This event will mark the first of many to come for the partnership between the two like-minded organizations.
It’s no secret that the Dota 2 community can be pretty toxic. This problem is felt doubly so by the female members of the community. Female players and content creators alike are frequent targets of sexist comments and behavior. On the basis of wanting to improve the lives of women in the Dota esports scene, Dota Valkyries was born. Founded March this year, the grassroots organization aims to build a bright future for all women in the Dota community. In a pair of tweets earlier today, the organization shares some big news.
Dota Valkyries’ New Partner
Dota Valkyries have partnered up with the British Esports’ Women in Esports initiative. In the news release on their website, Natacha Jones, the chair for Women in Esports, comments that the partnership is a natural one.
“We’re extremely excited to have partnered with an organization that closely shares our values. From the offset it’s been clear that we have similar goals and through collaboration we hope to drive long-standing change within the esports industry.“
In terms of expectations for what the partnership will bring, one of the co-founders of Dota Valkyries Emma “Catfish” Brown had this to add:
“Through this partnership, you can expect further collaboration through content creation, co-branded tournaments and involvement in research projects.”
In a second tweet shortly after, the new partners have announced their first event: The Valkyrie Cup.
What is the Valkyrie Cup?
The Valkyrie Cup will be a community tournament taking place on 18th to 19th September 2021. The event is in line with the Dota Valkyries goal of inducting more female players into a semi-professional setting. The entry requirements of the tournament are as follows:
- A team must consist of a minimum of 5 players, with a minimum of 2 female or non-binary players and a maximum of 3 male players.
- No player can have more than 4000 MMR at the time of registration to the tournament.
No tournament is complete without prizes, of course. The top 3 teams will walk away with up to 24 Battle Pass levels per player. The event will have live match coverage on the new Women in Esports Twitter page.
As for broadcast, the tournament will be screened on the British Esports Twitch channel, with community streams from those taking part to be encouraged.
While this is not the first mixed gender tournament, it is most definitely a significant one. Dota 2 is already a hard enough game to get into on it’s own. With the abuse that female players have to deal with, it’s no wonder that so few of them stick around.
Dota Valkyries’ Valkyrie Cup will serve hopefully as a spearhead of sorts, and pave the way for more efforts towards inclusivity to come.