Stephanie Harvey

Stephanie Harvey (born 19 April 1986), better known by her in-game name missharvey, is a Canadian video game developer and professional gamer. She is best known as a Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) player, having won five world championships.[1][2] She plays for Counter Logic Gaming Red.[2]

missharvey
Stephanie Harvey
Personal information
Born (1986-04-19) 19 April 1986
NationalityCanadian
Career information
StatusActive
Games
Career history
2005CheckSix Divas
2006–2010SK Ladies
2011–2015UBINITED
2015–2017CLG Red
2018–presentCLG Red

Outside professional gaming, Harvey works as a designer at video game developer Ubisoft Montreal.[1] She is also known for advocating against gender discrimination in professional gaming, co-founding the online community Missclicks to address the under-representation of women in geek and video game culture.[3][4]

In November 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.[5] In December 2016, she won the third season of Canada's Smartest Person.

Professional gaming career

Harvey began her professional gaming career playing Counter-Strike. In 2005, she joined CheckSix Divas, with whom she placed fifth in the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESCW).[6][7] She then moved to SK Ladies, playing with the team for four years and winning two world championships.[7]

In 2011 Harvey founded a new Counter-Strike team, UBINITED, sponsored by her employer Ubisoft, which went on to win the ESCW 2011 Women's event.[7] The following year the team switched to CS:GO and again won that year's ESCW Women's event. In 2015 it signed to Counter Logic Gaming to become CLG.CS Red, and won a third ESCW Women's tournament.[8][9] In 2016 CLG.CS became the first all-female team to move into a gaming house and began to compete in more men's events.[10]

Harvey left CLG.CS Red in May 2017[11][12] but rejoined the team a year later.[13]

Advocacy

Harvey has spoken out against sexism and gender discrimination in professional gaming. She has highlighted that less than 5% of professional gamers are women, that there is a significant gender disparity in player's earnings, and that women in gaming face routine verbal abuse and sexual harassment:[3]

When I started gaming I was really a pioneer, which I didn’t know at the time, and it was not easy... Over the Internet, people don’t have to deal with the repercussions of insulting someone else. They can’t see a sad face. I had to build a really strong shell to be able to succeed.

— Harvey, interview with The Surge, 2015[7]

It's still a 'boy's club' so as a woman you're automatically judged for being different... The way I get harassed is about what they would do to my body, about why I don't deserve to be there because I use my sexuality - it's all extremely graphic... Why do I do this if my community hate me? Because I am a feminist, because I believe women have a place in gaming.

— Harvey, interview with the BBC, 2016[3]

In 2016, together with female professional gamers Anna Prosser Robinson, Geneviève Forget and Stephanie Powell, Harvey founded Missclicks, an online community and safe space to address these issues by promoting female role models in gaming.[3][7]

After winning Season Three of Canada's Smartest Person in December 2016, Harvey selected Opération Enfant Soleil, a Quebec charity supporting pediatrics in the province, as the recipient of the $20,000 in prize money.[14][15]

References
  1. Ewalt, David M. (6 January 2014). "30 Under 30: The Brightest Young Stars In Video Games". Forbes. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  2. "missharvey". Counter Logic Gaming. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  3. "100 Women 2016: The women challenging sexism in e-sports". BBC News. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  4. White, Catriona (7 December 2016). "Five women who aren't on Wikipedia but should be". BBC Three. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  5. "BBC 100 Women 2016: Who is on the list?". BBC News. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  6. Khalyleh, Hana (29 October 2015). "Here are the top five women in eSports". BaltimoreGamer. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  7. Cooke, Lacey (15 January 2015). "Stephanie Harvey Dedicates Her Life To Her Passion: Video Games". The Surge. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  8. "Announcing: CLG.CS Red". Counter Logic Gaming. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  9. Malachowski, Michal "stich" (12 July 2015). "missharvey: "This is a new beginning"". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  10. Juillet, Jacob; Randhawa, Navneet (8 December 2015). "CLG Red's missharvey: 'My life is gaming. My life is CS'". theScore esports. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  11. Miralia, James (7 June 2017). "CLG Red Undergoes Major Roster Change". DBLTAP. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  12. Duque, Daniel (7 June 2017). "CLG Red change duo, add head coach". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  13. Martin, Brandon (15 May 2018). "missharvey returns to CLG Red". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  14. "Stephanie Harvey donates $20,000 to Opération Enfant Soleil". CBC.ca. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  15. "Stephanie Harvey is Canada's Smartest Person! - Videos - Canada's Smartest Person". Retrieved 31 December 2016.
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