Valued at almost $200 billion globally, the gaming industry is growing fast. Yet while 48% of gamers identify as female, pervasive harassment is seeing the industry lose a fifth of female online gamers. How can brands contribute to the cultural shift the gaming world requires to become more equitable?
Adam Jerrett is a lecturer in Creative Technologies at the University of Portsmouth and a game designer. He is interested in the creation and play of socially conscious "games for good", games for educational and activist purposes, and an advocate for autobiographical games. His work is framed through the lens of values – the things that are important to people – and how they influence the media they create and consume. His view is that personal values, politics, moralsm, and ethos affect everything we do and the world around us.
Aurora Townsend is the CMO of VR app developer FireFlare Games. She is building Planet Theta, a metaverse dating platform focused on users’ safety and aiming to set the standard for the future of online dating.
Adrienne Matei is a journalist for publications including the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Vanity Fair, The Globe, and The Guardian. She writes about the intersection of online and offline culture from Gen Zer Tik Tok trends to the digital afterlife.