Rebekah D. May 21, 2019
Shanghai Dragons player Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon has been awarded a position in Time Magazine’s latest “Next Generation Leader” list.
Along with the honor, the weekly magazine published a two-page feature on the player, detailing her rise to fame as the only female player in the Overwatch League.
The feature alongside the award details Geguri’s early gaming career and how she first began playing Overwatch. According to Time Magazine, Geguri first began playing video games when she was just five years old. This was done alongside her mother, who remains a supporter of her career to this day.
The main focus of the article however is also the main reason that she was chosen for the award. As the only female player in the Overwatch League, Geguri made history alongside the Shanghai Dragons when she was first hired midway through the inaugural OWL season.
The start of her Overwatch career was not without controversy however, as the feature does outline. Geguri was the subject of cheating accusations within the competitive Overwatch community, with some stating that her aim was “too good.” Despite the negative attention this brought her, Geguri was able to disprove the accusations and eventually decided she would in fact be happy to join the league.
Though Geguri does not want the fact that she is the only female player in the league to be the only thing she is known for, she did quote that she understands the influence she has on others.
"Since I am the only female player in the whole league, I think there are a lot of people who look up to me and see me as a role model," Geguri said. "Knowing this, I'm trying a lot harder to inspire others to get to where I am today."
Her main focus continues to be helping her team succeed within the league, and alongside her new teammates the Shanghai Dragon’s success has grown tremendously throughout Season 2. During the first season, the Chinese team was unable to obtain a single win. But by the second stage of this latest season, Shanghai was a playoff team with Geguri leading the charge.