it your main activity? A part-time thing? A hobby?

Pivotless: "Competing has been mostly a part-time endeavor for me throughout my time in esports. It was during COVID when I first started getting really involved beyond the lower levels, managing Bulldog in the UKLC. At that time, I was furloughed, so I could commit full-time hours to any project I was involved in. After that, I was just playing around my work and studies for the most part. I committed full-time hours to the project I was involved in at the start of this year, but unfortunately, as that broke down, I now have more free time than I'm used to. Therefore, I'm using it to try and elevate my own play as much as possible for this EEC, as well as making my current project the best it can be with the resources it has."

Pivotless, previously competing for Venomcrest Cobras in the NLC 3rd Div.

State of the Scene

| The scene has been in limbo for several months, with no large tournaments taking place since the Coupe des Étoiles in October of last year. What are your thoughts regarding its current state? Would you still say you are hopeful for the future?

Pivotless: "I try to stay as hopeful as I can. Despite everything, more players are entering the scene year after year, and the support from organizations hasn’t wavered for the most part, with salaries predominantly increasing across the board. The desire to compete is there, but my concern is that if we go into 2025 with little forward movement in terms of broadening the competitive calendar, those teams may begin to reconsider their investments."

| Do you believe that the WNB scene can sustainably continue in this state or evolve without Riot's involvement?

Pivotless: "The current state of the scene is unstable. In past years, a lot of the funding that has entered WNB esports has come from the MENA region, which propped up the prize pools of tournaments like Coupe Féminine. Additionally, the finals for the 2023 GIRLGAMER Esports Festival were held in the Kingdom of Bahrain. As that funding has dwindled, particularly with Galaxy Racer exiting the scene amidst their own issues, the circuit finds itself rapidly shrinking and in increasingly urgent need of intervention from Riot to provide crucial resources and structure."

| Over the years, we've witnessed several tournaments come and go. Do you believe that this instability has contributed to the scene's lack of growth?

Pivotless: "The largest roadblock towards the growth of our scene lies in that every year, teams are left not knowing what circuit might even exist in the following year. Entering 2024, many expected that we'd have a Game Changers-type competition. It was still expected that the EEC and PATHFINDERS would also return, but in the end, only the EEC remains with nothing taking place before or after it."

"This lack of tournaments is what led to my last project falling out, despite contracts having been in place. Sponsors pulled their funding out as the events they had hoped to gain visibility from never came to fruition. This current trend will only lead to further cuts from all involved teams, namely major organizations."

| There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the new 2024 EEC format. What do you see as the pros and cons of this new approach compared to last year's format?

Pivotless: "Personally, I prefer a league format overall compared to the previous double elimination groups leading into playoffs. There was a high risk of being drawn into extremely difficult-to-escape groups last year, so teams that could have potentially aimed for top 8 finishes were often eliminated early. League formats provide a more level playing field, and Swiss is also a viable alternative. Either way, I think this new system gives players a better idea of what playing in higher-level mixed leagues can be like, which, for many participants with higher aspirations, will be the end goal."

"I do have some issues with the way the game days are spread out. With the amount of time given, a double round-robin would have been comfortably achievable. But my biggest sticking point is that the gauntlet format, as it stands, would mean a team could play 9 game days over the 3.5-month split, then have to play up to 9 games in a day in the gauntlet to make the top 3, should they start from 5th/6th. That said, I think despite its flaws, the new format is still a significant improvement over the old one."

Chester Gaming will be joined by several high-profile organizations.

Discrimination and Gender Issues

| Misogyny has been a rampant issue for years in gaming but, as a trans woman, how would you qualify your time in the field? Have you faced struggles in your career? Do you believe that your issues are similar or different from the ones of cisgender women?

Pivotless: "Between cis and trans women, as well as the non-binary players competing in this scene, there’s a level of overlap between some issues faced, and some that are very unique to each group. At its core, irrelevant to the specifics of gender identity, the intention of the WNB scene is to create a safe space for people of all marginalized genders to play without the same worries about discrimination."

"I won’t speak at too much length about the issues cis women face in this scene and in games in general, as I wouldn’t want to drown out the voices of those who experience those issues directly. However, it’s well documented that even as progress is made towards inclusivity in video games generally, cis women are still disproportionately the victims of very violent, often sexualized threats - particularly those in the public eye like streamers and esports players."

"Remilia to this day stands as a very poignant example of how public hate mobbing can force a talented player out of the space, and the handling by Riot at the time of the brigades in Twitch chat and on Reddit was extremely poor when it came to enabling her to reach her peak in her career. Trans women and NB players can struggle specifically with attacks targeted based on being trans in this space, being told we’re taking up a space that doesn’t 'belong' to us - but these comments almost exclusively come from people who couldn’t care less about watching or supporting WNB esports unless it presents an opportunity to attack a minority."

| Having worked both inside and outside the WNB scene, how would you compare your time in both environments? Has your gender led you to face hardships while outside of it?

Pivotless: "The largest issues that tend to come up outside of the WNB scene usually involve players and staff intentionally disrespecting pronouns, etc., in the context of being a trans player. Within the WNB scene, staff and players across the board are a lot more accepting and friendly. I’ve certainly had to fight my battles, and the 'drama' last year surrounding one fairly small team’s specific exclusion of trans women, and some of their players being very outspoken about their dislike of trans women on social media, was a battle I was very prepared to pick. I’d say 99% of my experiences have been strictly positive, though."

"I've myself been the target of attacks on Twitch chat and social media when playing, even in a mixed team on stream, and it’s forced me to develop a thicker skin. However, it’s not an experience I enjoy, nor would I ever wish it on anyone. Having to accept that you’re going to receive extremely targeted hate not just for your play but for who you are as a person is a sad reality for cis and trans players alike, and I hope it improves."

| Are you aware or have been impacted by cases of trans women being subject to discrimination from within the WNB scene when it comes to team building?

Pivotless: "There’s a well-documented case of one rather large organization outright rejecting the idea of having trans players on their roster initially a few years ago. However, this was primarily due to the personal beliefs of one high-level member of staff rather than the views of the organization as a whole. With them gone, the organization has taken steps to mend those bridges and accept the idea of trans players going forward."

"This is, for the most part, an isolated incident. Aside from occasional slips with pronouns and the like, which are totally understandable, particularly in a multilingual space like esports where English is not the majority’s native language, the scene is in a much better place than it ever has been. In the vast majority of cases, it is a safe space for all marginalized genders."

Chester, The Team's Icon, Mascot, and CEO!

The Birth of Chester Gaming

| What motivated you to build Chester Gaming? Have you or your teammates received other offers before building this team?

Pivotless: "Around December last year, Fey and I were both trying out for the same organization - funnily enough, Iana, Spooky, and Clef were all playing in those same tryouts. A little way in, we both came to the same conclusion that for the level of play, the lack of structure and general disorganization was far beyond the expected level. Given my own experience managing teams, we both figured that I could probably do this better myself."

"I got lucky in that a roster was still being built fairly late on after the majority had locked their players, and I was only trying out for the top lane. Things clicked, and for a while, we were all under contract, and things looked great in preparation for EEC. Fey took some tryouts but was consistently passed over, Clef’s project disbanded, and my own fell apart due to sponsorship issues, with the majority being immediately picked up by another org, but myself and our mid laner were left teamless. When the EEC announced the qualifying dates, the solution felt extremely clear to me: I should make good on my belief that I can do it better if I do it myself."

| Just like last year, there sometimes are discrepancies in the level of invited teams, especially when compared to the level of play in qualifiers. In which position would you rate Chester Gaming in its current form compared to the rest of the league?

Pivotless: "Even in our current form, I believe we can make playoffs. We have a phenomenal staff behind us, with RDHausFoX doing incredible work filling our scouting channel with probably the most detailed notes I’ve ever seen from a coach. Tim has been a huge help, especially in the process of reaching out to organizations about acquiring the roster for the split. Projects at this level, with this quality of staff, demand a budget that is sadly slightly beyond the depth of my personal wallet right now, and we want to keep everyone involved."

"Beyond our current form, I think we have the potential to scale into the top 3. We have a lot of time to work out issues in our play over the split, and for a baseline, I’m very happy with where we’re at. So, I don’t expect us to be treated as underdogs for long."

| Despite the involvement of several high-profile organizations, the attention surrounding the WNB scene remains lower than some might expect. Do you think that teams or tournament organizers could be doing more to promote this scene? Where would you say the problem lies?

Pivotless: "I think the tournament’s production being primarily in German limits its scope when it comes to attracting viewers. I’m very thankful for people like Veteran, who last year co-streamed the event in English and intend to do so again. It brings the scene more into the public eye and in front of viewers who wouldn’t otherwise be willing to watch a German broadcast."

"There’s also the issue of instability in the tournament circuit. It’s hard for an organization to consistently push content for a team that isn’t regularly competing. This means that while these rosters are often announced quite early in the year, by the time actual official games roll around, they’ve dropped quite far out of the public eye unless they’re streaming or being featured front and center regularly. This is far less of a problem for teams with Valorant GC rosters, where events are very regular and the players involved are, therefore, highlighted far more frequently."

"It’s a case of teams needing to do more to promote the players they have, but it’s also on tournament operators to provide organizations with more content to promote in the form of official matches."

| You've mentioned wanting to do things differently than other organizations in terms of building an identity for this team. What would you say Chester Gaming is doing differently from the larger teams in the league?

Pivotless: "I’m not deluded about what we are as a team. Being player-owned and operated means there’s always going to be a lot more personal interaction between the people who know the players compared to what you’d get through a mid-sized organization. However, even after being picked up by an organization, I want to maintain the same feeling we have now in terms of our social media presence."

"I’m a firm believer in the marketing ethos that 'people buy people.' Fans like to see a glimpse behind the curtain and see the personality of the people who run the business (or in this case, team). It’s a large part of the reason why I have loved watching the renaissance of the personality-driven esports organization through teams like Ruddy in the NLC, where so many teams will fade away quietly in the ERLs simply because they lack a real brand outside of taking the game seriously and winning. A brand that only works when you are, in fact, winning games."

"I don’t take myself too seriously as an individual, nor do we take ourselves seriously publicly, but in-game, we’re all business. Having that attitude can make it a lot easier to connect with new fans as they buy into the people behind the team first and follow the team as a result."

Chester, enjoying a relaxing nap after a long day.

Closing Thoughts

| Could you tell us about Chester and how he became an icon of the WNB scene?

Pivotless: "Chester is Fey’s cat. He’s now a 3-year-old Mackerel tabby and an agent of chaos. We lived together for a total of about half a year, and in that time, I have seen Chester lay on top of both of our keyboards in the middle of solo queue games (and scrims), repeatedly throwing himself at full speed (giving himself a run-up from the far side of the apartment to make sure he’s as fast as possible) at the back of Fey’s headrest, and learn how to open the kitchen door so he can break into the cupboard to steal milk with such success that the kitchen door handle must now be removed every night just to prevent his crimes."

"We both post a lot of pictures of Chester, and the number of cat owners in the WNB scene is crazy - I promise you every 2nd player has a cat. I joked many times about being so tired of how organizations were run that I’d just found ‘ChesterSports’ and do it myself. Clearly, it’s now gone a little beyond a joke, and him being an extremely expressive cat does help in using him for graphics, so I can’t complain about the end product."

"He likes to sleep in the sink. I think that’s wonderful."

| If you had to pitch us your team, what would you tell us to convince us to be fans of Chester Gaming?

Pivotless: "Everybody loves an underdog story. We all had poor results in the 2023 EEC and came together to prove that we’re more than the sum of our parts, and that journey started with winning the Open Qualifier. We’re far from finished, and as a team represented by a cat within a sea of LEC and ERL1 teams, we're looking to upset the apple cart."

Chester, hungry to compete!