Spotlight interview: Emzii
Emma “Emzii” Rose is a transgender woman who currently professionally plays eFootball and EAFC and works for British Esports as their Community Manager. She literally lives and breathes esports!
In 2023, Emzii was gold medalist in eFootball for the Commonwealth Esports Championship, which she won representing Northern Ireland. This win got her called up to the Great Britain women’s team to play eFootball at the European Games Esports Championships where she took the silver trophy.
With all this, it was no surprise that Emzii took home the Gayming Awards 2024 Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports Award and even had an award winning short film made about her!
As it’s Trans Awareness Week, what better time for be to have sit down chat with her about her life in esports as an out and proud trans woman.
Robin: Hi Emzii, thanks for chatting to me. Let’s begin with how you got started in esports.
Emzii: I’ve always been a fan of esports growing up. I would always watch Counterstrike majors as I honestly loved that game! Flash forward many years later and I replied to an Instagram ad looking for female gamers in Northern Ireland which led me to representing them at the Commonwealth Games where I won my first ever tournament!
Robin: All that from replying to an ad! You mentioned your CG medal, you’ve had plenty of awesome achievements over your career to date, what’s been some of your proudest moments?
It’s hard to pick one haha! Commonwealth Games was obviously me being thrown in at the deep end, then the pride in representing Great Britain at an even bigger event was honestly just insane! Winning the ESI Film Festival promoting EDI in esports was huge too and, of course, Gayming Magazine’s Best LGBTQIA+ Contribution to Esports was so unexpected!
How have you found being trans in the world of esports?
Ups and downs if I’m honest. Most people I play against in tournaments have been super supportive, we all just want to grow esports. However, I regularly get a lot of hate comments, like being told to kill myself, on a near daily basis just because I am who I am. Thank goodness I’m a more thick skinned than most, but even still this has a massive impact on my mental health, and honestly sometimes I do considering just giving it all up and not making content or competing.
But then I remember that someone out there may look at what I do and decide they want to do it too, and that’s enough for me to keep going.
Robin: I was going to come on to being a beacon for a lot of people in esports who are LGBTQ+, how do you feel about being a role model?
I absolutely hate the term role model! I am the biggest joker and such an immature person for 90% of the time, so being a “role model” makes me feel like too much of an adult! Being who I am though, and being able pave a path for the next generation to follow is so rewarding. I know I’m not making a massive difference, but I’d like to think I’ve made the path just a little bit easier for the next LGBTQIA+ person in esports to hopefully get slightly less hate or slightly less friction.
There’s still a lot of work to do in esports so I’ve no plans to stop what I’m doing anytime soon.
You being who you are is making a huge difference! Talking of that work, what more could the industry be doing to make esports more LGBTQ+ and trans friendly?
Ultimately we want mixed leagues, but the only way to get to that point is to have the experience of competing at LAN. That’s where the real skill and craft comes in, and for us, if we went tomorrow and said everyone can play, then we’d showcase maybe the top 1% of women and marginalised genders in esports. So, what I want is an influx of women and marginalised gender competitions so we can give the top 20% the chance to learn, grow and compete safely!
I’d also love to see sponsors and organisers take more concern and interest in our side of the game. Putting on a tournament simply isn’t enough. You have a duty of care to maintain with the players and as much effort should be put into our game as the men’s game.
We’re chatting next week at the British Esports Be The Change: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Summit, are you excited for that?! Tell us more about the Summit and how people can find out more?
Of course! I spoke at this Summit last year before officially joining the British Esports team. It’s such a refreshing opportunity to come and network and learn from like minded people in the industry. If you’re passionate about EDI in esports and gaming, this is the event for you! There will be panels, fireside chats, workshops and of course networking opportunities! I can’t stress enough how important networking is in esports.
And the good news is there are still some tickets available, which you can get here.
I’m really looking forward to it! Lastly, where can people find and support you on the internet?
You can find me on basically all platforms at @Emzii192 – so if you want to follow along my journey, my beautiful doggo and an unhealthy amount of selfies then come say hi!
Or If you want to help support me, I have a fundraiser going to help me get top surgery and we’re so close to getting there thanks to my recent winnings in EAFC.
About The Author
