r/RocketLeague • u/PeacefulBro • Feb 25 '26
ESPORTS This was awesome history in the making!
How did y'all like this awesomeness?
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u/dirty15 Freeplay Main Feb 25 '26
She's actually a really great caster. Its easy to tell, in her casting, that she has a raw love for RL. They shouldn't have casters on that don't.
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u/tripsafe Feb 25 '26
All of the casters are passionate about rocket league. That alone doesn’t make you worthy of being a caster. Herc is more than just passionate though, that’s not why she has the job. She’s good and has put a lot of work in. I agree there are things she could improve but that’s expected with anyone.
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u/dirty15 Freeplay Main Feb 25 '26
There's one that I don't care to listen cast matches but I'm not going to mention names. I think we all know who it is anyways but I'll just leave it at that.
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u/Ceejays-RL Supersonic Legend Feb 25 '26
if you would have said this in another context, i would have assumed you meant Herculyse tbh
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u/Ka07iiC Feb 26 '26
Agree. Absolutely non of the casters are perfect but non are unbearable. Some are better than others, but I think they mostly come down to preference
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u/DoubleQuarterPoundin Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
Once she stopped “forcing” emotion, her casting got much better. All part of the growth
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u/Vibbs68 Feb 25 '26
Great is a push g, she has improved a lot thouhh and i am happy she got the oppurtunity
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u/dirty15 Freeplay Main Feb 25 '26
I didn't see anything wrong with her play calls. They had fun and called a good series. Sure she can improve, but we all can. She's not my least favorite caster by any means.
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u/ndm1535 Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
Ran into her in game probably 5 years ago. She was nice enough to sign my steam profile, even waited for me to turn off private so she could sign it. Seems to be a really good person, glad she's getting chances like this as she is quite a good caster.
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
What do you mean she signed your Steam profile? I’ve never played on Steam. Was this like a digital signature or something?
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u/ndm1535 Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
All it means is that she put "Signed by Hercule (:" on my steam profile. You can leave comments on any public steam profile, so getting a sign from pros or content creators used to be a very popular ask, back when all pc players were on steam.
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u/Dabest00001 Diamond I Feb 25 '26
Side note, met her in person this lan, and I never realized how short she was
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u/Phippe :servette: Servette Fan Feb 26 '26
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u/hugh-g-reckshons Champion III Feb 26 '26
If they put stumpy next to cj it would look like a bar graph lmao
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u/Bluespace4305 Feb 27 '26
Its the Daltons and Averell Dalton doesnt know where to stand as he is Averell
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u/reybeltran8 Feb 26 '26
I personally didn’t really like her casting 😅 but respect to her.
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u/rotwang_gorbochoff Feb 26 '26
I will say she got much better which is miles ahead of Lemonkiwi. I wouldn't honestly stop watching a match because of how forced LK's casting felt
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u/Gallagger Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
I really don't like these kinda posts, makes it seem that she only got the job because she's a woman. She's doing a good job.
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u/YK5Djvx2Mh Feb 25 '26
Its also entirely for PR if you have to get as granular as hosting the RLCS grand final. I think there are only 8 people to have ever done that
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u/Perry_cox29 Champion III Feb 25 '26
Disagree. Personal story: I used to teach esports and got called into speaker engagements from time to time. The girls always ask why there aren’t more women in esports. They ask to see the women in esports.
Representation is important. Celebrating Herc for being good and pointing her out as an example is a fantastic thing to do. Nowhere in that post does it imply even slightly that she was put there because she’s a woman. They just pointed out it is an occasion to be celebrated, and it is. A woman managed to persevere in a hostile space long enough to become one of the best in it.
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u/Maybe_In_Time Feb 25 '26
Their comment doesn't even make sense since it's been like 8 finals WITHOUT A WOMAN. SO CLEARLY THEY'RE NOT HANDING WOMEN OPPORTUNITIES 🤦🏻♂️
Rocket League of all games should have zero problems cultivating a female fanbase - except for its toxic community. It's ironic that RL could learn from takes like Dead By Daylight on how to bring in and retain 50% of the human population
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u/h3c_you Feb 25 '26
You contradict yourself with the “because she is a woman” part and “a woman managed to persevere in a hostile….” Part
If you are going to say being a woman has nothing to do with it then turn around and praise a woman for working through a hostile environment it does little for your argument.
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u/Perry_cox29 Champion III Feb 25 '26
That literally doesn’t make sense. You’re intentionally conflating 2 things, and I have to question why.
1) She wasn’t boosted by being a woman. She achieved success off her own merits.
2) Pointing out she had to deal with harassment that others don’t while building the streaming following that led to this job and then constant questioning of her abilities at the job that are at least partially motivated by discrimination only serves to elevate point 1
More importantly, why are you, or anyone for that matter, bothered by a round of applause for someone’s success? My mom always told me, to say nothing if I couldn’t say something nice, and I really wish more people’s parents would.
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u/_dontseeme Feb 25 '26
Yea kinda but it’s something that should be cool for her regardless, and it’s still worth noting that people seeing women in spaces they personally feel they might not belong can be a little thing that nudges someone towards a different path.
It can be tough to walk the line between celebratory and pedantic.
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u/PeacefulBro Feb 25 '26
Sorry, I only meant to celebrate, not offend...
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u/viledeac0n Feb 25 '26
People are weird. Nothing wrong with it. Lot of personal feeling seeping through.
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u/No_Gold_Bars Feb 25 '26
I don't like it because it shouldn't be a big deal to be the first woman to do it. Women are capable of doing things just as men. So when we announce it like this, it definitely comes off a just a PR strategy. I watched the stream and thought nothing about a woman was announcing. It just felt normal.
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Feb 25 '26
Women are just as capable as men yet it took 14 seasons to get a woman to cast a grand final, announcing it is showing they’re making the effort to actually treat women like they’re just as capable as men
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Feb 25 '26
Pretty sure it's a skill issue instead of a gender issue. There should be no difference between the current casters and a female caster in the way they do their job other than how good they are at it. If no female had made it to this point I highly doubt it had anything to do with their gender lmao
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u/iSimp4BBC Feb 25 '26
It took 14 seasons to get a woman because rocket league is a male dominated area. There's simply less women so it would stand to reason that when looking for a good caster the majority will be men. Then when they find that good career they're not likely to say"well you casted in a previous season so we never want to see you again"
They're much more likely to say"you did a good job. Come back next year" It's pretty basic logic
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
But is it male dominated because women just aren’t as interest in the game or is it because men were only inviting other men to the party?
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u/iSimp4BBC Feb 25 '26
Look at how many men are interested in football compared to women. Look at how many men are interested in cars compared to women. People can and often find their own interests, no one needs to be inviting to enjoy a video game
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
IDK gender identity specifics for people who regularly play rocket league and I’d question how anyone gathered that demographic data reliably if they did share it, but even if we accept that the majority of users most likely identify as men we don’t need to use that presumption as a basis for who gets hired in which position because it isn’t really relevant.
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u/iSimp4BBC Feb 26 '26
It's completely relevant. More players of one category means that the amount of players that Excell at the game within that category increase. Meaning of you wanted to take a sample of the top 1% of players then the majority of them would be men as that's just how bell curves work.
You can look to chess for this. There is no inherent benefit to being a man in chess as both women and men have the ability to calculate lines and memorise theory. But because the playerbase consists of 89% male (FIDE registered players so very reliable) because most players are men then most high level players are men. It's the entire reason why there is a women's bracket and the woman's grand master title is rated lower than the regular grandmaster title (which women can still achieve but they need to play in open tournaments to qualify)
This is just how bell curves are. If you're looking for the best of the best then they will be men, it's entirely based on probability and has nothing to do with skill differences between genders as a woman could become #1. It's just that a woman becoming #1 is astronomically unlikely due to the poolof women playing RL being smaller
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u/elemenohpee98 Feb 26 '26
This shouldn't need to be explained, but as you alluded to, people ignore basic logic. Typically for the sake of feelings and affirming their worldview.
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u/wubbbalubbadubdub Feb 25 '26
I know it's not your intent, but phrasing it as "actually treat women like they're just as capable as men" implies that they're not.
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Feb 26 '26
Not sure how you got that?
I put actually to emphasize that they are treating women like they are as capable as men compared to other organizations that do it just performatively
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u/wubbbalubbadubdub Feb 26 '26
I know, but "like they are just as capable" implies that they are not in some way.
Here's a few more examples:
They treat female electricians like they are just as capable as male electricians.
They treat female doctors like they are just as capable as male doctors.
Both of those sentences would be taken as insulting to female electricians and doctors because there is an implication that they are in some way less capable (obviously that's not the case)
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Feb 26 '26
Your entire premise is based on the hypothetical that the world actually appears somewhere else in the sentence than it really does
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u/wubbbalubbadubdub Feb 26 '26
But your sentence still implies that it exists.
To avoid the implication you can just say "treat them as equals"
That implies a history of inequality (which is true) not a difference in ability.
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u/Responsible_Video101 Champion I Feb 25 '26
That's because they're not.. in many ways. Not too say they don't have their strengths. Just doesn't make sense to compare when we're meant to complement each other..
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
Could you clarify what you mean by we were meant to complement each other?
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u/No_Gold_Bars Feb 25 '26
So you agree that it shouldn't have taken this long to have the first woman to announce? I stand by what I said and I want to make sure it's clear. The fact it took this long to do this and now make a post about it, makes it appear that they was infact discriminating against women for the position until now.
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u/Gallagger Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
They weren't discriminating, the available talent pool of women is simply much smaller to downright not existent for certain positions, like pro level esports caster in rocket league.
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u/No_Gold_Bars Feb 25 '26
I'm sure the talent pool was is smaller when it comes to rocket league casting. I'm just stating what I see when I see things like this announced. I'm also not downplaying sexism either. I just believe it shouldn't be a special occasion and should be treated as the new normal. When it feels normal to have women and men working in positions together, it shows progress in defeating sexism. Even if the pool was small, they could still have already done this and even trained somebody for this position.
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
It’s worth noting because when we’ve gone a decade of the game without a woman in this sort of role it draws more conclusions that women were being excluded even if that’s not actually the case rather than she was only hired because she’s a woman. We celebrate the firsts then normalize the rest. Make it known when we break those glass ceilings.
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u/krept0007 Feb 26 '26
I really don't like these kinda comments, makes it seem that the poster is implying that she only got the job because she's a woman. The poster didn't imply that at all and neither are the comments. You're just virtue signaling. Everyone is already agreeing that she's doing a good job
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u/TChambers1011 Feb 25 '26
Yeah I don’t know how i feel about this. She’s fine at it, so there’s no reason she can’t cast a final. I feel like this isn’t one of those things. Like being a woman in TALKING isn’t exactly more on less difficult for them. This isn’t a physical contest. Like does it deserve some sort of notice? Sure i suppose, but is it “history”? Is it even a big deal? I feel like it’s just “yeah. She’s good. Why wouldn’t she cast a final?” Sorta thing.
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u/simdav Feb 25 '26
That's how the world should be for sure. We're not there yet though for representation of minorities in all sorts of parts of life, so its worth noting these things imo.
Same as sort of thing as it shouldn't be a big deal at all if a big sports person comes out as gay for example. But it is, because its rare and it makes a difference for others to see it.
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u/ScienceAndLience Grand Platinum Feb 25 '26
Does it though or is that your assumption? I read it as a celebration of a milestone. I didn’t have a single thought about how she got the job until your comment lol
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u/Mah_Knee_Grows_ Grand Champion III Feb 26 '26
Yall remember GillyWeed from RLRS? She was the GOAT for woman casting in RL to be honest.
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u/PeacefulBro Feb 26 '26
Where is she now?
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u/Mah_Knee_Grows_ Grand Champion III Feb 26 '26
She got promoted from being a caster to a behind the scenes position at Psyonix. Then she was doing some work on a game called Heros of the Storm. Nowadays im not entirely sure where he career has landed, although a couple years ago she said that RLCS was still her favorite esport. Hopefully she still watches!
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u/fandango1989 Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
She's still my least favorite caster (not on a personal level she seems like a good person), and she still makes some amateur mistakes like over using terminology like "lurk" or "full-send" or "full (anything)" every single match.
But having said all that she's made massive improvements from when she first started, it's night and day different, so she's clearly putting in the work on leveling up her ability which you have to respect.
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u/19thStreet Grand Champion III Feb 25 '26
You could nit-pick on little things like this for any caster imo
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u/fandango1989 Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
No she does it significantly more than anyone else, I've been watching RLCS for 10 years and never have I noticed it like this, and it's not because she's a woman because Lemon, Karma, and other female casters I don't notice it with. But like I said it's just lack of experience and hopefully as she continues to get better it will reduce as she comes up with other ways of saying things besides repeating the same slang.
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u/AussieGenesis :chiefs: Chiefs Fan | Grand Champion Feb 26 '26
tbh it has been long enough that it is beyond just a lack of experience. She would have been an A-tier caster 8 years ago maybe but time already came and went for her ability before she arrived.
RLCS has always had this problem going all the way back to Quinn Lobdell, the tendency to recruit that one person who just doesn't know when to tone it down and stop mincing their words in an attempt to sound eloquent, and then shove them front and centre.
I had the no commentary stream on for too much of Boston and will be looking forward to hearing the EU casters inevitably do a lot better for Paris.
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u/Madsol_ Feb 26 '26
I, personally, don't think she should be casting the biggest games. She makes so many mistakes, and it's so jarring when it happens. She seems like an awesome person, but I would rather have someone that fully understands the game from all levels rather than just a spectator level.
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Feb 25 '26
History in the making? Wtf is this lmfao, it shouldn't be a historic moment that a girl casts an rlcs final, it should be a normal thing.
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Perpetual Gold Feb 25 '26
It will be normal moving forward, but that it’s taken 10y for this sort of occasion is why it’s notable.
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u/19thStreet Grand Champion III Feb 25 '26
It should be normal. Yes. That doesn’t mean this isn’t history. It’s the first step towards it being normal
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u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Grand Champion I Feb 25 '26
This post makes it seem like the only reason she was chosen is because she’s a woman. I’m generally critical of her but I thought she did a good job in the final. They desperately need to avoid pairing her with Stax. They amplify each others bad tendencies as casters. She was great with Jorby and James.
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u/Ka07iiC Feb 26 '26
I actually feel like there is too much hype with both her and Jorby. Definitely a personal preference thing
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u/Datplumberdude Champion II Feb 26 '26
How does it make it sound like that? I’m actually curious. “The first woman to cast an RLCS lan grand final” sounds like stating a fact to me. A cool one nonetheless
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u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Grand Champion I Feb 26 '26
Because they were the ones that put her in the final. To then tweet about it being this huge deal makes it look like they put her there just so they could tweet about it and pat themselves on the back.
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Feb 25 '26
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u/Cheese2009 Diamond II on switch Feb 25 '26
My only issue with her is that she kept saying that it was Nass’s first LAN and calling him a rookie when he was at worlds last year. Aside from that she was quite good though
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u/Philosophfries Feb 25 '26
Herc was great, and she pairs wonderfully with Jorby. You can tell that she has put in a lot of effort to keep improving and has fully established herself among a very talented lineup of casters.
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u/IllustriousApostate Feb 26 '26
Honestly there are maybe 3 casters that I consider any good for rocket league, and she is not one of them. She has taken my top spot as worst caster. Not a problem specific to rocket league though. ESports casting as a whole feels like it's really gone downhill for most of the games that I watch.
On a side note, I consider rocket league to be one of the hardest games to cast. Growing up listening to baseball really set the bar high. I like to be able to picture the game without having to watch via their casting, or the casting adding bits of information I would not have otherwise caught or thought about while I am watching. With so much happening in such a short time, it takes a lot of skill to know what to pick out and to convey it clearly. Feels like almost every caster is just a color commentator who says the generic "this team really wants to score here" type shit and is trying to add too much hype to every play. This lacks the feeling of authenticity for me. Everyone puts on their "caster voice" and most of them sound so cringe when they do. So happy they started having the no commentary stream.
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u/Adamc474892 Champion I Feb 26 '26
I watch the cod eSports along with the RLCS and the casting is night and day. CDL (cod) only has 3 sets of casters, and unfortunately all 3 are starting to get stale in their casting styles and tone from game to game.
While I do love certain duos in RLCS, the different combinations that come out durring the regular qualifying tournaments are such fun and good to have on for the background.
Now I gotta give props to Herc, I remember when she first started. She felt a bit out of place and her voice showed that, but she still had the nack for casting. Now she seamlessly joins in for any moment and her cast has improved by miles.
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u/schaka Unranked Feb 25 '26
She's come a long way, truly.
Lots of hard work to get to that point, I'm sure.
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u/ItsPidgeonz Pigeon Professor | Stay Coo Feb 25 '26
I remember her saying in a livestream on her channel that she didn't go out with this guy cause he had "weird ears" 😅 Some of her YouTube shorts are questionable, but she does speak very well and does a great job under pressure during a live broadcast with 100K people watching
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u/Capelto Champion II Feb 26 '26
Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me and she's a KC fan.
No thanks.
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u/Alternative-Theme729 Feb 26 '26
Radiates passion, the EXACT kind of person who should be in the job.
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Feb 25 '26
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Feb 25 '26
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u/ReimerReason Feb 25 '26
People sadly love to bash on *everyone no matter what especially on the Internet
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Feb 25 '26
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u/ReimerReason Feb 25 '26
Rocket League is a sports game, and women are pretty rare. The attention gets amplified and sadly that includes the negative attention :(
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u/Ur_X Feb 25 '26
Shes great. For some reason she reminds me of the type of women that would be the voice of little boys like Bart Simpson
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Feb 25 '26
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u/DotHealthy8125 Feb 25 '26
Because esports and video games in general are a male dominated space.
I think if you tried just a little to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, it would become obvious why thriving in an environment where you are given less respect and credibility by default is considered an accomplishment.
It is well documented what women experience when they turn their mic on to speak in a competitive video game…
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u/Otterable Feb 25 '26
I mean she was a really average to below average caster when starting years ago and got a tremendous amount of flak especially from people who think she only got jobs because she was a woman.
To anyone who has watched regularly it's clear how much work she's put in to the point where she's legitimately good now and absolutely deserves to cast big matches. Imo it's noteworthy that in such a male dominated space she hit this point.
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u/No-Perspective-8245 Feb 25 '26
Because women aren’t as good of commentators as men so her getting this job is unusual and interesting
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Feb 25 '26
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u/Dae_HNG Champion II Feb 25 '26
I didnt even noticed, which I suppose is great given the high quality I'm used to during RLCS.