You Go, Girl! Swedish Lady Starts Guy-Free Gaming Site
Sweden (Sputnik) – The computer gaming industry and gaming culture are both, by and large, dominated by men. A Swedish gamer girl, however, is striving to make a difference by creating a gaming site without male writers.
The goal of the website Myogaming.se, which is about to be launched on January 24, was to create more space for “non-men” in an industry where men traditionally call the shots. The founder, 34-year-old Melika Zakariae from the town of Nacka, sought to debunk the stereotype than women make bad gaming writers.
The idea of the non-men gaming website came about just about one and half months ago, when Zakariae began to investigate the interest of ‘other genders’ (essentially women) in reviewing computer games, a sphere where discrimination against women is perceived to reach the top. Myogaming stands for ‘Mind your own gaming’ and is intended to question gender roles in the gaming industry.
“I’ve been lucky because I’ve been treated well. Except for when I’m streaming, then I hear a lot of negative comments. Everything ranging from ‘go to the kitchen and make me a sandwich’ and ‘go kill yourself’ to ‘do you spit or do you swallow’ and other sexist stuff. From my male colleagues in the gaming industry, however, I’ve received much support,” Zakariae told the newspaper Hallandsposten.
ALLTSÅ EN AV VÅRA SKRIBENTER GJORDE DEN OFFICIELLA LOGGAN! ASSÅ DÖÖÖÖR JAG E SÅ NÖJD! pic.twitter.com/zq388g5XIv
— Melika Zakaria (@Duvetinte) January 21, 2018
By Zakarie’s own admission, the interest among potential writers has been great. So far, 17 people have been affiliated with the website, which caters to transgender people and non-binaries in addition to women.
Thematically, however, Myogaming won’t differ from other gaming sites. The site will feature reviews, interviews, opinion pieces and gaming news. According to Zakarie, the fact that the writers are not men will be sufficient to make it stand out.
Därför startar hon en spelsajt för tjejer https://t.co/xY9w9HGQai pic.twitter.com/MDNmAeYe70
— Aftonbladet Spela (@ab_spela) January 16, 2018
“Yes, I definitely think so. There is an ‘about us’ tab where you will see pictures of all of us who write and share our opinions and thoughts,” Zakarie said.
Among other things, Melika Zakariae intends to get a bit personal and enlighten the public how it feels to date another gamer.
“I just hope it will be appreciated and that girls get a place of their own. So that it doesn’t feel strange that there are girlgamers. It should be natural,” Zakariae said.
Earlier, Swedish feminists came up with the idea of organizing a girl-only music festival, following a deluge of sexual assaults during traditional summer festivals. The Statement Festival, to be held in the summer of 2018, is aimed to become “the world’s most awesome music festival” as well as a “safe spot” for womankind.
Emma @Knyckare kör en snubbfri festival. Statement Festival, enbart för tjejer. Bra jobbat o skickar dotter. https://t.co/kkOQ2zyBjG pic.twitter.com/BhpSyNVmMM
— Johan (@johmag67) September 9, 2017
This report prepared by Sputnik
