KUALA LUMPUR: Esports personality Jessica Chua, better known by her nickname MamaJess, is hoping to see more women overcome stereotyping and become professional gamers.
Jessica, who had competed competitively in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang! (MLBB) earlier in her career, said she is well aware of the challenges faced by women in esports as she has faced it first hand.
"For the ladies, my advice is don't listen to the netizens," said Jessica when met yesterday.
"It is inevitable that they will say things like 'ladies should stay at home' and 'ladies should stay in the kitchen' and so on.
"I myself have experience this myself, they said as a mother I should not be working as a streamer.
"This is all very normal and that is their point of view. But what matters most is your point of view and what you want to do. Don't think about what other people say.
"You have to ask yourself want if you want to turn pro and be part of the gaming scene in Malaysia.
"Do you want to prove that you can play better than the guys?"
Jessica, 35, is a single mother and admitted that her own mother took some convincing when she first started gaming seriously.
"My mum was a bit concerned when I first started, she was worried about my future. She did not know that you could earn a living through esports," said Jessica, who was formerly a banker and cafe owner before taking esports more seriously in 2018.
"But I slowly convinced her and showed her that I was able to support my son, who is eight now, and also live relatively comfortably thanks to my career in esports.
"I used to work in a bank but then quit to open a cafe in 2014. I shut down the cafe after a few years as it was not very profitable, I then started to focus more on esports.
"I wanted to try things when I was young instead of waiting until I was older when it would be considered too risky.
"I think young people should try and pursue whatever they are passionate about, at least give it a try."
Jessica added that she was happy to see Kotex Elimin8tors, an all-female MLBB team, being launched recently.
"I got to know that they (Elimin8tors) are a very strong team and they are from Kedah," said Jessica, who is originally from Sungai Petani.
"It is refreshing to see them, all this while only two professional teams really dominated the women's scene in Malaysia - Homegirls and Team Haq Ladies.
"It is great to see more ladies going into the scene."
Jessica said it is unlikely she will return to playing competitively due to the long training hours it requires but is keen to transition into a manager role for teams competing in Moblile Legends Professional League Malaysia (MPL MY) if she is given the chance.