The opinions expressed below are solely those of the author and in no way reflect the opinion of GotFrag.com or its parent company Major League Gaming. This article is an editorial. A mature reading audience (of 13+) is advised.

Have you ever seen the movie Rookie of the Year? Truly an entertaining movie, where a young kid has a freak accident and in result, has his arm supercharged and he can now throw a 100MpH fastball. Soon, the young boy of around 12 is picked up in the major leagues not because of his talents per say (which were shaky at best), but because he was a 12-year-old playing the in major leagues. But hey, it sells.

What is happening now is something I haven’t feared, but hoped not to see happen to females and gaming. Exploitation is the word. Here, we have a cute girl named Megan Ceder (Belle), surrounded in one of the largest media gaming frenzies I’ve encountered.

Belle @ CGS

For those who are not too aware of the situation, I’ll make it brief. A few teams around the country drafted skilled players to represent various games which played against rival teams. Games like Counter-Strike, DOA4, and PGR3 for example. Very respectable and well skilled players were chosen for each game, yet one person caught everyone’s eye. Ms. Ceder (Belle) was drafted by the LA Complexity under the very capable hands (all sarcasm aside) of Jason Lake. Who cares right? Wrong. Ms. Cedar has zero, (and I mean zero as in the odds of me running a mile in under 10 minutes), experience in playing Dead or Alive 4, yet was picked to represent a very competitive game for the team. 

How does something like that happen? We’ll I’ll try my best to analyze. First, who are we going to blame? After all, we do have to blame someone right? You just can’t let someone who has no experience at all in a particular game simply waltz onto a huge stage in a new league with new players and new GMs and new sponsors and new media coverage and just… flop? Actually, you can… So, who do you blame? Blame everyone if it makes you feel good, but I think we all know who is to blame.

I feel sorry for a lot of people in this situation. I feel sorry for Belle, an attractive gamer girl who some might say has been mixed up in all this. In the same breath you might also note that no one forced her into this situation. There was no gun to the head, Aunt Emily and Uncle Jim were not held hostage in some bunker in Waco, Texas. You have a young lady who wanted to try something new, see if she was good at it, and get attention surrounding it. Lucky for her, she accomplished at least two of those things right? How about someone who blatantly takes advantage of being a woman? Cry foul when a women degrades herself by stripping for college tuition, but turn the other way when pretty faces get you money and a center stage to go down in flames? I do admire people in general for trying new things, but I think that is best left for theatre or the swim team, rather than a paying and growing eSport that should reak of professionalism.

I feel sorry for Jason Lake too. Hey look, he is a very nice guy, he is a guy who people who admire and respect, but c’mon now! At what point does he scream for a mulligan? Was this simply a huge lapse in judgement? Probably.  Or, did he see an opportunity to cash in on some T&A? Forgive me for being crude, but sex sells, and it sells well. Sadly enough for organizations like PMS Clan; they’ve been kicking and screaming to prevent this very thing from happening. Why do you think they play in tournaments for men and women? They’re gaming equals and not afraid to show it.

This story is the Paris Hilton in jail but in eSports terms, all for a new DOA4 player who wanted to give the game a shot. I thought Ms. Vanessa Ortega, cute gal, plus she won… a lot. Makes for better chit-chat in my opinion. I suppose it was a matter of time before competitive game play had its National Enquirer moments, where big press and angry fans weigh in. 

Are we going to expect any apologies? I hope not. Why would anyone apologize? If anyone should apologize, it should be the people who follow this subject religiously. There is media coverage because people demand it. If no one wanted to read about it, they wouldn’t and this would be a dead issue. Expect this excitement to continue until someone walks out of a match sobbing, and someone yells “Kleenex.com” from the stands. Then we’ll all cry a big boo-hoo, say we’re sorry for hurting someone’s feelings and call it a day. Let us not do that, please, we’re better than that.

The guilty parties, and there are in fact guilty parties, who are Jason Lake, and Megan Ceder (Belle) for thinking the public would actually digest and accept this silly move. My advice is to ignore this subject until the losses pile up, and the matter takes care of itself. Last place teams look to their weak points and launch the catapult (even though the rules forbid it). Those involved know who they are, and as hard commentary adds up, so will their [short] leash for their poor standings.

By the way, since we’re in Los Angeles, I hear the Dodgers are looking for a new 3rd baseman… I haven’t played professional baseball before, but who cares about scouting reports or homeruns? What’s that? Sign here for fame? I’m in.