Thoughts on GC and how it affects the scene

I want to start off by saying that this is not one of those cringe transphobic/sexist threads that are getting deleted, so don't modcheck me.

I think that GC is a great way to bring more of an incentive to women and other marginalized genders in the gaming space to compete and come to VALORANT as an eSport. In this, it's excelled, as I believe that VALORANT is the only major eSports title to have major events specifically targeted at this demographic, so it is objectively a success for Riot for it to grow as big as it is.

With that said, I also think that it's created an unfortunate feedback loop that may actually damage the ability of some really good players to play in the main VCT events and find success at that level. It seems like all of the female players, regardless of their skill level, who want to compete go straight into GC. The only example of a female player on a highly competitive team was Scourge on Complexity as far as I can tell. The feedback loop I'm talking about is this: Female player tries to go pro --> Female pro joins a GC F/A team --> F/A team gets signed and stays in GC, preventing any of the best female talent from taking the next step up to participating in T1 --> New GC team can compete within GC but not in main VCT --> Players on GC teams get hate for not being as good as T1 teams --> Best GC players stay in GC because they can make a living doing what they love. I know meL specifically said she got an offer to trial with Pioneers and turned it down, and I can see why. Not only is developing a connection with your teammates hard, it takes a long time. There's no incentive other than the desire to compete at a higher level for players to go from T1 GC to T1 overall (although C9W was probably better than Pioneers at that time already). If anyone has an example of players who've made that jump, please let me know, because I'd love to be wrong. I know teams like C9W and G2 Gozen do play in the VCT Challengers qualifiers and they do better and better every year, but I think most people would agree that an already-T1 team with players like meL or florescent on it would perform better than they are right now.

TL;DR: I think some potentially T1 skill level female/marginalized players have gone to GC instead of T1/T2/T3 VCT teams, and there are a ton of incentives for them to do so. I wish that these teams could be "The best" and not "The best asterisk"

Trying so hard just to be clapped by queen enerii in gc championship

you a fool for writing this pls stop taking takes about gc

you just said C9W was better than Pioneers at the time HAHA xD

it's a temporary side-effect since GC's goal is to just get non-male people some competitive experience and fans that they possibly wouldn't be able to otherwise.

Supposedly, GC will eventually cease to exist or at least become more connected with the main circuit but there's been no communication regarding the timeline for that.

Like you have pointed out, many female players decide to go pro in GC. Since competition is not as good as it is in the regular VCTs, I'm going to assume that more dominant players in GC would earn more money there (just an assumption tho). It is flawed as we will not see players like meL compete in more competitive tournaments, but it is more than a great starting point for bridging the gap between what is currently a male-dominant scene.

This of course depends on Riot's and org's approach to this scene. I think Riot's approach so far has been good, but if the ultimate goal is raising the Game Changers scene to a near VCT level, then some changes need to be made, mostly from a PR perspective. Franchising could be a great building block, for example, make it mandatory for all teams into franchises to create a Game Changers roster within a year to compete, or something like that (I'm anything but an expert on this topic lol)

Mucho texto, also from the TL;DR it sounds you don't watch too much fem val, GC teams get constantly stomped by F/A ranked mixes when playing on the regular VCT, it's not sexism, it's a fact, unfortunately the fem scene is below by now, that's why they have the GC to give more opportunity

Mf forgot potter played for eg before becoming coach

i think with time ,with more female players being confident , the scene will slowly change and more women can get into T1,2,3 leagues but for now ig it shud stay to have that platform for women to compete and grow

unlucky u got no real response brotha

Good example, thanks
edit: this was supposed to be replying to the comment that potter played in main vct, idk why vlr did it to my OP

as others have said, this is definitely true right now and will probably be true for a while still, but i think (and hope) that it really is just a temporary issue and that as the GC scene grows (since we are barely 2 years into the game being live and even less time for the current competitive structures being in place), the issues will disappear as GC teams and players manage to climb their way up to the top

Based comments got deleted

Didnt read it all because its too long but nice opinion

i dont watch if transgender female (from male) play in GC. it would be huge destroying scene itself like sport in olympic.

Yeah, i guess it could help if there was more cross over or more opportunities for some teams for GC to compete against non vct teams

I can understand why, from a financial/ career perspective, some female pros may choose to stay in GC/ take opportunities in GC bc the pro scene is cuthroat af and passion doesn't always pay the bills