I’m sorry about the long post but….
You know what’s really cool about this 전디협 (전국 디바 협회 - national D.va association) movement in korea? as much as korea is known for being good at e-sports, female gamers face a SHITLOAD of ridicule and discrimination and by shitload i kid you not. The number of female gamers participating in korean mlg is alarmingly small(or none, in some games), and while some people may think it’s a coincidence, it’s not. Female gamers that are more than capable of competing in mlg are constantly turned away from the gaming scene because people believe ‘men are inherently better at games’, and even if they do participate, they receive a lot more harassment from the viewers than a male gamer would. If they do well, their success is downplayed. If they don’t, their failure is automatically attributed to their gender.
And it’s not just in mlg! The whole gaming scene in korea is a horrible, horrible place for women to be in general- almost all of my gaming friends (and myself) have gotten some kind of sexual harassment just because they got on voicechat. By sexual harassment it’s not just everyday cat-calling(which sucks on its own), women get ACTUAL RAPE THREATS over chat for making a minor mistake(or even just being there). I’m not going to go into detail because just thinking about what they said makes me want to throw up, but you’ll be surprised at how often it happens. Making things worse, a lot of famous streamers use violent language directed towards women such as 삼일한(literally an acronym of ‘women should be beaten every three days’), and make rude comments whenever a woman happens to be in their team. the men who watch this replicate their actions mindlessly, contributing to the violent atmosphere women are already in. Someone might argue Korean gaming culture is just violent and unforgiving in general regardless of gender because gamers get so competitive. Regardless of gender? I don’t think that’s the case.
the “National D.va Association” started as a twitter account managed by one anonymous person, but quickly gathered a huge following of female korean gamers standing against discrimination in the gaming scene. Yes, as someone said, Hana would certainly be proud, but that’s not really what they’re aiming for. In fact, they’re fighting to make the country a better place for Hana to be born in. A country with a gaming culture that doesn’t discourage women from playing games, where women can compete equally with men, where women can actually be at the top of the ranks without being stigmatized and disregarded. They’re actually fighting to make D.va possible.
It might just be a bunny symbol and yes, I get that people are excited to see something from Overwatch in the Women’s march, but that symbol and D.va’s existence as a character means a lot LOT more to us. Please give a big shoutout to everyone that contributed to the National D.va association! I might just be an artist in my corner minding my own business, but as a Korean, a female, and a gamer myself, I can’t find the words to express how proud and glad I am for this kind of movement to actually happen. Thank you Blizzard for Hana Song.
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