Finnish Hearthstone tournament limited to male participants

Ben Kuchera, ladies and gentlemen:

Games that, through their very design, seek to give players a level playing field are rare, and should be celebrated by inviting everyone who wants to play to compete. To take such a well-designed and welcoming game and force segregation due to the outdated ideas of your organization is not just wrong, it’s offensive. It spits on the spirit of the game and the hard work done to avoid that sort of outmoded thought on competition.

I’ll mention my post on misogyny but it’s worth jumping straight to Polygon’s ’Where are the women in eSports?’

Update: The IeSF has reversed its decision.

Blizzard:

One of our goals with eSports is to ensure that there’s a vibrant and also inclusive community around our games. 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.

Worth relinking to Humanity in Hearthstone.