Interview with Wolves Esports General Manager Feifei Fuji: Looking forward to more women being seen in the esports industry

We invited some representative female game practitioners to discuss the game industry and the development of women in the game industry. The guest of this report is Feifei Fuji, general manager of Wolves Esports.

E-sports has gradually become an important part of the game industry chain, which can not only play a role in gathering users and breaking the circle of communication, but also feed back game operations, but due to the historical development of the e-sports industry, the players, spectators, players, etc. in the e-sports industry are mostly men.

Vice President of Fosun Sports Group and General Manager of Wolves E-sports Teng Feifei

However, with the continuous development of the esports industry, this situation has been increasingly broken, according to the "2022 China Esports Industry Report", the proportion of female users in China's esports users has reached 43.60% in 2022.

In order to further understand the current situation of female practitioners in the e-sports industry and the future development of women's e-sports, we invited Feifei Tei, Vice President of Fosun Sports Group and General Manager of Wolves E-sports, who shared some feelings about the e-sports industry from the perspective of a female practitioner.

There are a lot of women behind the scenes in the esports industry

In the face of the inherent cognition of "e-sports = male", Fuji Feifei believes that the reason for this view may be because of seeing that the players and coaches who play the competition are mostly male, but in fact, e-sports is a complete industry chain, in addition to the players and coaches in front of the stage, there are more behind-the-scenes workers, including e-sports event operations, commercial operations and so on.

"To give a simple example, most of these players who play in front of the stage are boys, but the player management and team operation may be girls, and if you can see the staff around the stage when watching the game live, you will find that women make up a large proportion. I think everyone is relying on their love for this industry and personal ability to find their own position in the industry chain, not as the outside world says, but there will be slightly more men in front of the stage. ”

Female spectators watching a King of Glory KPL match

In fact, many female practitioners behind the scenes have been quietly contributing to the esports industry. These female practitioners are an essential part of the development of the esports industry, and they also have more "hidden" advantages, among which empathy is one of the universal advantages that female esports practitioners have.

Teng Feifei mentioned that in the e-sports industry, a practitioner often faces many groups, when facing players, empathy can make him get along better with players, feel the joy of winning the game or the frustration of losing the game, help him adjust his mentality and cope with the next competition; When faced with fan groups, female practitioners are often able to mingle with fans faster.

A group photo of the Wolves King Glory Division winning the championship

In terms of higher-dimensional management, Fuji Feifei also mentioned that female managers may be more delicate in their minds, and have more empathy and appeal when communicating with young players.

"For us female managers, watching e-sports players is like looking at their own children: just becoming an adult, when they are in the time of establishing three views, there is not much external communication in the club, and the closed training day after day will be very boring, and it takes a person to assume the role of a confidant big sister to establish the correct three views for them, and often the female managers in the club play this role."

However, such a management model, in Fuji Feifei's view, will also have certain disadvantages, because female managers are full of emotions, and when making certain decisions, they may be more emotional, resulting in less decisiveness.

It is worth mentioning that although she manages the entire Wolves esports club, when Teng Feifei communicates with the players, there are not too many general manager shelves, and everyone calls her more affectionate "Sister Feifei".

Female practitioners need to give more in their work

From the game industry to the e-sports industry, under the leadership of Feifei Fuji, the Wolves E-sports Club has won many awards, and has achieved good results in e-sports competitions such as Honor of Kings, Peace Elite, QQ Speed, Call of Duty Mobile Game, Fifth Personality, FIFAOnline4, Eternal Calamity, Rainbow 6 and other games.

Perhaps from the outside world, as the helm of an e-sports club, it is difficult to pay attention to every game of her team while managing its 8 teams, but Fuji Feifei told Game Daily that she will try to watch the game as much as possible every team match, and she is often affected by the emotions of the game.

"I don't have a game that isn't stressful, now I manage eight teams and whenever I have time I go to see each team's matches. Many people say that you have been in the industry for so long, can you treat the game with a normal heart, but in that environment it is really difficult for me to control myself, my emotions will be very mobilized, especially in the finals, it is really easy to cry when I see my children in the golden rain or as the background for others to win the championship. ”

The rich emotional thinking of female practitioners tends to be more immersed in their work, but at the same time, female practitioners in the esports industry often need to pay more.

Fuji Feifei mentioned that the e-sports industry is an almost year-round industry, every holiday event will be more intensive, and the offseason needs to prepare for transfers, publicity recording and other related work, the event during the relevant implementation, even if it is the Spring Festival New Year holiday, but also to prepare relevant New Year materials, such a tight pace of work for practitioners, it is difficult to get a respite, which is for most girls working in the e-sports industry, the pressure to face will be greater.

"Therefore, when I communicate with the training staff, I often mention that not only the players are generating electricity for love, but many young girls in operation are also generating electricity for love, but if they do not really love this industry, it is difficult to sustain it."

The contributions of these women also need to be seen more.

The future of women's esports is promising, and the business model is key

With the continuous development of the esports industry, the proportion of female practitioners is increasing, not only behind the scenes, but also in front of the stage, presenters and even female professional players. This situation also has a lot to do with the current increase in the proportion of female game users, and as the proportion of female game users continues to increase, the e-sports industry that exists dependent on games has also undergone new changes.

King of Glory Women's Open

Affected by this, women's e-sports events have gradually become a hot topic often discussed in the current e-sports industry. Overseas, CS:GO launched the ESL Impact series of women's leagues; In China, King Glory held the "King Glory Women's Open", which seems to indicate that women's e-sports events will gradually enter the stage and go hand in hand with more traditional e-sports events.

However, in the eyes of senior practitioners such as Fuji Feifei, although women's e-sports have a bright future, there is still a long way to go.

"The Women's World Cup was born in 1991 and the women's football team entered the Olympics in 1996, it can be said that women's football really entered the public's field of vision, it is 100 years after the development of professional football. Analogous to traditional sports, how many years has esports developed? In fact, there have been female e-sports players in professional leagues such as CODM and Fifth Personality, but they compete as an independent individual with male players. Although there are some women's esports leagues going on now, such as the Honor of Kings Women's Open, I think it will take some time for this industry to really see it and understand it. ”

Fuji Feifei said that if women's e-sports want to develop, the source is still the need for more gender-balanced games, and the reason why King Glory can hold the Women's Open is because its male and female user ratio is balanced enough and has a large enough female player base to produce a large number of excellent players.

At the same time, she also mentioned that after such a game, related events are needed, providing a platform for all girls who like e-sports to prove themselves and be seen by the outside world, such as the Honor of Kings Women's Open.

"It's also important to have more similar events and let the women's teams figure out on their own business models that can make the team sustainable. If the women's esports event wants to grow, it is not about building a women's team out of enthusiasm and then going to play games and take some business to keep the team running. Teams can't just rely on competition, they need to have some other business models and ecosystems to support them. ”

At the end of the exchange, Teng Feifei also used her personal experience to say something to those girls who like e-sports and want to enter e-sports.

"I myself have loved playing games since I was a child, my husband is also known by me playing games, and my work has always been related to games, so I feel that it is my personal honor to be able to enter this industry, although I have a lot of complaints on my daily life, but games and esports are still the happiest industry for me."

"I would like to say to women who are involved in the esports industry, being brave and doing what you love, facing the gap between ideals and reality, liking something is not exactly the same as making it a career, and when the initial enthusiasm fades, trying to turn this gap into motivation to struggle, such a life will be really enjoyable and fulfilling. It is hoped that more women will join the industry, both in front of and behind the scenes. ”