“I really want to speak out for the girls” — Yuusaki releases video detailing player responses to GGG
Following frustrations from within the Apex Legends Competitive Women’s Scene, the community publicly voices criticism of Tournament Organisers “Girls Gotta Game”.
Following an explosion of public complaints concerning the Tournament Organisers (TOs) “Girls Gotta Game” (GGG), Yuusaki has published a video on YouTube detailing how the TOs have treated players in the Apex Women’s Competitive Scene.
Yuusaki is a respected player and tournament organiser responsible for hosting regular tournaments under the name “Celestial Cup”. She runs multiple tiers of tournaments catering to a wider range of players within the scene. GGG TOs have been forced to clarify statements made about Yuusaki online after comments were perceived to devalue her contributions to the scene unnecessarily.
In a 30-minute video, Yuusaki responds to GGG’s reactions following criticism of their organisation, clarifying how competitors have clearly communicated feedback and detailing negative treatment from the TOs.
Below is an overview of her comments, broken down into seven parts:
Part 1: “The Start & Issues After”
In the women’s scene, Apex Legends tournaments initially lacked competitors. However, participating players felt strongly that TOs did not persevere, and as relative newcomers to the scene, GGG “just went silent and never came back”.
Many of the struggles faced by these tournament organisers could have been combatted by properly communicating tournament start times and committing to improved advertising of the events.
Once the women’s scene regained traction, GGG restarted their tournaments in the growing community.
Part 2: “My Journey in Becoming a TO”
The problems in this period were significant in motivating Yuusaki to become a TO. She made significant and notable commitments to these tournaments, including spending $4–5k out of her own pocket to provide prize pools.
Part 4: “The Voice of the Girls”
In her video, Yuusaki respectfully acknowledged that the competitors in the women’s scene have not always been able to convey their criticisms properly. Although some may appear to have overstepped the line, there is an immense accumulation of frustration due to dismissal and ignorance from the GGG TOs.
Part 5: Feedback
A core defensive stance that has emerged from the GGG TOs is that the women competing need to provide feedback detailing their complaints. In her video, Yuusaki offered clear evidence that this is not the case:
The Feedback Form
GGG released a feedback form to competitors, requesting that they voice their concerns to rectify them. In these feedback forms, screenshots show that competitors raised concerns about tournaments’ length, communication, and overall dissatisfaction.
Vitally, there may have been initial issues with the distribution of said form. If the main communication channel used to share the form was Discord, most women in the scene have a vast list of tournament Discord channels. It is incredibly likely that if posted there, many women did not see it. Discord is useful for intra-tournament communication but is not recommended for extra-tournament contact. If distributed primarily on Twitter, not all competitors follow TOs, and algorithms may impact reach.
Overall, women in the competitive scene did provide feedback via the forms. GGG’s response to this feedback is detailed in Part 8 (“GGGs Response”)
The Letter
Recently, a letter was sent to the GGG TOs. This collaboratively-written letter explicitly detailed the complaints from the women in the scene.
The following is a paraphrased list of the issues raised:
- Payouts were up to six months late, often until a competitor publicly complained. Players were given excuses and not responded to for extreme lengths of time.
- Times between tournament matches were too long.
- Competitors felt they were dismissed and ignored when providing feedback and did not feel respected by the TOs.
- TOs did not remain unbiased in their treatment of players and did not accept the nature of player communication that competitors were satisfied with.
- Players were given unsatisfactory communication during tournaments, including information on tournament delays and reasons for being banned from competing.
- Tournament staff were not providing the same information as TOs, leading to frustration and a communication breakdown.
GGG were asked to step up as organisers and allow players to compete on their terms.
Crucially, the letter clearly expressed that they would publicise their frustrations if their feedback was ignored or not respected. Furthermore, they were explicit in their input and their intentions to hold GGG accountable if they were dismissed again.
Part 6: Scheduling
Stress and disruption while hosting tournaments are expected and experienced by every TO in the women’s scene and beyond. However, GGG did not adhere to their published schedules, repeatedly starting up to twenty minutes late.
TOs and staff could never communicate clearly about delays, often using the vague phrase “starting soon”. At the same time, other TOs are well-versed in giving specific time frames, allowing competitors to prepare.
In messages displayed as screenshots in the video, Yuusaki demonstrated how the GGG TOs claimed that players should be prepared for tournaments as long as twelve hours, as this can occur in other esports titles. TOs also repeatedly stated that four-hour tournaments are standard, despite most tournaments lasting for less than three.
In particular, the GGG Winter Tournament suffered from a significant communication failure. After three games, a TO told competitors that the tournament was now cancelled. However, in a Discord channel following the tournament collapse, tournament staff claimed that it was not cancelled and that they had to stop because everyone left the lobby (following the TO’s comments).
Part 7: “Having to Beg for Money”
Timely payment is an issue that has been raised in many esports ecosystems, including in the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS). However, public complaints regarding payment from other TOs in the women’s scene have been few and far between.
However, GGG has faced repeated criticism for late payments. Competitors have reportedly had to beg for payment, even for low prize amounts — an act which should not be necessary out of respect to the players. TOs are responsible for paying their prize money and communicating with their players.
Screenshots from Yuusaki demonstrate how players were forced to message TOs for months requesting payment. However, the player whose screenshots were used had their requests mostly ignored or dismissed.
Part 8: GGGs Response
Over the duration of their involvement in the women’s Apex Legends scene, GGG have repeatedly been provided feedback from the community, both privately and publicly.
All responses to feedback have treated constructive advice or comments as hateful and personal. As a result, it is understandable that the competitors feel unheard.
Concerning the feedback form results, GGG responded to one player’s comments by saying, “like lol wtf am I supposed to do with this?”, despite the player in question providing a clear and concise answer advising a 3–3 tournament format as opposed to 2–2–2.
GGG TO Squajii also publicly posted the player’s comments in a mocking or joking manner, drawing a reaction from community members for disrespecting the validity of the feedback given.
Overall, GGG and its TOs are accusing women of bullying, despite competitors repeatedly expressing that they are trying to create a better, more productive competitive scene for everyone.
Feedback has been dismissed, mocked, or ignored, clearly disrespecting attempts at fostering constructive communication.
Following a public tweet from player @insepultus — prior to further clarification from TSM’s Sabz and Yuusaki — GGG hosted a live stream addressing the issues raised. Unfortunately, in this live stream, they repeatedly misunderstood @insepultus’s comments. For example, they took her mentioning that six-hour tournaments are not standard as an accusation of them running tournaments that length, which was not the case.
Responding to GGGs most recent comments
Yuusaki stated in her video, “I really want to speak out for the girls,” and “this whole mess is unreasonable”. Overall, she concluded, “I understand their frustration about not being listened to, ignored, and lied to, then being portrayed as a villain on Twitter.”
Following a Twitlonger published by TSM’s Sabz, representatives and defenders of GGG have posted aggressive and combative responses to women competing in the scene. These comments include claims of racism (when race had never been raised by any party prior), direct attacks on the appearance of Twitter users, and patronising or dismissive language.
Many in the scene hope GGG disassociates with those making hurtful and combative comments online. Instead, the organisation has the potential to finally listen to feedback and renew communication with the women at the heart of the scene.
GGG has yet to respond to Yuusaki, and more information concerning GGGs tournament organisation and community dynamics will likely follow.
