Video game debate
EA Sports FC: When boys don’t want to play with girls
Mixed Teams: Female soccer players can now also be fielded in the “Ultimate Team” online mode
© EA Sports
The football simulation “FIFA” will be launched next Friday as “EA Sports FC”. But it’s not the new name, but rather the integration of female soccer players into the game that is causing dissatisfaction among the players. On the streaming platform Twitch they sometimes react extremely.
Next Friday the most popular football video game goes into the next round. “EA Sports FC 24″ appears and is the first game in the series after video game provider Electronic Arts ended its collaboration with FIFA. So now “EA FC 24” and not “FIFA 24” – but the new name is not the change, which causes excitement.
In the popular online mode “Ultimate Team”, players can put together their dream team and compete with other community members. From this year you can also integrate women into your lineup. For example, Giulia Gwinn can now hit crosses to Harry Kane. The developer bases the change on the fact that “The World’s Game” is for everyone – a sign of inclusion and equality.
In fact, the values of the female players are on a similar level to those of their male counterparts. Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and the Spanish world footballer Alexia Putellas each have an overall rating of 91 – the highest value in this year’s game. Alexandra Popp’s game value is 88, Jamal Musiala has 86. Senior producer Garreth Reeder explained to “kicker eSport”: “We evaluate the players in comparison to the competition they face in reality.”
“EA Sports FC”: Excitement at “Pack Openings”
The fact that these realities are now mixed up in the video game makes some players angry. This week, users of the “EA Sports FC” web app were able to start building their teams. This is primarily done by drawing packs, which are obtained using in-game currency – comparable to buying a pack of “Panini stickers”. Especially on the livestream platform Twitch, thousands of people watch how their favorite streamers open said packs.
However, if there were female soccer players in these packs, many of the well-known streamers quickly lost their mood. American streamer Darron Jason, better known as “ishowspeed”, reacted with shock when he received Manchester United’s Hannah Blundell. As usual, he said eccentrically: “What the fuck, is that a girl? Is that a fucking girl?”
Even the largest German Twitch streamer “Montana Black” (over five million followers) is not enthusiastic about the integration of women into the online mode. “I think it’s silly that women and men are allowed to play together in one team. Because we all know that a men’s first division team easily beats a women’s first division team, that’s simply the law of nature,” he said on Twitch. He doesn’t want to bring women in a pack because he won’t play with them anyway. The chance of “drafting better players, of drawing male players” is now decreasing for him. However, the fact that “male players are better players” is prevented by the equalization of values, which is why “Montana Black’s” argument falls short at this point.
Equal insults
Many players seem to forget that the “Ultimate Team” game mode has not been about imitating reality for years. After all, you could also add Franz Beckenbauer to your team or put Manuel Neuer in the attack.
Other streamers are also worried that they will get a shitstorm if they freak out and make misogynistic comments while gaming with female players. The YouTuber “Gamerbrother” (over a million subscribers) sees the whole thing pragmatically and expresses himself in a stream: “We’re nice guys and we all stand for equality. We’ve been insulting every male player as the son of a bitch for ten years. The female players are too Hookers when they suck.” “Gamerbrother” has now distanced himself from his “ironic” statements: “At 25 years old, I can and should know that better,” he wrote on the X platform.
Sources: “kicker”, “Sport 1”, “Twitch”“Pixel Critics”