CAPE TOWN – Nita Boshoff (25), a local accountant, had the opportunity to take part in the GirlGamer e-Sports Festival at the ATK Arena in October.
This festival celebrates and promotes female competitiveness in e-sports.
She and her team played in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division, which is a five-man first-person shooter game.
“This is just to show that females can also take part in e-sports and play competitively,” said Boshoff.
The five girls, who are known as Aperture FE in the online gaming community, have been playing online together for a full year but have only met in person for the first time at this event.
Photos | Jeff Latham Photography
According to Boshoff, the gaming industry for females is a great way to connect with online friends around the world due to the safe space that is created by the event coordinators to participate in games you enjoy.
Watch: Boshoff’s live streaming
Boshoff and her team had two weeks prior to the event to practice, which they found very difficult due to each teammate’s different load-shedding schedules.
“The e-Sports Festival was my first-ever LAN [local area network] experience, so my nerves were shot to play in front of an audience on a stage with casters casting the game and cameras taking pictures everywhere,” said Boshoff.
According to Boshoff, the event inspired her to work extra hard to compete for the GirlGamer trophy next year and travel to the GirlGamer World Championships, although her team came fourth in the recent tournament.
“As we all know, technology is the way forward, and not all kids love physical and contact sports. Introducing them to e-sports, in my opinion, will be amazing,” said Boshoff.
She was also intrigued to hear that the City of Cape Town will be introducing e-sports at more schools as a result to keep children off the streets and out of trouble.
According to Boshoff, the gaming community will evolve with great speed for both female and male competitors in all games. “As we saw overseas, the e-sports community is growing rapidly”.
Many players are streaming online with their gameplay, introducing more ways for spectators to support the players online, she added.
Check out her YouTube channel: HERE
Read the complete article in this week’s Highvelder.
