Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Esports

This chapter presents an overview of what diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mean and how they matter in esports. The chapter describes how esports culture upholds harmful structures and practices, including misogyny, racism, hate against gender and sexual minorities, as well as various forms of identity-based discrimination and harassment, and how this limits participation of marginalized individuals. Further, the chapter explains how these issues are connected to esports’ cultural background in hegemonic gaming and sport cultures and the prevalent culture of toxic meritocracy. Finally, the chapter outlines existing good practices and initiatives in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in esports, and offers further recommendations in this area. Key highlights include: 1) The general image of an “esports athlete” is based on cultural expectations attached to “gamers” and “athletes”, resulting in a narrow stereotype, 2) Participants who do not fit the expected image of an esports athlete (e.g., women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people) face many barriers for participation and are often excluded from and face systematic discrimination and harassment in esports environments, 3) Esports has a culture of “toxic meritocracy”, a false belief that everyone has an equal chance to succeed despite their background, and 4) As a new kind of digital sport, esports has an opportunity to create a sports culture based on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and there are many good practices and initiatives promoting this goal.