{"id":3211,"date":"2020-03-15T02:22:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T02:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/black-girl-gamers-nnesaga-isolated-games-industry"},"modified":"2024-07-20T01:41:27","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T01:41:27","slug":"black-girl-gamers-nnesaga-isolated-games-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/en\/video-games\/black-girl-gamers-nnesaga-isolated-games-industry","title":{"rendered":"Black Girl Gamers and Nnesaga: \u201cFemale gamers feel like they\u2019re isolated in the games industry\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a quick glance at attendees for gaming conventions like E3 or Gamescom<\/a> paints an industry which is predominantly a boys’ club, although this doesn’t reflect who’s playing games around the world today.<\/p>\n

In the UK, Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes Report<\/a> published last month revealed gaming online has become an increasingly popular past-time among girls aged 5-15. While the amount of boys playing online games in this age bracket has remained steady at 71%, the percentage of girls has risen from 39% to 48% over the past year.<\/p>\n

Not everyone who plays games will be lining up to attend gaming events, but a new collaboration from organisations Black Girl Gamers and Nnesaga is proving the large male turnout might be an off-putting factor for many female gamers.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2015, Black Girl Gamers (BGG) was established by Jay-Ann Lopez in response to racism and sexism she received while playing games online. Initially created on Facebook, the group now has a community of 5,600 members worldwide.<\/p>\n

\"Gamer
\nThe first Gamer Girls Night In took place in January this year (Picture: BBG\/Nnesaga)<\/span><\/p>\n

Nnesaga, founded by Stephanie Ijoma in the same year, was similarly created as a safe space for minority groups – although more broadly for men and women from diverse backgrounds. The two groups came together to create Gamer Girls Night In; an event blending gaming, fashion and beauty aimed at women, non-binary and LGBT communities.<\/p>\n

“One of the things we hear is a lot of female gamers feel like they’re alone or isolated in the games industry,” Stephanie told GINX TV<\/strong>. “We wanted to show there are people that are like you.<\/p>\n

“There isn’t a space to do that because when you’re having events curated by men and the majority of it is men with a small percentage of women, it’s hard to try and network with other women, because you want to feel like you belong.”<\/p>\n

Jay-Ann said: “Part of the reason why I wanted to hold this event is a lot of gaming events you can attend, they’re just curated and built from a male perspective.<\/p>\n

“Women can have a different perspective on gaming. Not all the time, but why isn’t there an event solely done from our perspective that marries the things we want as well?”<\/p>\n

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