Business

Stephanie Harvey plays to win, but her quest is no game

The Canadian esports elite pro is opening doors for more women in gaming.

By Garage Staff — May 1, 2018

Being a professional video gamer may seem like fun, but it’s all about the work.

Take it from Stephanie Harvey, who has been in the business since she was 17. The 31-year-old, who goes by the handle missharvey, kicks off her day at 8 a.m., hitting the gym for an hour of cross-training. Then it’s back home for a nutritious breakfast before heading to her home office, where she trains for six to eight hours a day, five or six days a week, on the first-person combat game "Counter-Strike," often donning a headphone to livestream and describe her every move to fans online on Twitch and YouTube.

Courtesy of Stephanie Harvey

Elite gamer Stephanie Harvey, an advocate of inclusion, believes a more diverse gaming world is a stronger one.

That dedication — and her determination to be a healthy gamer — has paid off for this French Canadian with (for the moment) light pink hair. Harvey is a five-time world champion gamer who earns money through sponsorships, streaming her games online and playing in tournaments. This month, HP Canada signed Harvey to be its face in the gaming world.

Once the domain of hardcore computer geeks, online gaming has skyrocketed into the mainstream. SuperData Research expects these “esports” to attract 380 million viewers this year, with audiences for some tournaments eclipsing the finals for the NHL and NBA. The gaming research firm predicts that esports will be a $1.9 billion business by 2020.

Selling out Madison Square Garden

Already, elite pro gamer Harvey tours the world attending esports events whose fans number in the thousands, pack the bleachers of giant arenas and sell out Madison Square Garden and Staples Center in Los Angeles to watch their favorite players compete live for prize money.

Still, as a female pioneer in the field, Harvey has been a target for online verbal abuse and sexual harassment from the start, which has made her an outspoken advocate of diversity in gaming.

In 2013, Harvey and other major female gamers co-founded the online community and streaming site Missclicks to help make gaming more welcoming for women and minorities — and to foster discussion about the discrepancy in video game prize money for men and women.

“While we still have issues with privacy and inclusion, the barriers are completely broken now. Having a diverse community is only going to make us stronger.”

Stephanie Harvey, elite pro gramer

A third of esports fans are female

One of Harvey’s messages is that with the ubiquity of smart devices these days, nearly everyone — including her mom — is a gamer. “My mom plays something called "WordSpace," so I call her a gamer for fun — and she embraces it, saying, ‘Yeah, I am a gamer,’” says Harvey. “If the vision of who a gamer is can change for my parents, I think future generations are pretty much ready to have it be completely mainstream, just like movies, books and TV.“

In fact, even though the bulk of esports viewers are Millennial and Gen Z men and teens, a third of esports fans are now female. This shift and increased exposure to esports for women should lead to a much greater pool of gamers for female esports stars of the future rise out of.

“When I started gaming,” says Harvey, “it was like an underground community that most people didn't know it existed — and a boys club. While we still have issues with privacy and inclusion, the barriers are completely broken now. Having a diverse community is only going to make us stronger.”

Courtesy of HP

Signing Harvey is part of HP's more aggressive push in the market with its OMEN by HP line of gaming products.

Catching HP’s eye

Harvey’s gaming prowess and her message of inclusion made her a perfect match for HP, says Head of Marketing for HP Canada Esteban Davila. After committing two years ago to focus on gaming as one of its strategic priorities and coming to the market with its new sleekly designed, more powerful OMEN by HP line of gaming products, HP is now pushing more aggressively than ever into the booming market.

Through its sponsorship of esports athletes such as Harvey, HP is shining a spotlight on how serious it is about gaming — and about getting everyone into the sport. “Stephanie is at the top of her game,” says Davila. “But then what really caught my attention was her fight for diversity in the gaming industry.”

Beyond being female, Quebec City-raised Harvey never fit the stereotype of the loner gamer. Just as many male rock stars say they got into music to attract girls, Harvey took up gaming in middle school to impress a boy. She was also passionate about painting and drawing and spent 10 years studying both classical and modern dance. At college, she studied architecture, and later video game design. For seven years, she worked at Ubisoft on games including "Prince of Persia" and "Far Cry Primal."

Be the change you want to see in the world

In middle school and high school, rather than being a place to hide from life, gaming provided a way for Harvey to navigate the ups and downs of teen life and find friends. That’s partly why she feels so strongly about sharing the positive side of gaming — how you can have a balanced life doing it and how the arena can be a healthy environment for both women and men.

“When I started, it was just a bunch of people having fun together,” says Harvey. “No matter what we looked like, no matter our background, no matter what happened at school, whatever it was — it didn't matter. Everybody was alike because we had this shared passion. That’s how all gaming should be.”

Follow Harvey’s gaming exploits on YouTube.