Bonnie Qu & Yinsu Collins, Staff Writers at Upcomer
In Career Spotlight we profile women and non-binary people who work professionally in the world of gaming and esports. It’s our goal that by featuring a multitude of jobs across the gaming and esports industries, we will show gameHERs everywhere what is possible when it comes to building a life and career in the field they love.
This week we feature Upcomer staff writers Bonnie Qu and Yinsu Collins. Upcomer is an online publication that covers the past, present and future of esports. We cover Bonnie and Yinsu’s starts in esports journalism, the ways they find esports similar to other industries, and their hopes for the future of women, non-binary people, and marginalized genders in the world of esports.
Bonnie Qu, photo courtesy of subject
Yinsu Collins, photo courtesy of subject
When did you get your start in gaming or esports? Do you have a particular early gaming memory you’d like to share?
Bonnie Qu:
I started playing Overwatch when it came out in 2016 and liked it a lot, but I wasn’t very good at it. Then, the following year, while I was on the hunt for an excuse to procrastinate on my final exams, I stumbled upon OGN Overwatch APEX, a Korean Overwatch tournament and the biggest in the world at the time. I was immediately hooked on how seriously these people seemed to take professional video games (an inherently silly pursuit), and I’ve been following Overwatch esports ever since.
Yinsu Collins:
I got into gaming super young. I think my first game was Pokémon -- I think a lot of people in my generation’s first game. And from there, I remember, my mom used to get really annoyed at me because she bought me a Gameboy DS. It was like the first Gameboy that you could have a backlight on on the console. And you could basically play in the dark. I used to hide under my duvet at night and play it. My mom would get so annoyed and she asked to come in and check on me. Which is quite funny. Because once I started getting into gaming as a career I used to joke with her “Hey, remember all those hours that used to tell me off for playing too many games? It's led me somewhere. It's not all wasted!”
That’s probably my earliest memory. But from there, I played a copious amount of Call of Duty. I got into League of Legends. And I kind of snowballed from there. My parents used to kind of get a little bit worried that I was spending too much time on the computer and my Xbox playing games. But now, luckily, they kind of see the funny side to that as well. They're like, “Oh, it's a good thing we didn't limit you too much.”
How did you get into esports journalism?
Bonnie Qu:
I’ve always been into writing – shoutout to the 11-chapter Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfiction that I wrote when I was 12 – but I never considered it a career path until esports came along. At the end of 2017, I published my first piece of esports writing on Medium, and eventually graduated to writing paid articles for outlets like ESPN Esports and even the Overwatch League itself.
Yinsu Collins:
So for me, I first realized that esports journalism was even a thing when I was at university. I didn't have too many friends who were into esports because we had a group of us who would watch League of Legends regularly. That experience pulled the curtain back a little bit for me to go, “oh, my goodness, this is it. There's a whole world out there. This is an actual legitimate industry.”
I actually was working in sports at the time -- in football. I started writing about esports, alongside a lot of my work in sports. The more and more I got opportunities to write about esports and cover events, the more I just fell in love with the whole process and the [esports] scene in multiple titles. And last year, I decided to make the full time switch [to covering esports]. I was still juggling esports and sports all the way up until around April 2020. When the first lockdown in the UK due to the pandemic happened, that's when I committed more full time into esports.
What do you find unique as a writer about covering esports versus other industries? What is similar?
Bonnie Qu:
I’ve dabbled in games journalism, but even though esports and games are obviously intertwined, I don’t think there’s much of an overlap in coverage. Esports is driven by the stories of its people, rather than the games themselves. Esports journalism takes most of its cues from sports journalism – although the different demographics obviously also necessitate a difference in approach.
Yinsu Collins:
I think what’s obviously similar is that we are all trying to tell stories, and when personalities are covering events, we're trying to inform our audiences, help them grow and better their knowledge.
I think those elements are really similar to other sports that I have covered, but the unique thing about esports is that it's so accessible. I feel like we tend to make more content that people want and in which people have input. Whereas I think in sport, the way the content is kind of curated is so old school. It's an industry that's been around for decades and decades. So there's almost like a protocol like: “Oh, this is how you write an article about football, this is how you report on a match in football” and so on.
I think writing about esports is a lot more free and creative. I think the video content does that as well. I don't think you find as many publications doing incredible video form storytelling in traditional sport. If you do, that usually comes down to bigger media companies, not just smaller publications. Whereas these days, we have a lot of video storytelling in esports.
And also, I'd say the personalities behind writers get out a lot more in esports. I know in sports that there's a few exceptions – there are quite a few like famous sports writers -- but in esports you don't even have to be famous or have a huge profile to be able to get your personality across in your pieces. And your readers kind of appreciate you in that sense.
As a writer who covers esports professionally, what skills do you find you use the most in your job? Are there experiences from previous work you did that were particularly helpful in preparing you for this role?
Bonnie Qu:
The most important thing to remember when covering esports is that very few stories are going to shake out exactly the way you want them to. I’m very fond of the players that I get to cover, but they can also be incredibly uncooperative without meaning to be. Sometimes you’ll get a cool story idea, and then you’ll talk to the player in question and they’ll completely negate everything you’ve built up in your head. All this to say, a very helpful skill in esports writing is being able to build a compelling story based on what you have, even if it’s sparse, because it’ll always be better than a story based on nothing.
Yinsu Collins:
Well, most people in esports, I would say, probably didn't pursue any sort of education in it specifically. When it comes to journalism. I know some people have gone to college or university to study journalism, English, literature or something similar, and became a journalists after. But I'd say for most people it starts as a passion project.
There really isn't a barrier whatsoever if you want to get into writing. I think that is good and bad. It's good because anybody can do it if they want to. In theory, anybody can excel at it if they have enough experience. But then at the same time, I think a lot of people do need that kind of professional training. Fortunately, at publications like Upcomer, we give our writers training. All of our writers work really closely together. So I think that's a really, really great thing. And other publications, I think you do get thrown into the deep end a little bit. You have to teach yourself as opposed to having a helping hand when it comes to feature writing, or news writing, or even video training.
I personally, in the UK, I obtained a journalism qualification. So I did all my professional and formal training back when I was a sports writer, but I do think in esports, that doesn't really exist right now. So I think the more that we are able to help more up-and-comers (pun intended), the better the industry will get as well.
What advice do you have for women, non-binary, and marginalized gendered writers who want to begin working in esports?
Yinsu Collins:
Well, what I will say is that just because something is the way it is sometimes doesn't mean it's going to stay that way. So it's a little bit ominous to say, but just because you you might feel a little bit discriminated against in certain places -- and it sucks – you know, speak up about this. I always encouraged people to speak up about it, if they feel a microaggression or discrimination either at work, at events in the gaming community, or in general. However, just because sometimes that's the way things are doesn't mean they can't change. I'm a really big advocate of trying to have things improve and to change things. And in my career, a lot of people have said to me, like, "Hey, this is not really worth you speaking about" or like, "hey, you're gonna put your own career on the line,” or “this is gonna jeopardize what you have built, if you speak up about certain situations," and I've never shied away from it. I've always spoken up, and I've always tried to change things if I can see that they’re wrong and I see a situation as bad.
The sad truth is, if you are someone who is a minority get trying to get into esports, those kinds of things are probably going to happen to you at one point or another. If you speak to any of the other great writers we have right now in the industry, whether they are women, non-binary or marginalized in any shape or form, they will tell you that as well. Everybody has their own experiences. But the important thing is that we need to be able to speak about it. We need to be able to try to right the wrongs because if we don't do that, then this industry is going to be like this forever. I don't believe in things that aren't able to change. I definitely believe that if enough people bring awareness to certain situations, we can definitely change things for the better.
Bonnie Qu:
Don’t doubt yourself. Remember that there are literally hundreds of men working in esports who are just okay at what they do and they never doubt themselves. If they can do that, so can you.
In the time that you’ve been working in esports, how have you seen change when it comes to representation of marginalized genders and women? What change do you believe still needs to happen?
Yinsu Collins:
Oh my gosh, there's so much that needs to happen.
I definitely feel like my answer is slightly skewed, because coming from sport, it is a lot worse in sport. I felt the discrimination a lot more and a lot more frequently, and when I was working in sports, it felt almost like an old boys club. You know, it's almost a fraternity kind of industry – it still is. But I will say is that gaming is actually a lot better from my personal experience than traditional sports, especially as a woman.
I do think there's still a long way to go. I think people are definitely more accepting. I think companies such as Upcomer are doing so much to try and understand diversity, to try to make sure they have diversity inclusion, which I think is super important.
But at the same time, I just feel like I always get approached every single year when it's International Women's Day, or when it's something to do with women, or for an event if it’s a female event. I always get asked “Hey, would you like to do this?” Or “would you like to do this story around this?” Or “would you like to comment?” There are other times outside of International Women's Day, and there are events outside of female-only tournaments that you can utilize female writers. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm the only person that knows about a women's esports. Similarly, I'm sure there's loads of male writers out there who are very knowledgeable about women's esports and want to write about it. And I do believe everybody should get given that chance regardless of who you are, but we should also give opportunities to women outside of those times, that are "meant for women" because, believe it or not, I know lots of female writers who know more about League of Legends or more about whatever esports title it is than some male writers. And that's not a gender thing, It's just that your agenda is irrelevant. But I feel like a lot of the female writers might not necessarily get as many opportunities at the moment, so I would love to see a balance in who is doing that kind of writing in the future.
Bonnie Qu:
With the release of Overwatch, and more recently, Valorant, there have definitely been more women getting involved in esports, at every stage of the process – as writers, as players, as team staff. The funny thing, though, is that in every community, there are always more women than it seems at first. Many are just hesitant to disclose their identities. I think the main thing, other than broadly encouraging more young girls to get into games, is also creating a safe environment where the women who are there feel safe enough to show themselves.
What is special about Upcomer? As readers, what should we expect when we read Upcomer coverage?
Bonnie Qu:
We’ve been working on Upcomer for a little while now, and one thing that I’m really excited about is the freedom we’re all given to tell the stories we want to tell. I think it’ll be an esports media outlet that understands and serves the esports community’s specific wants, instead of producing generic coverage.
Yinsu Collins:
I think it's difficult to sum up in a short sentence what's special about Upcomer, but I do think people will realize very quickly once they start to consume Upcomer content that it's premium. I hate using that word, but I do think it is a lot of premium content. It is a lot of investigative work, and feature work, and a lot of meat. We try and make the stories as full as possible. We will talk to multiple sources. Of course are going to be be news pieces as well, but the on the whole, it's more kind of long-form, well sought-out content.
I think there are plenty of publications that are focused on one or two individual esports, and they smash it and they're unbelievable at this. I believe Upcomer is going to be a place where it's going to excel like that, but in multiple titles, including smaller titles and more niche titles. And we’ll treat all of those titles with the same respect, so that for our audience, it doesn't matter what they're into. The audience won’t care how good our League of Legends coverage is if they're here for Valorant, for example, so as a publication, we have to treat everything with the same respect. I feel that is going to be a priority at Upcomer.
As consumers and fans of the esports world, what can we do to support people of marginalized genders, women, and people of color in the industry?
Bonnie Qu:
If you do happen to be part of a privileged group, one of the most influential things you can do is call out the people around you when they engage in shitty behavior. This doesn’t have to be a big thing, either. Sometimes a simple “that wasn’t cool” goes a long way. It can’t just be marginalized people sticking up for themselves – change comes when we hold ourselves and our peers accountable, after all.
Yinsu Collins:
Oh, my gosh, I'll be here forever. I could do a podcast on that topic alone.
I think fans need to be more forgiving. I think everybody makes mistakes. And in our industry, we're so hostile toward mistakes and those who make mistakes. Not everything that every single person writes about, or every single person reports on is going to be 100% truth 100% of the time. We are going to make small mistakes, we might sometimes even make big mistakes, and some people might even make catastrophic mistakes. But I think intent really matters and fans and consumers tend to be really unforgiving, and even more unforgiving towards women and people of color and marginalized genders for sure. I know a lot of people probably won't like me generalizing like that, and I don't want to generalize, but I think on the whole, as a woman, if I make a similar mistake to my male colleague or male counterpart, I get treated and judged a lot more harshly and I get a lot more slack than I would if I were a white male. I've experienced that a lot. I think if fans and consumers could be a little bit more forgiving, not just towards women, people of color, and marginalized genders, but just toward everyone in general, they would themselves probably have a more fulfilling time when it comes to consuming content, and it wouldn't make writers feel bad either.
I mean, by all means, if a writer is trying to slander somebody, or besmirch someone's name for absolutely no reason, yeah, I feel that you need to hold someone accountable. But if a writer makes a small mistake, a typo, or, you know, or writes an opinion piece that you just don't agree with, there is no need to attack anybody personally, there's no need to try to get anybody fired over something like that. And there's no need to call people names or use slurs in any shape or form.
But also on the other side, if you want to directly support those writers and content creators who you like, who are women, or marginalized genders, or people of color, don't treat them differently, either. I think when you start treating people differently, whether positive or negative, it is going to enhance the issue of them feeling like they're different. So, for example, you can have multiple people who are your favorite writers, but personally, I feel like if you like a writer who happens to be a woman, you can just be like, “Hey, you're one of my favorite writers.” You don't necessarily need to be like, “Oh, you're one of my favorite female writers.” Unless that’s something relevant, where writer’s identity is the root of their content, in which case, I think, yeah, that's nice. In other words: support people who you love. But don't take too much notice of things that are completely irrelevant. If you love someone's writing, you love someone's writing. If you love someone's reporting, you love someone's reporting. It doesn't matter who they are. And I think that's the way it should be really.
Follow Bonnie Qu and read their work on Upcomer:
Twitter: @bonniequeue
Upcomer articles: https://www.upcomer.com/author/bonnie-qu/
Follow Yinsu Collins and read her work on Upcomer:
Twitter: @YinsuCollins
Upcomer articles: https://www.upcomer.com/author/yinsu-collins/
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