Women in Swiss Esports: Sara Zelda Meier aka SeLRa

This week, we are delighted to feature Sara Zelda Meier aka SeLRa in our latest profile highlight.

Sara has been active in Swiss esports for quite some time. She started her esports journey in 2015 when she participated in Smash 4 tournaments. She switched to Overwatch and joined Celestial eSports in 2018, which later merged with March Marmots. After SwitzerLAN 2019 edition, she joined the management team and helped organise events, managed the organisation's social media channels, and a number of administrative tasks. She has also been participating in global Star Wars: Squadrons leagues since 2020 and rejoined the Smash community last year.

When she isn't working on esports related matters, she studies communication in Winterthur or works in Lucerne at Gameorama game museum and Riddle Escape Games. She also loves spending her free time reading, going to the movies and playing board games and archery.

It is now time to get to know her better!

Seven Getting to Know You Questions:

Q1. What is your favourite dish?

"Pizza."

Q2. What is the best game you have ever played?

"Hard to say, based on hours played it’s probably Star Wars: Squadrons & SMITE. For singleplayer games, it’d probably be Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance since it’s the only bigger singleplayer game that I played more than once."

Q3. Who made you love video games ?

"Kim Possible probably, since her game was the first one I played on the GBA as a kid."

Q4. If you could hold an esports event anywhere in the world, where would it be?

"Here in Switzerland. I’m not a very big fan of travelling far."

Q5. Are you on PC, Console or Mobile ?

"I play on PC for the most part and on Switch."

Q6. If you could join any Esports team, who would that be ? (Swiss/Worldwide)

I’ve always admired mYinsanity for their efforts to make the Swiss esport scene more visible both at national and international level.

Q7. If you were a professional player, which game would you like to compete in ?

"Dota 2. I like how the esports ecosystem is built in Dota 2 and watching The International every year is always nice."

About Your Background And Career:

Q1. What made you come to esports and how did you get started?

"I came into contact with esports when I found out about StarCraft 2. I watched Swiss players like PengWin and other players from mYi play StarCraft. Later on, I started competing in Smash 4 tournaments together with a few friends of mine."

Q2. How are you involved in esports at the moment ?

"I’m the actuary of the March Marmots. Additionally, I play in an international Star Wars: Squadrons team which competes in the Squadrons Championship League (SCL) and I attend Swiss Smash Ultimate tournaments."

Q3. Where do you see yourself in esports in the next five years?

"To be honest, I don’t know. I’m currently not actively playing in Swiss esports and I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep any other position within an organisation."

Representation & Inclusivity Questions

Q1. Do you feel that women and marginalised genders are represented well enough in esports? How about in Switzerland?

"Women and marginalised genders are fortunately getting more screen time in esports as casters, analysts and in other positions during an esports broadcast. Projects like the Game Changers Championship in Valorant are getting players the spotlight they deserve. In Swiss esports, it’s a bit different. There aren’t many on screen talents and we don’t have anything similar to Game Changers. However, we still have women who work behind the scenes and there are also quite a few female or nonbinary players within our esports ecosystem as well. They might not be as visible as the top players but they are still here and an important part of Swiss esports. This is why it’s important to take action and make sure that women and marginalised genders feel safe."

Q2. What is currently the biggest challenge related to this topic and how would you start to overcome it?

"The biggest challenge is sexism and anti-lgbtqia+ hate still being acceptable «opinions» in parts of the Swiss scene. We at March Marmots recently kicked the team captain of our Rainbow Six team because of his misogynistic & transphobic statements. Sadly, most of the team had the same views and left the organisation as well. Other people criticized the organisation's action because they thought it was too political. We will keep having problems like this as long as hate speech is seen as a valid opinion by many in the scene. It is therefore crucial for organisations to take an active stance against sexism and hate speech of any kind. This also includes punishing players and members who spread hate speech."

Q3. Do you feel there is any progress being made for representation on the scene?

"To be honest, it doesn’t feel like it to me. Again and again players on social media or in game let their sexism shine through. Women often don’t feel safe in an esports environment because of these statements. It also doesn’t help that women's concerns are more often than not played down. «Just muting voice chat» is not a good option in a competitive shooter and limits the ways of having an impact in game for female players. Sexism has to be taken seriously as an issue for Swiss esports. As long as women don’t feel safe, there won’t be much representation."

Q4. If you could bring one thing in the industry to promote more inclusion, what would that be?

"I think it’s more important to change the way organisations handle sexism and hate speech. We don’t need any special thing to promote ourselves, we can bring ourselves into Swiss esports. The only thing we need is to be accepted by others in the scene."

Q5. What do you think women can bring to the esports scene ?

"Everything men can bring to the esports scene as well."

If you want to know more about SeLRa and her work within the Swiss esports scene, we invite you to visit her profile here.