Meet the Female Gamer Taking the Male-Dominated World of eSports by Storm

"Born in the South Korean city of Daejeon, Kim Se-yeon ("Geguri"), 19, started playing games with her mom when she was just 5 years old. Today, she plays for the Shanghai Dragons in the Overwatch League, a professional e-sports league produced by Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment. Geguri started her Overwatch career playing as the character Zarya (her main), a powerful tank who can absorb incoming blows and redirect them toward her opponents in the form of a laser beam.

Geguri has been reluctant to embrace the role of trailblazer. She prefers instead to focus on the immediate mission at hand: helping her Dragons recover from their winless first season in the Overwatch League (the team suffered a 42-game losing streak, though they’re fairing better this season, with a 6-6 record.) And who can blame her? After all, none of her male colleagues have to worry about representing an entire gender. Still, she’s increasingly aware that she has a role to play in the world of competitive esports that goes beyond winning games.

“Since I am the only female player in the whole league, I think there are a lot of people who look up to me and see me as a role model,” says Geguri. “Knowing this, I’m trying a lot harder to inspire others to get to where I am today.”"

You can read the full article here.