Smash Sisters: Why all-female gaming tournaments are good for everyone
I did not expect to play in a Smash Bros. tournament, ever.
Yes, I played Super Smash Bros: Melee on GameCube during its heyday -- a lot -- and after that, I got in a few matches now and then for nostalgia's sake. While Melee's continued competitive growth 15 years after its launch fascinated me, I didn't think I'd have the skill to face anyone beyond a friendly match at the office. Especially not in a crowded venue. Or a tournament streamed to hundreds online.
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But that apprehension and stage fright made me the perfect candidate for Smash Sisters, an all-female tournament-within-a-tournament series held at major Melee events that started at the beginning of this year.
"Our goal is to promote women in Smash by giving them a safe space to play and show that there is a supportive community," said Smash Sisters co-founder Emily "Waves" Sun.
"We want to inspire women to come to more tournaments and challenge themselves by making them more comfortable."
When I met Sun and 12 other women at Super Nebulous 4 -- a tournament held in a basement in New York's Lower East Side in late March -- I intended merely to report on Smash Sisters. But Sun quickly drafted me into playing, too, since having an odd number of participants meant someone else would have to sit out otherwise.
Despite not playing in over a year, I sat with three other girls in front of a CRT TV and practiced my Samus game (my standard Smash Bros. character). I promised myself that I'd at least have fun.
Why female-only tournaments matter
Video game should seem like an even playing field, skill-wise. There isn't a biological reason to separate male and female players like there is in basketball or track and field. But when the esports world is almost entirely made up of male players, it can be nice to see someone like you in the crowd.
"It was just a small idea to have a side event for women to congregate and have fun and meet each other," Sun said. "I wanted to put this together because I wanted more female friends in Smash."
Genesis 3, a tournament held in the Bay Area Jan. 15-17, attracted over 2,000 competitive Smash Bros. players and spectators. One attendee told me maybe 50 or so were women.
"I went to my first tournament two years ago. When we got there, it was all boys, and I though 'Wow, this sucks. I don't have anyone to talk to,'" said Emily Forman, better known as Lyric.
The community aspect is important, but equally important to Sun was inspiring women who haven't played before, or maybe don't play as much as they'd like. That's why Smash Sisters doesn't exist as its own event, but inside other tournaments.
"I would love if every single smasher that came out [to Smash Sisters] was also entered into the singles bracket," Sun said. "We’re not interested in creating side bracket and women-only events that are completely isolated. We really want it to fee back into a co-ed competitive bracket."
Even though that didn't happen at Super Nebulous 4, many of the women (and one amazingly talented 9-year-old) received coaching from other players before and during their matches. And there was plenty of positive support (and a big cheering section) when you jumped up to play.
Even if I hadn't played in a long time, I still managed some decent play (and one kill I am still immensely proud of) before having my butt elegantly handed to me by Kaitlin Sweet, a.k.a. SadDad. Losing ignited my urge to maybe try to play a little more -- all part of Sun's plan.
"Having other girls see what you can do inspires other girls to come out and play their best," said Forman "You think, 'I can be good at this game, and I'm gonna get there. I wanna be like the other girls I've played against. I want to have that movement and that combo game.'"
But then the internet trolls show up
Many tournaments have anti-harassment policies for physical attendees, but those same tournaments are also streamed live via Twitch or Hitbox. For anyone who hasn't waded in to Twitch chat, which appears to the right of any stream, it can get pretty ugly as soon as a woman even appears on screen.
To combat the normal stupidity that comes to any online chat, streams use moderators. But instead of just using one or two, Sun had seven to eight extra volunteers for this Smash Sisters stream.
"They slowed down Hitbox chat and banned a lot of accounts," Sun said. "Not all reception is going to be negative. Once we are able to normalize that feedback, we won’t really need that aggressive moderation."
But Sun, an eight-year veteran of the competitive Smash scene, wants to stress its positive aspects too. Otherwise she wouldn't be here.
"Honestly, the community is wonderful. Our message isn’t really that if you are a female, you are going to get harassed all the time. We want to show you a safe space to come over and play with us."
While the group doesn't have any future events planned, Sun said they are looking to future tournaments to find a good fit. For any other women who want to get involved, Smash Sisters has a Facebook and Twitter presence as well.
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Chelsea Stark was the Games Editor for Mashable, where she covered everything from AAA titles, mainstream consoles, indie gems, mobile games and gaming culture. She handled news, feature stories and reviews. Before that, Chelsea was Mashable's Multimedia Producer, where she helped develop visual storytelling aids, whether they were photos of video. She came to New York in 2010 to pursue her master's degree in journalism at NYU's Studio 20 program, which focused on innovation as journalism is changed by new technology. Before coming to New York, Chelsea lived in Austin, where she did online journalism and social media for the local CBS affiliate. She loves good beer, classic Nintendo games, and all things geeky, and spends her time attempting to find anything close to good Tex-Mex in Brooklyn.
