Interview with eStar.Strawberry, the only active female player in the CFPL: Eliminate prejudice with strength

"As long as you become strong enough, there will always be a time when someone will find out. ——eStar.Strawberry (Pu Xinting)

Author: Chen Wenjian

Before going on the field, B1n, the captain of the eStar Crossfire Division, spoke in the preparation area: "Brothers are generous, but the only purpose is to protect our "strawberries". ”

eStar.Strawberry is Pu Xinting's professional ID, she is about to make her debut on the stage of the CFPL (CrossFire Pro League), and according to official information, she is also the only active female player in the CFPL.

Listening to the captain's slightly ridiculous concern, the two index fingers of the strawberry that was about to play were hooked together and rubbed together repeatedly, and he smiled.

Facing Chengdu AG, which only lost one game in the regular season and ranked first, eStar did not win the game, but Strawberry handed over 29-26 data in its first game of the CFPL, ranking first in the team.

Recalling his debut and the captain's words, Strawberry said firmly: "I will definitely become stronger, not to be a weak point in the team, to be the one who protects them"

Being protected has never been what Strawberry wants in the e-sports arena.

01

All for love

For a long time, video games were considered to be a male-dominated field, and female gamers were surprised to hear "You actually play games" and "You can play games?" Objectively, the scarcity of female gamers also makes women lack a guide on the road to the game, and there is not much need to socialize through games.

Luckily, Strawberry has one of the most intimate guides in the game.

Strawberry's father is a "veteran" of CrossFire, and in Strawberry's childhood memories, his father is often immersed in front of the computer, and the game voice of "Fire the hole" comes out of the game. As a veteran gamer, Strawberry's father naturally does not stop his daughter from trying the game, and even teaches Strawberry how to operate it by hand. Over time, Strawberry "fell in love with the game".

But in the game, Strawberry will always receive malicious intent from others because of its gender: "Knowing that you are a girl will attack you as soon as they come up, or thinking that this game has girls will definitely lose." ”

Strawberry bluntly said that when he hit the top 100 in the region, these non-councils put a lot of pressure on him, "If you don't kill it, you will blame yourself."

But instead of simply attributing these discrimination to gender, Strawberry felt that "if I had become stronger, I wouldn't have this bias." ”

This mentality drove Strawberry to climb upward, and as his strength improved, Strawberry also came up with the idea of becoming a professional esports player. This road is difficult, and it is even more like a god for women, and Strawberry's mother does not support her, thinking that reading is a better choice.

But Strawberry said: "I love this game, and I also want to stand on the stage of my dreams like them, and I don't want to leave regrets in my life." ”

02

"There are too few games that women can play"

The dream is plump, but the reality is skinny.

Strawberry's career path is not quite the same as that of ordinary e-sports players, she is neither from the national e-sports such as the 100-city league, nor is she a youth player of a professional club, but stands out from the cup competition of the live broadcast platform.

Before officially becoming an esports player, Strawberry was a CrossFire streamer. After learning that the live broadcast platform was going to hold a women's e-sports event, the Douyu Goddess Cup, Strawberry immediately signed up for the event with her friend Xiao Ruoshi and won the final championship, the latter is the general manager of the eStar CrossFire branch, and it was also through the name eStar Strawberry that she was able to participate in the Goddess Cup.

For Strawberry at that time, the Betta Goddess Cup was one of the few events she was able to participate in. "There are so few games that women can play. Strawberry said with emotion.

To put it more thoroughly, the team formed to participate in the Betta Goddess Cup is not a real professional team, although the players in the team are working in this direction.

"Everyone is very enthusiastic and trains every day. Strawberry revealed: "We don't have a coach, so we can only rely on ourselves to learn and find some teams from the 100-city league to train. ”

Strawberry will also take the initiative to seek help from Xiao Ruoshi. As someone who has been in e-sports competitions, Xiao Ruoshi acted as the temporary coach of this team, and talked about her strawberry with a slight smile: "She is like a big sister." ”

However, as Strawberry lamented, there are too few events that women can participate in, and even if Strawberry can reach the threshold of professional competition, clubs will still rarely consider recruiting a female player.

Coupled with the passage of time, Strawberry once wanted to give up her e-sports dream, and she revealed her heart in a live broadcast: "I was going to give up, but playing a game gave me hope, if I have the opportunity, I still want to work hard, I don't play for traffic, just because of love." ”

The competition in the mouth of the strawberry is the CFPL Breaking Wave Cup, which brings together a number of professional clubs from the CFPL, and the competitive intensity is not far behind that of the CFPL. In Strawberry's view, being able to participate in such an event reflects the recognition of their strength by the outside world, and also gives them more confidence on the road to chasing their e-sports dreams.

Thanks to the excellent performance of winning a single MVP in the Wave Breaking Cup, Strawberry finally got the ticket to the professional e-sports event. In the 2024 CFPL Spring Season, Strawberry will enter the eStar team roster for the new season.

In addition to the positive feedback from participating in the event, Strawberry's father has also been an inspiration to her. "My father comes to watch my live broadcast every day, and he often advertises to others, saying, "My daughter is playing again." Speaking of this, there was a smile in Strawberry's tone.

Although Strawberry rarely discusses gaming with her father as she did as a child, she still stands behind her, although she rarely discusses gaming with her father as she did as she did as a child.

03

"When you are under pressure, you can improve yourself"

Strawberry was nervous when she first appeared on the CFPL stage, and she dreamed of winning the game the night before. Strawberry is looking forward to playing, but at the same time, he is very nervous, because after entering the top league, Strawberry immediately perceives the gap between themselves and other players.

Lacking the training of high-intensity events, Strawberry initially "had a hard time adapting to the rhythm of the game and lacked discipline themselves", and in one game, the team was caught by the opponent due to Strawberry's redundant movements and lost the game.

Strawberry admitted: "Although there is a gap, I will try to narrow the gap." Therefore, in addition to the daily training from 3 p.m. to 11 or 2 p.m., Strawberry will also practice for its own game ideas, prop throwing and other shortcomings.

The coach of the team commented: "Strawberry will continue to study until it is solved, whether it is individual training or training, it is more active than the male players in the team." Strawberry's teamwork and use of props are now better. ”

The teammates described Strawberry as "a female god of war with a 98K kill", and said: "Strawberry often plays wonderful operations in training matches, so we have full confidence in her on the field." ”

The visible improvement was the key to Strawberry's debut, and after the debut, Strawberry's traditional mother shared a video of her daughter's competition in the family group, and although the mother didn't say it, Strawberry felt that she could finally "make her mother proud".

Talking about the first game of his career, Strawberry said with a little excitement, "I like the feeling of competition, and I hope to strive to be a starter and feel more about the stage of competition." ”

At the same time, she also mentioned that she has stress and anxiety: "It's hard for other people to empathize with [the things in the game] and have to digest them by themselves. In Strawberry's eyes, even though gender does put some pressure on her, she realizes that the prejudice of a few people is always deep-rooted, and only strong enough strength can break the prejudice.

"When I'm under pressure, I go to practice guns and improve myself. Strawberry said.

After officially entering the CFPL, the teammates who fought side by side in the live broadcast platform cup sent blessings and encouragement to Strawberry, but they either worked or got married, and they no longer talked about their dreams of becoming e-sports players as they did yesterday. Even after Strawberry appeared on the CFPL stage, she and her teammates still understood that "the path of female esports players is very difficult." ”

Strawberry is undoubtedly lucky, she has an enlightened father, like-minded same-sex friends, and her sister Xiao Ruoshi, who has helped her all the way, and now joins the eStar Club base near her home address, which solves the accommodation problem that may exist for her male and female players under the same roof.

But as the saying goes, the harder you work, the luckier, Strawberry has always adhered to the concept of "gold always shines", and put it into action, and behind the seemingly lucky is Strawberry's hard work and sweat day and night.

For the future, Strawberry does not easily set ambitious goals, but still focuses on the present: "Train hard, stabilize the starter, and then become a better version of yourself." ”