Ex-Call of Duty pro claims ‘women will never be in the CDL’
More and more players are surging through from the amateur scene to populate the elite Call of Duty League, as many of the old-guard players are retiring.
This season alone, the CDL has seen two of its best rookies ever emerge from Challengers to land spots on the best teams in the league (Thomas "Scrappy" Ernst on Toronto Ultra and Dan "Ghosty" Rothe on OptIc Texas).
But while many new protegees are promoted through the ranks, old-school Call of Duty pro and now Challengers advocate Doug "Censor" Martin believes that women will never be in the CDL because they haven't "dominated" Challengers.
Censor claims 'women will never be in the CDL'
Having once been quite the force to be reckoned with in Call of Duty epsorts, Censor has since petered off down to the Challengers level, but has been somewhat of a catalyst for his teammates to then step up into the scene.
This year alone, Censor has seen multiple former teammates get their rookie shot in the League, but despite pioneering these up-and-coming talents, he has claimed that there are no women that will ever make the step up.
Talking on stream, the ex-pro said, "I never think we'll see a female player in the CDL. I will be the biggest fan of her if she did, but I never see it happening."
Censor looked at players such as Kelsie "Kels" Grieg, Alyssa "Allycxt" Parker, and "Tea", but claimed that they aren't dominant enough at the second-tier level to have a shot in the League.
"Look, girls have not shown me that they can dominate and win yet. They can hang, but hanging isn't going to get you into the League. You have got to be able to dominate and win to get into the league and I have not seen a girl have that takeover ability yet," he added.
Censor slammed for comments on women in the CDL
Click to enlargeWomen have been growing in stature in CoD esports throughout 2023, as Kels (previously "Kelsaroony") became the first female to make a Challengers Elite cup, twice, and all-female teams such as Kels' TST Phoenix (backed by OpTic creators Team Summer Time) and Toronto Tsunami are beginning to find success and visibility.
"It ain't even a skill thing. CoD is just the wrong type of people to accept a girl in their team. I can never unsee the DMs of people saying getting carried by me in a team would be too embarrassing," said Emily-Rose "Emilia" Worrall, one of the leading female players in CoD for years.
Allycxt also has also reiterated this point, in a different argument, claiming that male players have refused to practice with her simply because of her gender.
"To be fair I’ve seen Kels literally take over more games in challengers than I’ve seen Doug so maybe his refusal to see it is intentional," said another fan on Twitter.
Whether or not the female Call of Duty Challengers are at the point where they can enter the league is yet to be seen, but to say "never" is rather bold considering the progression of Kels, Allycxt, Tea, and more, in the last six months alone.
