This is a past event - ► Watch the recording here

Competition, rage, toxicity, and memes might seem more typical of gaming communities than kindness and mutual respect. However, several Community Managers recently focused on fostering comfort and positivity among their players - and they have been convincingly successful! Let's explore the diverse challenges and approaches of building friendly, helpful and accepting communities: for a better gaming experience, and even enhanced welfare beyond that.

Manuel Manhard from the initiative “Keinen Pixel den Faschisten" will share his insight and thoughts in his talk titled “Gaming Communities: Competetive and Caring”. After the talk there will be time for a Q&A round and open discussion of the topic. The talk is the third session in our online event series Gamecity Impulse. In this series Gamecity Hamburg presents talks and discussions about the topics of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion with regard to games, the games industry and gaming culture.

Why did we start the Gamecity Impulse online event series?

Gamers are diverse: About 2,2 billion people around the world play video games, coming from a multitude of ethnic and religious backgrounds, nationalities, genders and sexual identities, abilities, age and language groups. The communities that form around games and the teams that make the makes aren't always as diverse. This has already sparked a host of discussions throughout the games industry and community. 

Also, for the games industry, diversity is not exclusively a question of social responsibility. Drawing from different experiences and perspectives is especially useful in the production of cultural and creative products like video games and makes teams more productive and innovative. In a job market that is as heavily marked by a shortage in skilled professionals as IT-related fields are, it’s crucial for organizations to take a credible stance to provide diverse and discrimination-free work environments to successfully compete in the “war for talent”.

The German games industry has started to address the topic of diversity in different ways, by starting the joint declaration “Hier spielt Vielfalt”, as well as engaging in projects, discussions, and initiatives as individual companies, associations and people.

As Gamecity Hamburg, we want to contribute to the important discourse by hosting talks and panel discussions on diversity-related topics in different fields of the games industry and gaming culture in our new digital event series “Gamecity Impulse” throughout 2021. We hope to help raise awareness, start discussions, provide for thought as well as offer industry insights on ways to improve equality, diversity and inclusion.