South Korea’s competitive League of Legends league—OGN—is pretty undoubtedly the best in the world, in part because it features the best team in the world (SK Telecom T1). But recently the OGN has drawn attention for a different reason: a girls-only amateur challenge tournament.
The tournament was open to players at all division levels; the only requirement was that participants be female. And although the level of play was certainly lower than what we see in the professional leagues, that apparently didn’t bother Korean viewers, who tuned into the broadcast in record numbers.
It’s worth pointing out that South Korea’s professional league has no rule against female team members; however, all of the current top teams are all-male. As a result, the country’s best female players don’t have a lot of opportunities to grab the spotlight, so although a girls-only tournament may seem sort of exploitative, it could also give great female players the chance to show off their skills and perhaps earn a shot at making one of the country’s top teams. It’s not clear what the next step will be now that the challenge tournament has concluded, but given the viewership numbers, it seems likely that OGN will be planning future all-female esports events.
It will also be interesting to see if Asia’s other pro leagues (the LPL in China and the GPL in Southeast Asia) try something similar.
(via Netease Games)
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