Episode 14

full
Published on:

8th Mar 2022

14. Changing, Adapting, Growing

This week, I'm joined by Rebecca Dixon and Laura Deutsch, Co-Founders of the*gameHERs! We discuss people's natural tendency towards community, how app creation is not only a space for games but for community building, and that inclusivity requires adapting and changing based on feedback. We also discuss the blurry lines around who is and isn't a gamer, and the opportunities we have in building the Metaverse ground up in a way that prioritizes safety for all people who interact with the tech.

Episode Resources:

https://thegamehers.com/

https://www.thegamehersapp.com/

Transcript
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Welcome to the meta woman podcast we address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

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boss poss the metal woman podcast starts now.

Lindsay Poss:

Hello, and welcome to the metal woman podcast part

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of the holiday Commedia Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsey,

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the boss path from struggle to success. We're covering it all.

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To our returning listeners. Thank you so much for supporting

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the show. And for any new listeners. Welcome. I hope you

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enjoy. We have some great guests this week. This is someone these

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are people that I'm very excited to introduce. Because when I got

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started in this space, I kept hearing wonderful things about

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this organization and just gotten so many tips. You got to

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meet them, you got to meet them. And I was lucky enough that one

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of these people actually reached out to me first, which was so

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kind. I'm so excited to introduce Rebecca Dixon and

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Laura Duke and my thing. So I, okay, I, I always do this thing

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where I write the names and then immediately in the intro, I'm

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like, Oh my God, I've never said this out loud. Anyways, Rebecca

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and Laura are co founders of the game hers. Welcome to the show

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you guys. I'm so excited to have you both. To start over. Just

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give the audience couple sentences to your background.

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I'd love to hear your stories.

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Sure. My name is Rebecca Dixon. I'm one of the

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cofounders of the game hers along with Laura. And we have

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two other co founders Berta Maloney and Heather Alita. And

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we have we launched our company, March of 2020, the same week

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that COVID Shut the country down. And we have been really

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thrilled to be in the gaming space since then, doing

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everything we can to create community for women and femme

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identifying gamers. So I will leave it at that. And Lauren

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introduce herself,

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though. Hello, everyone. I'm Laura Doyle. And as Rebecca

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said, we launched in March of 2020, Rebecca, Heather and I are

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no strangers we've been in business together, then you 1009

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Our other business, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point.

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But basically, we are community builders, and we're so happy for

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the game.

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Just to lay the groundwork for this episode even

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a little more. Can you all tell me what motivated you to start

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the game? Here's why gaming, maybe a little bit of what you

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were doing before that brought you into this space. Just kind

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of lay the groundwork for the rest of the conversation.

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Sure. Laura, do you want to talk about why how we

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learned about building community first, and then I can I can

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segue in

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that. That's perfect. So as I just previously stated in 2006,

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a long time ago, I had a newborn baby. And I found it difficult

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to meet other women, I didn't feel like I had a community. So

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I created a a company to do that. And it was called mommy

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bites. It was in New York City. It started very grassroots. And

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it quickly grew and became national and became one of the

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biggest communities for women with babies. And that is how

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Heather Alita and Rebecca Dixon came into the story. And we all

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work together and build up this community together. So that that

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is what we do best. We know how to, you know, create communities

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and make people feel welcome. And we. And then I will segue

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now to let Rebecca say how we got into the gaming space

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because that was more on

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her end. Sure. So I joined Laura and Heather. My personal

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background is in media buying and advertising. So I've worked

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with brands, alongside of communities for my whole career.

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And I joined Laura and Heather mommy bites, because they were

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getting inundated with brands who wanted to work with them.

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And we were lucky enough to be in a position a few years after

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that, to sell the company. And so having sold the company, we

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were entrepreneurs at heart, and we found ourselves with some

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pretty strong adjacencies to the gaming space. Very briefly, my

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family is involved in the ownership group of Team NV. So I

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had been watching esports from the sidelines and this was back

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in 2016. At the beginning of 2016 is when we sold our company

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so I started paying more attention to it. You know, I had

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a little more time on my hands. And esports was a not a word. I

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think that everyone in the world knew at that time now I would

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say it's pretty pretty well known But I was fascinated by

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the size of the gaming industry by how quickly it was growing.

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And by the often quoted statistic that women were half

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of gamers. So that's where I sat. Totally coincidentally,

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Heather, one of our other co founders, she went from

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parenting to toys, and was working with Alcon the visionary

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behind Pokemon, and doing some licensing and business

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development work with him. And she started noticing the same

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thing, like, where are these 50% of women? Because while we

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haven't been in the gaming space before this, it certainly

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doesn't seem that there are 50% are there, you know, they don't,

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doesn't feel like that in the in the press, and then the general

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way you envision gamers. And so along with Laura, we kind of got

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the gang back together and did a deep dive into into this space.

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And we found that, yep, it's pretty true. Women are about

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half of gamers and you know, you can, you can analyze it a

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variety of different ways. But certainly women represent a much

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larger portion of the gaming community and of the gaming

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industry that is represented. And and there are some parts of

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it, where they could be represented a little more, we

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found a lot of great people in this space, working very hard to

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sort of change that narrative. Many nonprofits who we love

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working with to this day, and many Super Star women speaking

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on panels and trying to do create pipelines. But what we

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didn't find was what we felt like we could bring to the

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table, which is community building, we, as Laura said,

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have had experience doing that successfully. And so, so we did

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it, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to do it, you know,

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force, the situation that exist around women in gaming is only

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amplified when you layer on women from identifying all of

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the marginalized communities in the gaming space. So our fourth

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co founder verta, Maloney, has a career of really deep experience

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in dei V work. She has done audits and has worked with a lot

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of nonprofits, a lot of universities, a whole host of

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other organizations. And so along with verta, she's also an

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excellent community community builder, we launched the

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business, and we've been just having a great time ever since.

Lindsay Poss:

I didn't realize that you all had transitioned

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from one company to another, I think that's the in a world

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where Marvel is the most powerful movie franchise, that's

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kind of that's a really need origin story, to have to have

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your team be able to shift focus from, from one very unique

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community just straight into another unique community.

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That's, that's really neat. And I like that you all sort of

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found a niche in both. I think one of the hard parts about

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getting into gaming is that there's so many things out there

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so many people. And it's the same thing with with, you know,

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parents and adults, there's so many ways to get involved. I

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think that it's important to carve out spaces where specific

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people are kind of catered to or specific groups are thought

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about.

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I think that's what it is. I just had this amazing

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experience this morning, my kids school opened up an event that

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we as parents haven't been allowed to go to in two years

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because of COVID. And it was so heartwarming, I was actually in

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tears the whole time. And because human beings are made to

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be parts of communities, you know, we want to be, we want to

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be around people that we can relate to. And so while

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parenting and get the gaming space might seem super

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unrelated, the as groups there that that need for our

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community, I think is not is not that different. And it's exactly

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what Laura identified in her that founded mommy bites.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that makes that makes perfect sense to me.

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And speaking of these community events, and things, I know that

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you all have kind of two main or larger programs that you focus

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on. There's the awards show and the dream stream, which as we

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are recording is happening. But I think once this podcast is

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released, it may be over with, which is a little bit

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unfortunate, because I wish we could advertise that for right

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now. But everyone makes sure to mark your calendars for the

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Dream stream next year. But could you all just describe

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those two programs, what you hope to accomplish with them and

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how you've seen them grow since you started in 20? In early

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2020, you know, that's a we've only had about two years now,

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but that I still have I still would wager a bet that things

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have changed since then.

Unknown:

Yeah, absolutely. So I really believe that our story as

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the gamers really started with the gamer award. They are the

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heart and soul of who we are as unity So, you know, obviously,

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when we started this, we wanted to create a place for women that

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identify and gamers to connect and feel comfortable and feel

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safe, and feel included. And that's, that's our original,

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that is our mission. But then we thought what, not just let's

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create a space for them to feel safe, let's highlight them and

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make them feel special and, and honor them for all the

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incredible work that they are doing in gaming, which is how we

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came up with the gamers award. So in November of 2020, was our

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first one started with about 20 categories of awards. And it, it

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really, it just, it really resonated, and it kind of put us

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on the map and helped us really take off as a company. People

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just were so honored and pleased and excited to actually, you

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know, be recognized and celebrated for all that they

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have been doing all this time. And it's the first award show

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that was really created for women by women. There's other

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awards programs out there. Um, but they're, they're very, you

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know, mask heavy. And this was the first time that we were able

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to do this for for our community. I will let Rebecca

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add on to that. And and also continue with.

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Sure, yeah, so when the awards ended the first year, we were so

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blown away by the response that we got, I mean, quite literally,

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we were blown away. And then they ended. And then we were

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like what, what do we do now? We wanted to continue them. And we

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also wanted to stay true to our mission that Laura just talked

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about, yes, community building, but also providing or, you know,

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trying to create opportunities that would provide some exposure

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for women. So we basically invited the finalists, winners

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and some of the nominees of the awards to stream on our Twitch.

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And so they did and they were, were and are the true stream,

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like you mentioned is current. They were we they were really

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excited to do it. And we were really excited to kind of

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continue that momentum. So the dream stream is also like the

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it's kind of the post awards celebration. But I want to, I

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want to make sure to share that if it when this podcast airs, if

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the dream stream is over, luckily, we're they're actually

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not going to think we have we have a ton of other stuff, both

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coming up on our calendar it in sort of like the community side

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of the of our business that's kind of on our on all of our

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platforms, our media platforms. And so I'll share a little bit

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about the one that's probably this the soonest. And then we

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also just launched an app. And that's what Laura can can talk

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to you about in detail because she led our app, but that one of

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the events that we have coming up in the date hasn't been

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confirmed, but it will be soon is a professional career boot

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camp. And it's an opportunity where we have women from the

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industry, along with anybody, but generally probably

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collegiate women and women who are looking to get into the

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space. And so we sit at this really amazing and sort of

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fortunate intersection of having a community and being accessible

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to women in the industry who really feel passionate about

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providing opportunities. So that weekend is full of mentorships

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one on one mentorship with really big superstars in the

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industry panels, opportunities for collegiate women to stream

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networking events. Last year, it was all virtual, it will still

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be primarily virtual, mostly because we want it to be

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available. But we have some in person events. And we're just

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we're super excited for that. We're in a in a position. Now

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last year we did primarily have with word stream stream

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bootcamp. But with more and more we're adding as much as we sort

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of have the capacity to add to our calendar, because the more

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we can kind of program, the more community we can build. That's

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so great.

Lindsay Poss:

I feel as if I should thank you as a host,

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because you've made this transition very easy. So I

Lindsay Poss:

appreciate that if you ever wanted to host a podcast, and to

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do it. And if if my job. If you want to have my job, feel free

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to take it over because you mentioned the app. So I

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definitely want to get into talking about the app. I know

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you all just recently launched it. I would love to hear what

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you're hoping to do with it, how it fits into the overall

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mission, how these events are going to be incorporated into

Lindsay Poss:

the app, all of that good stuff.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah. So we We as for co founders knew right from

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the start that we were going to have an app. If we wanted to be

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in business a little while to hear from our community, because

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the one thing that was really important to us was not to get,

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we didn't want to guess what people wanted. We wanted back,

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we wanted to hear from our community and see what they want

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it. And once you know, we really got the the picture that women

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just wanted to meet. Again, it's our mission other women in a

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safe and inclusive space, to chat, to game to talk about

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things. But the most interesting part that we realized is that,

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you know, gamers are have way more interested in just gaming,

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believe it or not, they love their pets. They love to read,

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they love their podcasts, they love to cook. And they want to

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talk about that, too. So we looked around. And while there

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are other communities where you can come together as gamers,

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they're very heavily gaming focused, which is wonderful. But

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there wasn't the place to have kind of a balance of gaming, and

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other and so that's how we created the the gamers app. And

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with the surveys we did with our community, they helped us to

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pick which groups in our app people can be a part of. So

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again, we do have tons of groups about gaming, such as streaming

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careers in gaming, cosplay, lots of gaming related topic. But we

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also have just as many non gaming related topics, like pet

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love and culinary corner, and just lots of great, great, fun

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stuff. And I think that was the magic potion that really made

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our app, a truly unique place right from the start. It we, we,

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when we launched, we launched with about 75 ambassadors. And

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these were our, these were people who were really devoted

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and what really helped us to create this app. And they, they

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were modeled behavior modelers, they came in, and they showed

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the community what we're all about. And they are such

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incredible women, and they're compassionate, and they're

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friendly. And they're welcoming, and accepting and caring. And

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these were the people that were leading the beta program of our

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app. So when other people started coming into our app, as

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we were letting more people into the beta, they just couldn't

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believe how friendly it was, and how welcoming and how at ease,

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they felt the moment they came in to the app. And I think that

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was the the magic potion that just kind of created this

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community that's truly unlike any other out there. I mean, you

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should hear some of these betas, women were saying like, you

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know, wow, we finally feel like we're home. And this is just,

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like, a unique place then. So we're really just thrilled with

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how, you know, we only launched a few months ago. Um, but what's

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important to us is to continue listening to our community, we

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constantly are doing surveys. And we're so excited for our new

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iterations of the app that are coming. And, and, and yes, so

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it's just been quite a wild, wild ride and experience. So let

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me ask

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you why you chose to go the app route. And the

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reason why I'm asking that is because we do have things like

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discord or Facebook groups in terms of bringing together

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community. There's obviously limitations. But I'm wondering

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what you all saw, that wasn't being offered in those platforms

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that made you want to develop your own platform entirely new

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space? Yeah. What are those gaps that you wanted to address?

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So there, there were definitely that. When you if you

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go to the App Store or the Google Play store, and you

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Google like communities for gamers, there are a bunch out

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there. But we found again, they were very male centric, very

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hardcore with with lots of masculine energy, which is fine,

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but we didn't see the other side of it. So the so apt, we wanted

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a place where people can go on their phone at any moment all

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the time, right. So that's what prompted us to look well what

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apps are out there. And then we also know Discord is huge in the

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gaming community and from the you know, polls that we've done.

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We've you know, as Wonderful and incredible as discord has been

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for the gaming community, it can also be quite overwhelming and a

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little confusing. And that's what we that was the feedback,

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we got a little intimidating to come into a discord when you

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haven't been there and people know each other, they just so

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between those two things of the major communication, Discord

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app, you know, in the feedback we got from women, as well as

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the apps, the social networking apps that were out there are so

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gaming focused again, which is wonderful, but we didn't find

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the in between. And that's that that was the that was the aha

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moment. We need a gaming focused app, social networking,

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welcoming, safe, inclusive, that when people come in, they feel

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at home, but they're not just talking about their game. They

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love talking about their games, but there's other stuff there.

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So that's where we found our niche. And, and it we were spot

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on with that. And yeah, so that's how it kind of all came

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together.

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You know, or, else I know that I have heard you talk about enough

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people in our community on that topic is, and by the way, we

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have a discord community that is wonderful. And it acts like

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discord communities are and it's incredible. We obviously

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couldn't be in the gaming space without having a relevant for

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community. But I do think that discord, for the most part, it

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it's a little bit of what Loris it is what Laura said. And to

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add to that, it wasn't necessarily meant just to go on

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and join and just find a group, it's like, it's the group where

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the people, you know, this game has as a distributor, this event

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or whatever. And so just for women in gaming and chatting

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about all the stuff Laura was just talking about. And then the

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other thing is the security in discord and blocking people you

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don't want to see, that was kind of a lot and an RF you don't

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have to be you don't have to see people if you have an issue with

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its user base blocking, basically, and we really haven't

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had that problem very much anyway.

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So to add to that safety level, Rebecca, that's so true. Um,

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there have been, you know, people who, quite frankly, our

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get stopped on Discord. So safety was a huge, huge part of

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our development. And what we have done was any person in our

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app has the ability to block any other user. And when they do

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that, if they block the user, then they will never see any of

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the comments or anything that that user. So it's literally

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like that user is erased from our community. Because what we

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found is that sometimes you can block someone from a community,

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but they'll just find their way back end. And this was a was a

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great way to make people feel safe. But to Rebecca's point, we

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haven't had to block any yet. So we you know, we wanted to have

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that in place, just in case. But it's been a few months now and

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not in it's just been really right.

Lindsay Poss:

This has been a theme that I've noticed,

Lindsay Poss:

throughout as I've had more of these conversations and done

Lindsay Poss:

more of these podcasts. And it just, it seems to be much easier

Lindsay Poss:

to build something from the ground up than it is to adapt a

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tool that maybe already has some implicit rules against it. And

Lindsay Poss:

that is where I think that you have a huge advantage in

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building your own app. Because things like safety or moderated

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conversations or all of that. You're not constantly trying to

Lindsay Poss:

all these other platforms, right Twitter, Facebook, Discord, all

Lindsay Poss:

social media, they were a lot of them were built 10 years ago,

Lindsay Poss:

and now they're having to figure out how to adapt. Whereas

Lindsay Poss:

building something right now today, with these rules in

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place, doesn't mean that there's any implicit thought towards

Lindsay Poss:

Well, I got away with this before, but I can't now kind of

Lindsay Poss:

thing. And I've I've noticed that throughout the gaming

Lindsay Poss:

community, and even with games themselves, that way easier for

Lindsay Poss:

valorant to stop toxic culture than it has been for League of

Lindsay Poss:

Legends, which has been around for so long. And has that just

Lindsay Poss:

baked in, at this point. The whole starting something versus

Lindsay Poss:

adapting what's already there seems to be the starting

Lindsay Poss:

something and seems to be where a lot of a lot of women or

Lindsay Poss:

groups that are working with minorities are tending to thrive

Lindsay Poss:

at the moment. Because adapting things that are already there

Lindsay Poss:

has been a challenge. Yeah, I think

Unknown:

so. Because, you know, if you're trying to include if

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you're trying to create an inclusive community, you know,

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you want it to be yours and with functionality. When I say yours

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for us, that means it's our community's community and how

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You know, every step of the development that Laura led, but

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it was all the decisions were made based on feedback from, you

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know, the gamers in our community.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, well, in speaking of that, I wanted to

Lindsay Poss:

ask you all what strategies you have employed to make sure that

Lindsay Poss:

you're building diverse, equitable and inclusive

Lindsay Poss:

communities. I know you've had some struggles in the two years

Lindsay Poss:

that you've been alive here. But what how are you constantly

Lindsay Poss:

evolving or adapting to your community needs? And where are

Lindsay Poss:

you searching for feedback? Or where are you employing

Lindsay Poss:

different strategies to try to address those needs? What what

Lindsay Poss:

does that look like for you in these two years?

Unknown:

Sure, I'm happy to take that first floor. And then

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Laura, and you can add anything. You know, we, we launched it,

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and immediately used tactics that we had learned in our

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former company about community building, which is, is kind of

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on a touches on what I just said, which is always getting

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feedback from the community, of course, that's very easy to do

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when when you're on social media. And so, you know, we did

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a lot of targeted questioning, and we did also outside of

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outside of just social media, you know, we were, we were able

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to go to to PAX is, we ran the survey, we ran really in depth

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focus groups, and we're always talking to women in the

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community and in the industry. So, you know, as a very

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baseline, that's, that's the tactic. That being said, in

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this, in this not this space, but in the in this in the area

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of making sure that we're being inclusive at all times, it's a

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journey, because we are, we are not representative of everybody

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that we want to include at all times. And so the best thing

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that we do is we, we certainly employ consultants at all times,

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we also get feedback from, you know, if we have something on

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social, which was written, you know, which didn't translate in

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an inappropriate way, according to a user, or a commenter, we do

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everything we can to try to actually meet that person and

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talk to them. And I think, today, we haven't had a

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situation that I know of that hasn't been somewhat resolved,

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you know, in that in that way. But that said, I won't use the

Unknown:

word result period, because it's an ongoing discussion. And so we

Unknown:

are, we're also big believers in just saying, we, we are here to

Unknown:

create an inclusive community. That's why we launched our

Unknown:

business. And we are also humans. And so if we don't, if

Unknown:

we do something that's not inclusive, we will apologize and

Unknown:

try to do better and move on. And I would say we actually

Unknown:

haven't had that many challenges. We've had a couple

Unknown:

things on Twitter, that didn't translate well, and for reasons

Unknown:

that make total sense in retrospect, and so we, we hired

Unknown:

people, we believe in paying consultants and paying women to,

Unknown:

to analyze what our messaging is, and then changing it if we

Unknown:

need to, I

Lindsay Poss:

think it's really important to be nimble, when

Lindsay Poss:

you're trying to be inclusive, and then to recognize when

Lindsay Poss:

things didn't go very well. And it takes a lot of bravery to do

Lindsay Poss:

that, too. So I appreciate that honesty, when to shift to maybe

Lindsay Poss:

a little bit more positive or light tone, what are some of the

Lindsay Poss:

projects, events, partnerships, anything of that, that you all

Lindsay Poss:

have really enjoyed working on that have been, you know, Smash

Lindsay Poss:

community successes, I know the the awards is one of them. But I

Lindsay Poss:

would love to hear from you guys personally, what has been just

Lindsay Poss:

really fun for you.

Unknown:

I'll go first. I, the whole journey has been fun. I do

Unknown:

have to say, and it's been a really, I think I'm trying to

Unknown:

think of the award. That's kind of strong enough. But it's just

Unknown:

been a really wonderful time to be in this industry. And in

Unknown:

this, you know, the space of of trying to create an inclusive

Unknown:

community, because we've only existed during COVID. It seems

Unknown:

the social justice movement of 2020 got, you know, a lot of

Unknown:

momentum and we have gotten pretty much consistently

Unknown:

positive feedback and support since the day we launched. So we

Unknown:

are we're really thrilled about that if I had to pull out one

Unknown:

thing that's been really exciting for me and it's not

Unknown:

necessarily more exciting than everything else, but it's just

Unknown:

it's something we haven't talked about. It's something that I'm

Unknown:

very, kind of can't wait for right now is we are thrilled to

Unknown:

be launching some really great probe programming community and

Unknown:

events in the collegiate space. So we already are in the

Unknown:

collegiate space. We've been to Some events, some networking

Unknown:

events, some events where high school students were in

Unknown:

tournaments, with college coaches watching them. And we

Unknown:

have you know, as COVID, it's kind of been open and closed

Unknown:

over the past couple of months, depending on where what city

Unknown:

you're in, we, we feel more and more that we will be at events,

Unknown:

but, but we've got some big announcements coming. And again,

Unknown:

depending on when this podcast airs, it might be right around

Unknown:

the same time. But we are very, very exciting, excited to be

Unknown:

impactful in the collegiate space. And our, you know, at the

Unknown:

heart of what we want to do, beyond community building is

Unknown:

really in more than this very early on in this conversation,

Unknown:

but is find ways to amplify and celebrate and highlight the

Unknown:

women that are doing positive things in gaming or creating

Unknown:

positive initiatives. It's why we we ran the awards from day

Unknown:

one. And I think that we also learned early on that if we are

Unknown:

going to make that difference for women in gaming or create

Unknown:

those pipelines jobs, and and be impactful, we better take the

Unknown:

collegiate base pretty seriously, because it's a it's a

Unknown:

big space, it's the demographic of humans in this country and

Unknown:

around the world that are going to be in the workforce, they're

Unknown:

going to be gaming with their kids that are going to be making

Unknown:

the buying decisions in there that are going to create and

Unknown:

exemplify what community is all about what inclusivity

Unknown:

inclusivity is all about. So we're not in the business of,

Unknown:

of, you know, getting in the way of positive initiatives that are

Unknown:

already happening. So the collegiate space was a little

Unknown:

complicated, because there are some things happening here. It's

Unknown:

fragmented over here, there are tournaments there, some schools

Unknown:

have esports, some of the gaming clubs, sometimes it's aligned

Unknown:

with the athletic department, you know, it's, it's really all

Unknown:

over the place. But we have a great kind of, you know,

Unknown:

announcement in the next in the coming weeks. And what I would

Unknown:

say for anybody listening as if you are at a school, and you

Unknown:

don't know about the gamers definitely go on our website, we

Unknown:

already have a collegiate section, you can get involved.

Unknown:

And we're just super excited about it.

Unknown:

So that that yes, are there very excited about the collegia space

Unknown:

that was very much driven by Rebecca and her passions,

Unknown:

incredible. My passion more comes into, like the creativity

Unknown:

of really building stuff that hasn't been built before for

Unknown:

people so so these gamers like the game rewards when we came up

Unknown:

with that idea, and really seeing an idea from the

Unknown:

beginning, through fruition and having having people really

Unknown:

appreciate it and enjoy it, right. So. So that's what we're

Unknown:

constantly doing. And the gamers were, again, came up with these

Unknown:

game rewards, and then the dream stream. And we have so many

Unknown:

aspiring professionals, which is how we're doing boot camp. And

Unknown:

as, as the you know, as I was developing the app, and as we

Unknown:

were seeing what was happening in the app, we noticed something

Unknown:

very interesting. And we noticed that there are a lot a lot of

Unknown:

streamers that are in our app. Some are just starting out

Unknown:

beginning and some are you know, a month or two in but they're

Unknown:

all they all want to build they're there. It's it's it's a

Unknown:

career path for them that or they want it to be and the the

Unknown:

questions and the comments about streaming, which really opened

Unknown:

up a light bulb for us. And we're ticking and we have some

Unknown:

wonderful ideas brewing for all you streamers out there and

Unknown:

people who like to watch stream that will be coming to our app.

Unknown:

So for me the joy of of creating is is seeing what's there and

Unknown:

seeing the need and then creating something to fill that

Unknown:

need. So more to come closer to the second half of 2022

Unknown:

beginning of 23. But we're very very excited about where the app

Unknown:

go.

Unknown:

And I have Laura some some props she she was very modest there

Unknown:

but that is her passion. We all have different roles. But Laura

Unknown:

thought of the awards created them kind of was all in charge

Unknown:

of in the first year. And by the second year someone else had to

Unknown:

do it because she was on to the app. So she's behind the scenes

Unknown:

just pumping out new ideas at all times. So thing I love the

Unknown:

Sony. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

well I personally also love doing this podcast

Lindsay Poss:

because I love giving women the chance to brag either about

Lindsay Poss:

themselves or for the person who should be bragging about

Lindsay Poss:

themselves. So thank you for that introduction. I want to

Lindsay Poss:

zoom out a little bit here. And I know you all have talked about

Lindsay Poss:

now building in the collegiate space building for streamers,

Lindsay Poss:

building for kind of your average everyday person who is

Lindsay Poss:

looking to not necessarily be super hardcore into gaming,

Lindsay Poss:

which I think is a lot of what discord offers. And also,

Lindsay Poss:

Rebecca, when you pointed out the discord is confusing, I

Lindsay Poss:

totally agree when it comes to building massive servers. I like

Lindsay Poss:

being part of smaller discord communities, but the large ones

Lindsay Poss:

can be very overwhelming. When if they're if they're not hosted

Lindsay Poss:

by someone who is intensely trying to keep them together,

Lindsay Poss:

which is a whole other issue. But just to zoom out on that a

Lindsay Poss:

little more I part of the reason why I started this show, is as a

Lindsay Poss:

hyper casual gamer, I didn't feel that I really fit in with

Lindsay Poss:

gaming culture. I watched friends play intense shooter

Lindsay Poss:

games, and I kind of knew about the bigger more popular games

Lindsay Poss:

and League of Legends and all that. But I definitely stuck to

Lindsay Poss:

playing puzzle games on my phone. And so it seems as if you

Lindsay Poss:

all are trying to carve out a space for those people like me

Lindsay Poss:

as well, we're more into the hyper casual thing, who who

Lindsay Poss:

aren't going to spend five hours digging into a League of Legends

Lindsay Poss:

discord, not that there's anything wrong with that is

Lindsay Poss:

there's not. But there's this wide world out there of people

Lindsay Poss:

who haven't necessarily gotten a chance to really interact with

Lindsay Poss:

the gaming space than I do think that those people tend to be

Lindsay Poss:

more women, just because women tend to play more casual games.

Lindsay Poss:

So with that in mind, can you just tell me how you're working

Lindsay Poss:

to kind of incorporate people like me, who are more, maybe on

Lindsay Poss:

the periphery of the space? Still very interested in it

Lindsay Poss:

still should be included? But what are you looking for? And

Lindsay Poss:

then are you what are you thinking that you wish that

Lindsay Poss:

other companies or other organizations would do for

Lindsay Poss:

people more in my position?

Unknown:

On that one, if you want or Laura, it's up to you

Unknown:

either way, Rebecca. So a couple things, I think we we're sitting

Unknown:

at this moment in time, where gaming is intersecting with so

Unknown:

many other things. And so, you know, 87% of Gen Z Games, I

Unknown:

think it's I read the other day, like 94 96% of Gen alpha. So

Unknown:

what what the word gaming, even means is probably going to be

Unknown:

evolving, as it you know, is as songs are released in game as

Unknown:

sports, and there's, you know, the plan, NFL announced a huge

Unknown:

partnership yesterday. It just It doesn't end military, NASA,

Unknown:

the medical world, right. So while while a while all those

Unknown:

intersections are happening. And then while you have, you know,

Unknown:

the hardcore gamers and the hyper casual gamers, I think at

Unknown:

the end of the day, first of all, what are we doing for

Unknown:

gamers like you a lot of our community, our community spans

Unknown:

all of it, right? And so maybe you wouldn't consider yourself a

Unknown:

gamer. I don't know that, that everybody, even on our CO

Unknown:

founding team would have considered themselves as as

Unknown:

really a gamer before we before we launched this company. Now

Unknown:

that we've launched it, we first of all thought, Well wait, we

Unknown:

all were gamers already. And then of course, now that we're

Unknown:

here, some of us game more, more consistently. And our co founder

Unknown:

verta actually has a show on our Twitch every week. So but I

Unknown:

think I think it just becomes less and less important. And

Unknown:

what will happen as that intersection happens is that all

Unknown:

of the other things that everybody's already involved in

Unknown:

are going to be referencing games, and those lines are just

Unknown:

going to be blurred. So I definitely want to let Laura

Unknown:

weigh in on on her thoughts of what what are we doing, but I

Unknown:

think what we were doing is what we've always done, which is

Unknown:

watch the trends. Watch what our community is talking about. We

Unknown:

will certainly continue to watch the you know, the numbers and

Unknown:

the percentage of of women who are casual gaming because it's a

Unknown:

lot and we want to be relevant to them as well.

Unknown:

Yeah, and listen, I know I'm a little bit biased here. But I do

Unknown:

want to talk about how the app really does kind of allow for

Unknown:

more casual gamers like yourself. At full disclosure, I

Unknown:

didn't consider myself a gamer at all before we started this

Unknown:

but now that I'm I do puzzles I do cube cube I love all that

Unknown:

stuff. So I guess technically I was a gamer and I have a 13 year

Unknown:

old son who plays 24/7 So I see the fortnight I see it all I get

Unknown:

that but There's a huge learning curve when we came on, like, you

Unknown:

know, learning about everything and, and now that I really feel

Unknown:

like we're in the space, and we know, you know what's going on,

Unknown:

um, but the app, and the app feels like a place where I can

Unknown:

genuinely authentically, be myself and contribute, again,

Unknown:

because of all of the other things that are putting in our

Unknown:

app. So because it's not just gaming focus, I feel that the

Unknown:

more casual gamers can really find a place for themselves

Unknown:

there and not be intimidated. Because to be honest, the non

Unknown:

gaming posts get just as much interaction and love and likes

Unknown:

as the gaming one. So again, I know I am biased, but I do want

Unknown:

to say this people out there who feel like they liked the game

Unknown:

for sure. It's not their heart and soul. But our app is more

Unknown:

than that. Our app is just a warm, welcoming place for

Unknown:

anybody. And to be honest, even if you don't game but you're

Unknown:

looking for a community to be a part of and feel accepted and,

Unknown:

and be encouraged. It's our app. So I had to say that. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

I love the plug. It's totally fine. And like I

Lindsay Poss:

said, you all are making these transitions so easy, because

Lindsay Poss:

speaking of the line being blurred between gamers and non

Lindsay Poss:

gamers, how are you all thinking about the metaverse? How are you

Lindsay Poss:

thinking about what is first of all, what does the metaverse

Lindsay Poss:

mean to you? We talked about it on the show a lot. But the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse means a lot of different things. And it's so

Lindsay Poss:

early on. I'm really trying to have these conversations now so

Lindsay Poss:

that in five years, we don't have the wrong people

Lindsay Poss:

controlling the metaverse, whatever that may be. But what

Lindsay Poss:

are you all thinking about when it comes to approaching the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse, which is even more of a blurred line between gamers

Lindsay Poss:

and non gamers? And how can we make sure that the right people

Lindsay Poss:

the right voices, the right ideas, kind of get that funding

Lindsay Poss:

to be able to build a very inclusive warm community or

Lindsay Poss:

several communities within the metaverse?

Unknown:

Rebecca, you want to come in? Yeah. Yeah, sure. You

Unknown:

know, I

Unknown:

think it like you said it is early. And we are certainly very

Unknown:

actively watching everything that's happening with the

Unknown:

metaverse. How do I define the metaverse? I mean, of course,

Unknown:

yes, 10 people and you get 10 different definitions. I think

Unknown:

what's going to be interesting in the metaverse is to see how

Unknown:

you know, and again how far down the line this is. But how we can

Unknown:

interact virtually is with sort of more more realistic

Unknown:

interactions. And I think where that's going to be very

Unknown:

impactful is with brands. And as I don't think we've mentioned

Unknown:

this book, but one reason we've founded ourselves as a company

Unknown:

for profit company instead of a nonprofit is, first of all,

Unknown:

there were a lot of nonprofits already doing great initiatives

Unknown:

in this space. And we wanted to be able to support them. But

Unknown:

also because we felt like to build a community that was

Unknown:

inclusive in the way that we wanted it to be, we would need

Unknown:

the the buy in from all of the different pillars of the

Unknown:

industry. So that you know, the esports boards, publishers, and

Unknown:

nonprofits to universities, and the brands because brands are so

Unknown:

important. And see and we were talking about collegiate before

Unknown:

as this generation of, of students, graduates from college

Unknown:

and goes into the real world and interacts with brands. They care

Unknown:

more about what's behind the brands that they're interacting

Unknown:

with, then than ever before. And while we we live this current

Unknown:

life but the metaverse is going to make this even more and more

Unknown:

that's a little bit fluid between between virtual and in

Unknown:

real life. You know, there's we see it with hybrid events,

Unknown:

right? And maybe COVID made hybrid events, somebody

Unknown:

something everybody knew about, but I think it only sped them

Unknown:

up. We were already going there. And the metaverse is is sort of

Unknown:

another example of where you can, you know, be somewhere see

Unknown:

a brand instead of just an advertisement for the brand.

Unknown:

It's gonna feel like the brand is actually there. And what that

Unknown:

looks like it the game hers. I mean, right now honestly, we are

Unknown:

super focused on building our community creating an inclusive

Unknown:

space. And that is what we're spending the majority of our

Unknown:

time doing. Whilst we're actively watching, you know,

Unknown:

everything developing and Metaverse sessions.

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, just to add a little bit to that. I feel like

Unknown:

as with all disruptive new technology experience, there is

Unknown:

so much good that can come away from it. I mean, when I think of

Unknown:

the metaverse, I just think of connecting people in such a

Unknown:

profound way which is Absolutely, you know,

Unknown:

astounding. That said it can also bring on a potential, you

Unknown:

know, negative things as well. And I feel like because we're

Unknown:

just at the, you know, the forefront of this Metaverse, I

Unknown:

think that people, companies technology have an opportunity

Unknown:

to do it. Right. Right from the start. I feel like in the gaming

Unknown:

industry, there's been a lot of big apologies from companies who

Unknown:

have not necessarily been as inclusive or, you know, just

Unknown:

welcoming and safe. And because the metaverse could become such

Unknown:

a huge thing, I hope that this time around, companies will you

Unknown:

will really think about doing it right. And, and making people's

Unknown:

avatars feel safe when they're in the community out there,

Unknown:

because that's a thing. That's a thing I've heard even like

Unknown:

avatars. I'm not even kidding you. I've heard of an avid

Unknown:

someone in a virtual space where their avatar has gotten that

Unknown:

attack. And it was really, really upsetting for this

Unknown:

person. So. So anyway, I just, you know, again, that's I just

Unknown:

hope that we can learn from our mistakes as a collective gaming

Unknown:

space and do it right.

Lindsay Poss:

Totally agree with that. I think prioritizing

Lindsay Poss:

safety is so important. And just to summarize, before we get into

Lindsay Poss:

the last segment, although all the things we've talked about so

Lindsay Poss:

far, I know you all have really focused on the community

Lindsay Poss:

building aspect, both in carving out a niche, and in serving that

Lindsay Poss:

niche is important and unique interests. And I think that

Lindsay Poss:

you've mentioned too, that we all have a natural tendency

Lindsay Poss:

towards community. So building roads to be adaptable. And

Lindsay Poss:

welcome is really important. Your app, which you've mentioned

Lindsay Poss:

several times, and it sounds it sounds great. I actually have

Lindsay Poss:

downloaded and used it a little bit. And so I do I do recommend

Lindsay Poss:

it to those folks out there that are looking for a way to get

Lindsay Poss:

more involved with gaming, but are maybe a little bit more

Lindsay Poss:

hesitant. And your app is a space not only for gaming, but

Lindsay Poss:

truly for community building for welcoming people who are at all

Lindsay Poss:

stages of gaming and non gaming, to meet them to connect and to

Lindsay Poss:

talk about fun stuff together, which is it which is great. And

Lindsay Poss:

I know that we went a little bit through what being inclusive

Lindsay Poss:

means to you. Part of it is always looking for feedback. And

Lindsay Poss:

another part of is being willing to adapt or change something

Lindsay Poss:

change a message change a product when it's necessary. The

Lindsay Poss:

last thing we kind of got into was the metaverse gaming versus

Lindsay Poss:

non gaming and how that line is getting more blurred. The

Lindsay Poss:

Metaverse is an example where you can be fully absorbed

Lindsay Poss:

without being there. And we have an opportunity to build whatever

Lindsay Poss:

this Metaverse world means from the very start to prioritize

Lindsay Poss:

safety and inclusion and equity. So hopefully companies

Lindsay Poss:

throughout this past couple of years have, hopefully what is a

Lindsay Poss:

real reckoning, we'll take those lessons forward into building

Lindsay Poss:

new tech and future entertainment experiences. The

Lindsay Poss:

last segment that I do, and I do this on every show, so our

Lindsay Poss:

returning listeners will be familiar, is I asked you for a

Lindsay Poss:

moment of reflection, and this is a just a chance for you to

Lindsay Poss:

look back on your career, where you're at now. And to answer the

Lindsay Poss:

question, what is one thing you would like to tell your younger

Lindsay Poss:

self about getting into the gaming or tech industry and

Lindsay Poss:

being successful?

Unknown:

So I guess I'll start with that one. And I think, you

Unknown:

know, as by trade, I I'm a math teacher, I'm at for Junior High

Unknown:

in high school, right. And that was my jam, and I loved it. Um,

Unknown:

and then again, like I said, when when I had my first child

Unknown:

and created the first business, I had no idea that there was an

Unknown:

entrepreneur in me, I really had no idea. And so who you think

Unknown:

you are, there are things inside of you that you may not know

Unknown:

exists. So what I would like to tell, you know, people is just,

Unknown:

you know, life is just so short. And I know all of these, all of

Unknown:

these, you know, advice, types of expressions are so trite, but

Unknown:

it's very true. And you just need to kind of stop thinking

Unknown:

and just do it. Like I always truly believe Nike says it best.

Unknown:

Um, you know, when I had my first event, as you know, when I

Unknown:

started the mommy business, and I was taking a cab with my

Unknown:

mother and my six month old daughter and my butterflies were

Unknown:

like, and I'm like, What the heck am I doing? But again,

Unknown:

here's another tribalism fake it till you make it. I walked in

Unknown:

and I ran the show, even though I was scared as heck. So Whether

Unknown:

that be wanting to start a business, whether that be

Unknown:

wanting to change careers, whether that wanting to be any

Unknown:

path in life, you you, you really you only regret another

Unknown:

tried ism. But it's true you only regret what you didn't try,

Unknown:

right? That's the only regret in life if you try something, and

Unknown:

it didn't work, you know what you still can be proud of

Unknown:

yourself for trying. So I just wanted to give a Like, my advice

Unknown:

is like a little pep talk here, like life is too short, and

Unknown:

anyone can do anything and you you need to build the life you

Unknown:

want for yourself, though, I would say be confident, go for

Unknown:

it, listen to your gut and, and just do it.

Unknown:

That's hard to follow Laura, that was pretty I'm inspired by

Unknown:

that too. My my advice. First of all, my advice would be almost

Unknown:

everything Laura just said. And what I also always lean into is,

Unknown:

like Laura said, also, you may not exactly know what you want

Unknown:

to do. But if you have an idea, let's say you want to work in

Unknown:

the esports and gaming industry, but you don't really I think a

Unknown:

lot of it is about hard work. And people surround yourself

Unknown:

with as many people who you can to learn from, connect with

Unknown:

them, talk to them in this virtual world currently, then go

Unknown:

on Twitter, join groups, and something will bubble up. I

Unknown:

mean, you know, even all of the ideas that we've done in the

Unknown:

development of this company, we didn't have those all from day

Unknown:

one they've developed over time. And I really strongly believe a

Unknown:

lot of the reason I am sitting where I'm sitting today is

Unknown:

because of the people I've surrounded myself with. And I'm

Unknown:

super grateful for that.

Lindsay Poss:

Think that is a wonderful tribute. And I will

Lindsay Poss:

just point out to our listeners that Rebecca actually reached

Lindsay Poss:

out to me on LinkedIn. So I do recommend the reaching out to

Lindsay Poss:

people via LinkedIn strategy, because really, really great

Lindsay Poss:

things can can come of that. Thank you all so much for coming

Lindsay Poss:

on. Where can people find you if you want to be found, feel free

Lindsay Poss:

to plug anything you want to plug? Let let all the listeners

Lindsay Poss:

know how they can interact with you in your communities.

Unknown:

Sure, we are at the game hers on all socials and the

Unknown:

gamers app in the App Store. And I'm Rebecca Dixon.

Unknown:

The Laura Deutsch. Feel free and we love we love hearing from

Unknown:

people. So we just we did reach out. We'd love to hear from you.

Lindsay Poss:

Yes, be sure to follow them on all your social

Lindsay Poss:

medias. Reach out on LinkedIn do the whole bit. And for our

Lindsay Poss:

listeners, don't forget to leave those five star ratings and

Lindsay Poss:

reviews. Be sure to check out other holodeck media podcasts,

Lindsay Poss:

including meta business for all the metaverse finance stories

Lindsay Poss:

you could ever want a business of esports for interviews with

Lindsay Poss:

industry leaders. You can catch me Wednesday nights on the

Lindsay Poss:

business of esports live after show and you can catch this

Lindsay Poss:

podcast in your feed every Tuesday the next week.

Unknown:

Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to

Unknown:

subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your

Unknown:

podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

Unknown:

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Unknown:

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About the Podcast

META Woman
Weekly metaverse content - for women, by women
Meta Woman will focus on addressing the issues, opportunities, and challenges facing women in the development of the Metaverse. Top female executives and business people operating within the gaming and crypto industries bring a wide range of perspectives through regular guest appearances.