Stephanie Harvey (born 19 April 1986), also known by her in-game name missharvey, is a Canadian

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and retired

professional gamer A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

. She is best known as a ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

'' and '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (CS:GO) player, having won five world championships. She formerly played for Counter Logic Gaming Red. Outside professional gaming, Harvey works as a designer at video game developer

Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal. The studio was founded in April 1997 as part of Ubisoft's growth into worldwide markets, with sub ...

. She is also known for advocating against

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

in professional gaming, co-founding the online community Missclicks to address the under-representation of women in

geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...

and

video game culture Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with ...

. In November 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. In December 2016, she won the third season of ''

Canada's Smartest Person ''Canada's Smartest Person'' is a Canadian reality television competition series. Contestants compete in a series of different challenges based on American psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to earn the title of "Canada ...

''. In January 2022, Harvey won the second season of ''

Big Brother Célébrités ''Big Brother Célébrités'' is the Quebec celebrity version of the international reality show ''Big Brother''. It premiered on January 10, 2021 on Noovo. Produced by Banijay and Groupe Entourage, it is hosted by singer Marie-Mai Bouchard. S ...

''. Harvey currently works for Counter-Logic Gaming as the Director of Business Development. In 2021, Harvey received The Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

Professional gaming career

Harvey began her professional gaming career playing ''Counter-Strike 1.5'' in 2003; a year later, she created the team Canadian Divas. In 2005, she joined CheckSix Divas, with whom she placed fifth in the

Electronic Sports World Cup The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) (formerly known as Electronic Sports World Cup) is an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earn the right to represent the ...

(ESCW). She then moved to SK Ladies, playing with the team for four years and winning two world championships. In 2011 Harvey founded a new ''Counter-Strike'' team, UBINITED, sponsored by her employer

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

, which went on to win the ESCW 2011 Women's event. 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. In 2016 CLG.CS became the first all-female team to move into a

gaming house A gaming house is Co-operative, a co-operative living arrangement where several players of video games, usually professional eSports, esports players, live in the same residence. Professional gaming houses began in South Korea for professional Star ...

and began to compete in more men's events. Harvey left CLG.CS Red in May 2017 but rejoined the team a year later. Harvey left CLG Red in March 2019.

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 Sex differences in humans have been studied in a variety of fields. Sex determination occurs by the presence or absence of a Y in the 23rd pair of chromosomes in the human genome. Phenotypic sex refers to an individual's sex as determined by the ...

in player's earnings, and that women in gaming face routine

verbal abuse Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of oral, gestured, and written language direct ...

and

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

: In 2013, together with female professional gamers Anna Prosser Robinson, Geneviève Forget and Stephanie Powell, Harvey founded Missclicks, an online community and

safe space The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...

to address these issues by promoting female role models in gaming. After winning Season Three of

in December 2016, Harvey selected Opération Enfant Soleil, a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

charity supporting

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

in the province, as the recipient of the $20,000 in prize money. Harvey is a PAIDIA guide, focused on promoting inclusive gaming communities for women and allies of all genders.

Creative Projects

In 2019, Harvey partnered with

Michele Morrow Michele Morrow (born March 19, 1978) is an American television presenter, host, actress, writer, producer and video game personality. She is the co-creator, executive producer and lead actor of the single camera sitcom, '' Good Game,'' a YouTube ...

to produce the Game Diaries Podcast. The first season has 8 full-length episodes and 3 post-script episodes. In 2020, Harvey launched a

digital citizenship The term digital citizen is used with different meanings. According to the definition provided by Karen Mossberger, one of the authors of ''Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation'', digital citizens are "those who use the in ...

brand Élevey, focused on promoting awareness about cyberaddiction,

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

and cybercitizenship.

References

External links

Missclicks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Stephanie Canadian esports players Counter-Strike players Canadian video game designers Living people Ubisoft people Women esports players Counter Logic Gaming players SK Gaming players Sportspeople from Montreal Canadian expatriates in the United States Women video game designers 1986 births Big Brother Canada contestants Université de Montréal alumni Université Laval alumni