HERE TO PLAY

The face of gaming is changing, literally

- JAISHREE KUMAR

When Mumbai-based Srishti Millicent lost her job during the first lockdown, she fell into a spiral of depression and anxiety. The world outside was still reeling under the effects of the coronavirus and Millicent was left without a stable income. After ruminating on intrusive thoughts for days, she decided to snap out of it by picking up her gaming console to stay motivated and alert. “I am just glad it (the console) arrived right before the first lockdown hit. Gaming really helped me stay sane,” she says. However, this wasn’t her first time gaming. Millicent started when she was in primary school, on an old PC, and gradually moved to a second-hand Nintendo console. Summer break, as she recalls, was the best time for gaming. “I dedicated most of my free time to five games that I wanted to finish before school re-opened,” she explains.

Female gamers are on the rise in India, and Millicent is one of them. According to a study by Google, India has 5.4 million gamers – that’s more than the population of New Zealand. In a subculture that’s usually associated with men, a growing legion of women game enthusiasts are here to reclaim online spaces and consoles. Women are usually stereotyped as bad players, or used to playing so-called ‘easy games’, but female gamers themselves disagree. The term ‘girl gamer’, in itself, is a loaded one, it’s sometimes used to tease women gamers, alluding to them as bad players, and sometimes it’s used to fetishise them.

SAFE SPACE