Dominating the Video Game Industry One Breakup at a Time
Hafu, or Rumay Wang, is a female Chinese-American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and professional gamer. She is most notable for playing games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo III. In her recent interview with fellow Twitch streamer and gaming YouTuber, Dan Gheesling, she mentions that by the age of 17, she was given the opportunity to travel and play in tournaments at a professional level, gaining her massive credibility very early on.
During this time, she was also asked to boost teams to a higher level, making $30–40k all while she was still attending high school. An unfathomable amount of money for a teenager to say the least.
As with any professional, Hafu didn’t start playing in tournaments right off the bat. She began playing video games at 14 when her best friend and boyfriend at the time had asked her to join them. She agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to spend time with the two most important people in her life at the point.
However, as with most young relationships, the two eventually broke up.
Now depressed and feeling lonely, she mainly focused on World of Warcraft as an escape from reality. In addition to quickly becoming very good at the game, it also became her outlet, something many people can relate to.
Today Hafu is 28 years old and continues to play professionally. In fact, earlier this year she became the #1 Teamfight Tactics player.
In a male-dominated industry, Hafu, of course, struggled to be a female gamer. In her interview, she mentions that when others found out she was a girl, it became the topic of conversation, and they would start to treat her differently. It became such a serious issue for her that she never used voice chat, a key component to success when playing on a team, with anyone who didn’t already know who she was. Hafu tells Dan, “I would rather people treat me like a normal human.”
Later, Hafu shares a story of how she found a solo player, who did not know that she was a girl, to be on her team for Arenas, a new addition to World of Warcraft that allowed for deathmatch PvP style gameplay. She avoided using voice chat with him until they had reached the top 20 together, something impressive in and of itself. Once she told him, he reacted kindly and continued to play with her.
A couple of weeks went by and the two had done what most can only dream of; they had reached the coveted #1 spot.
Aside from people treating her differently, she has handled countless comments from others about being a female gamer. Even today, Hafu must deal with people claiming she only gets views for being a girl or that it’s much easier for girls on the internet. She tells Dan that there is the assumption that more views equals more money which is deemed ‘unfair’ to male players if girls are getting all the viewers. Instead, she challenges this by saying that if someone were to add up every female Twitch streamer’s views, it would still be less than the top 10 male streamers.
Hafu continuously helps pave the way and sets an example for young girls around the world by creating a space for females in gaming. The story of how she got started is inspiring while also sheds light on being taken seriously as a professional player. Her influence and platform allow her to assist in ridding a community of harmful stereotypes by being one of the top gamers today and by holding her ground in a space like Twitch that is repeatedly changing.
