KUALA LUMPUR: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Malaysia (MPLMY) host Rose believes the eSports community has matured and is now much more welcoming towards the fairer sex.
Rose, better known in the community as Rose Gaming, started her eSsports career seven years ago.
At the time, the eSports industry was still in its infancy in Malaysia, and Rose got her break when she was invited to join Facebook Gaming Malaysia's streamer programme.
"There were no female streamers at that time until I got the offer from Facebook Gaming. That was my first time entering eSports, I streamed for about three to four years through the Covid-19 pandemic when everyone was stuck at home," said Rose, who wants to be known as Rose for this interview, at the Subang Jaya City Council Indoor Stadium in Serdang Jaya recently.
"Then, in 2021, I got an offer to move from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur to try out desk hosting. It was very different from what I currently do now because it was pre-recorded, and I was doing gadget reviews, too.
"At the end of 2022, I was invited by Moonton to attend the MPLMY Season 10 finals, they had a red carpet event. I was then asked whether I was interested in hosting MPLMY."
Rose said she was subjected to sexist remarks when she first started streaming.
However, such comments did not deter her, and she believes there has been a positive shift in the community which has become more acceptant towards women in eSports.
"Based on my own experience, the community has grown up so much. I used to get remarks like 'women belong in the kitchen', but for me, I can cook and play games, so what's the big deal, you know?
"But so far in the two years and four seasons of MPLMY that I hosted, the community has been very welcoming. They have been really nice to me and understanding, even when I mess up.
"There has definitely been a shift in the community. If you want to compare it to just five years ago, the change has been drastic.
"There are a lot more women involved now and I'm happy to have them onboard. There is room for everyone not just in terms of being in front of the camera, but backend jobs too," she said.
Rose was born in Manila to a Philippine-Spanish mother and a Singaporean father. When she was growing up, her father enrolled her at an international school in Johor Baru. This gave her the advantage of being trilingual: Malay, English and Tagalog.
"My dad didn't want me to study in Singapore as it would be too stressful. He preferred that I studied in Johor Baru in an international school, so we would get the same quality of education minus the stress.
"I grew up speaking English and picked up Tagalog from my mother, mainly from her yelling at me when she was mad at me. I didn't speak a lick of Malay up until I started streaming MLBB. I admit I grew up privileged and did not know that not everyone understands English.
"I learnt that my audience prefers someone who streams in Malay. As I wanted to connect with them and make friends, I started to learn the language from my friends with whom I played MLBB with," said Rose.
Her multilingual skills even led to a viral moment on the main stage where after a match between Team Haq and Homebois, she sprung her Tagalog skill on Homebois coach Steve "Dale" Vitug, who is from the Philippines.
"Both teams had Filipino imports and production was like, whoever wins, we want you to conduct the interview in Tagalog with the Filipino players.
"They did not know I was Filipino because I don't think I look Filipino, so it was really a surprise for coach Dale.
"I hosted the interview and thought nothing of it, but I was told not to touch my phone in case of any backlash.
"But then my phone blew up as friends from Singapore started sending me links of the clip going viral on social media."