The first female player in Overwatch Contenders withdrew from the team after the suspicion that she was not real

Two weeks ago, Overwatch Contenders’ Second Wind team announced the acquisition of Ellie, an unnamed DPS player, for the upcoming season of Overwatch Contenders. Ellie may have been the first female player to play for an Overwatch Contenders team, preceded by Geguri in the Overwatch League. But recently, she withdrew from Second Wind after being harassed and threatened by people in the Overwatch competitive community.

We’re happy to announce @ellie_ow will be the newest addition to our roster for this season of Contenders!

— Second Wind (@SecondWindGG) December 22, 2018

Overwatch Contenders is considered a small version of the Overwatch esports tournament. Second Wind found Ellie thanks to her impressive ranking on the North American Overwatch ladder. But with a feminine name and little online presence – Ellie rarely streams and has only recently set up a new Twitter account – several comments on the Competitive Overwatch forum cast doubt on her skills.

“Is this a girl or just a Korean guy with a female name?” a suspect.

While many of these comments were deleted, it was enough to spark a flood of posts on Overwatch TMZ – a reddit section full of rumors (unconfirmed), comments, and defamation in the Overwatch community. We can be sure that none of the above would have happened if Ellie wasn’t a girl.

Unfortunately, due to some unexpected reactions, Ellie has optional to step down from the team. We hope you continue to support her in her ventures in Overwatch as we will

— Second Wind (@SecondWindGG) January 2, 2019

This issue reminds us that the esports world is still too demanding on women. Even now, with Ellie’s decision to withdraw, numerous comments in the Competitive Overwatch subreddit continue to give rise to theories about her.

Following Ellie’s decision, Second Will owner Justin Hughes said the following:

(2/2) their Messiah. Between needing a player to live up to huge expectations and having to question their own safety, it seems that the OW community isn’t ready to just view a player as just a player. We wanted a player, but it seemed like the public wanted something else.

— Justin Hughes (@SwerteSiJustin) January 2, 2019

“…it seems like the OW community isn’t ready to see a player as a mere player. We wanted a player, but it seemed like the community wanted something else.”

Many people think that esports will use talented people, and women will also succeed if they play well. But in this case Ellie clearly has the skills to compete in Overwatch Contenders – but the toxicity in the esports community has prevented that from happening.

According to PCgamer