Warwick Esports, the University of Warwick’s esports society, has launched its new community, The Pack, open exclusively to women and non-binary individuals.
The community is based out of this Discord server and ‘will have a more relaxed approach to the other servers run by the society’. It’s open to all women and non-binary individuals who want to join, not just students or those at the university.
The Pack will act as a safe environment for members to chat with like-minded individuals, run events like game nights, competitions and team-building exercises. It will also act as a staging ground for members to get connections with female and non-binary experts in the industry.
The community will also help field Warwick’s teams for the Amazon University Esports UK women’s and non-binary leagues (run by the NUEL).
“I wanted to create a welcoming environment where people can play games with others, without having to hide or conceal who they are or how they act when they play.”
Caity ‘Kat’ Emery
Caity ‘Kat’ Emery, VP of Warwick Esports and founder of The Pack, said: “I wanted to create a welcoming environment where people can play games with others, without having to hide or conceal who they are or how they act when they play.
“I also want to give women and non-binary individuals confidence that there is a place for them within the industry, by providing exposure to others like themselves.”
Clare Green, the creative and digital communities manager for the University of Warwick and a Women in Games Ambassador, added: “For a long time, we have realised that video games have acted as a medium that gets a lot of women and non-binary individuals interested in getting involved, whether through competing or just playing and enjoying the social aspect of it all, and this community and the esports centre will give them a safe space to do that.
“For the community to be launched and go from 0 to 50 members in a matter of days just shows that this is an exciting new beginning for esports at Warwick.”
Warwick Esports is the official esports and gaming society at the University of Warwick. It fields hundreds of players each year in multiple games, and is one of the UK’s most decorated universities in esports.
Earlier this year, the University of Warwick retained its title as UK Esports University of the Year, winning the NSE award for the third year in a row.
The University of Warwick invested £275,000 in a new esports centre research hub and competition venue, which opened in September.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
