It can be difficult to be a girl who plays video games. I think many girls who grew up liking video games can attest to this. More often than not, we’re met with laughter or teasing, being called a “gamer girl” in an insulting way–as if girls can’t play video games or are somehow inferior to boys who do play them. Luckily, a group of ladies decided to create an all-girls gamer girl group as a safe space for Filipinas who play video games!
“Gaming is such a huge thing right now, it’s prevalent almost everywhere. What I did take notice of for years is that there’s a clear divide at times when it comes to gaming; women, in general, are treated differently, they go through quite the same bias as they do in the real life,” says founder Courtney Sayson about the gaming community and climate. “So one night, my business partner – Abby and I decided to create Gamer Girls Philippines… We initially tapped my friend, eSports Gamer / GGP Mod – Camie who represented Team PH for the Overwatch World Cup 2019 at BlizzCon to help us in starting this community from scratch. The main drive here is really to just create a safe space, to let women enjoy discussing video games without judgment, prejudice, and the toxicity that they come across with.”
When asked about how they see the group, they describe it as a “safe haven.” “Yes, I genuinely see the Gamer Girls PH community as a safe haven… As soon as I joined this community, I felt a warm presence that made me giddy; I was finally part of an all girls gaming community – my dream.”
Gaming is indeed changing in terms of atmosphere and these ladies know it. We asked them about how they saw the future of gaming and they said it’s one that is more equal. “I can see the future of gaming for us would be gender-equal – That we don’t have to be identified as “girl gamers” but just “gamers” and we don’t have to be automatically called “sir” whenever we interact in a gaming group page,” says moderator Patricia.
“The future of gaming for women, in my eyes, will be equal footing to that of men. And by that, I mean prevalent professional all-female esports team, leagues, and the like. Perhaps teams, leagues, etc. open for both males and females. If we keep working towards that, I’m sure it will be possible in the near future,” says moderator Rika.
“We hope to continuously grow this community to make a positive impact in the gaming world. That one of these days, the negative stigma of a “gamer girl” will finally be erased,” finishes Courtney.
We’d like to welcome even more gamers, any gamer girl is welcome to join our group! We’re looking forward to seeing you ladies there!
Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gamergirlsphilippines/
