Competitive play by its very nature will never be a level playing field and that's OK. | FOV

So some people likely have seen the clip of Twitch Streamer saying that Voice chat being in games for competitive play is inherently unfair because it could give "marginalised" group a disadvantage because they have to either use it or play at a disadvantage in competitive play.

Well that's a stupid argument to get rid of voice chat for competitive play. It's a stupid argument because competitive play will likely never be a level playing field outside of actual well organised local Lan tournaments and even then it will still not truly be level. The idea of going in to begin with and arguing that removing voice chat will level the playing field is to begin with a faulty premise from the onset because if you're arguing you potentially face some insults or abuse on voice chat is an issue it implies you're going in and doing a pick up game not going in with a team you know and play with regularly. If you're playing with people you regularly play with you will be a better co-ordinated team and likely at least get on with people on some level and heated moments will be rare. Unless you're the Dota 2 team I was on for 1 competitive tournament where our whole career record was 0 wins for 3 losses and each match having at least 1 expletive filled argument between people and only once was it between me (the position 5 support) and the person meant to be helping me do my job (our position 4 support player) but I'm adding this because I find it funny. If you work well with a team and play as a team regularly you will do better than a pickup team so it suggests there is a big problem with the argument to begin with if you're claiming you might have to mute random people you get matched with and so voice chat is unfair. Then there's is the question of how you stop people just going to Discord or if it still exists Ventrillo or whatever 3rd party system to do voice chat anyway.

So let's take this further than voice chat and look at more of the competitive scene in games. If you're playing at home online that's different ping and latency to others which can give you an advantage, as can how high the precision of your mouse is as that can make it easier or harder to make small aim adjustments. You hardware might be different and be able to maintain a constant frame rate more easily or your monitor may be higher resolution or higher refresh rate. Something as simple as your chair being more comfortable or supportive could make a slight difference. The hardware you can get is often determined by your financial situation.

Image Source = Quickmeme

But I know what you're thinking, what about the absolute top level? What about the people who fly round the world to Lan tournaments, those must be a level playing field right? Well no because things like the environment being hotter or colder can give those used to there the home field advantage. The idea of homefield advantage can see the crowd cheer a person on and give them a psychological boost to try harder or feel more pressure and stress to perform. Some tournaments allow competitors to bring their own kit be it mice, keyboards or fight sticks, while most tournaments will check these for in built cheat software it could be said some kit is better than others. If you try to standardise the kit then people more or less comfortable with said kit or people who may even use the same or similar kit at home will have an advantage. 

How about language? It's something few people consider but if we're going to argue for the entire field to be levelled then language can give n advantage or disadvantage, it sounds odd but it's true. Different people speaking different languages can mean some words or phrases are quicker to say or express in one language compared to another so that second or less of time extra and put people at a disadvantage. However you can't just standardise the language allowed to be used in most tournaments because forcing some-one to speak in a language other than their native one can and will also put people at a disadvantage. Yet there's even another factor if a pro player has a boyfriend or girlfriend it could help on a psychological level to have that support and possibly on a physical level by reducing the potential of a repetitive strain injury on wrists.

Gif from the series Bottom Gif created by MikeyMo

Even before getting to pro level the amount of time people might have to play competitive games might vary depending on their circumstances so to make that field level and give everyone the level playing field of reaching Pro level you'd have to limit the amount of time that could be played to make it a level playing field there.

So if you're going to argue Voice chat is an issue because it creates a potentially unlevel playing field here's everything you also need to push to change.

• Have everyone speaking the same language and learning the same language from birth as their native language
• Make sure everyone has the same amount of time allowed to play competitive to have a chance to make it
• Make sure everyone has the same hardware
• Make sure everyone lives in the same environment
• Make it sour tournaments have no crowds to make the fan support or pressure of expectation a non factor.
• Make sure everyone had the same Ping and latency
• Make sure either no-one can play pick up team or no-one can go in with friends / team mates and everyone has to play pick up play.
• Oh and no player is allowed to be in a relationship ever

Competitive gaming like competitive level sports will try to even things out and make a level playing field but sports aren't some bastion of meritocracy if you want to get down to any possible advantage or disadvantage. Some nations pour money into their sports and fund them to push people to their absolute peak, they have complex labs to analyse and improve technique and even specially designed diets to try and maximise potential performance, while other countries are fine with their athletes eating chicken nuggets before a race. It's only in cases where a more major performance advantage is found that generally committee steps in such as with the specially designed swimsuits that were banned from use in the Olympics or the unfortunate case of Caster Semenya. 

People do have disadvantages in some cases a lot of them and they overcome them because they're just that damn good. So to those thinking voice chat is such a factor in them winning or not you have to remember others may have disadvantages you aren't dealing with and maybe if you want to win you need to Git Gud.

Source = Reddit user aaronblue342

Oh and I say Git Gud fully knowing I'm not good. I'm past my prime. I was somewhat Gud in the past maybe but now I'm probably past the retiring age for most E-sports players.