Gamers playing in streaming and working in video games are starting to organize themselves to find their places in an environment that is hostile to them.
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When she is sitting at her office of the Seychelles Consulate, in Abidjan, Diana Arielle Folly is a model accounting assistant. But as soon as she has a minute of break, the twenty -year -old disappears in an empty room or on a terrace to indulge in her passion: Brawl Stars, a multiplayer planes game on mobile that she discovered there At two years old. She excels there, to the point of having created in November 2021 a club of enthusiasts, made up of around thirty young people from 12 to 20 years old. Diana Arielle Folly is the dean … and the only woman.
“At the beginning, I had to fit them a little, admits the young woman with a little laugh. But now they respect me for my performances.” Every Friday, the players find themselves online for S ‘ Train, exchange advice and improve their statistics. They have one goal: to shine at the next Abidjan (Feja) electronics and video game festival, an important lounge to be held in late November in the Ivorian economic capital and during which will take place several e-sport tournaments .
Out of these bubbles, difficult for women and non -white people to assume their online identity. Diana Arielle Folly, who got into video games after her father bought her a console “so that [she] stays at home and does not hang around with boys,” said it early. In adolescence, she launches into the virtual world Habbo and quickly discovers that her profile is detonating.
“When you say that you are a girl, the attitude of the other players changes right away. And a black girl, in addition! When I was asked where I came from and that I replied that I was west -African, I was constantly blocked. So I ended up lying and claiming that I was French, “she said.
” Toxicity is trivialized “
Many, online, use the same parades to guarantee their tranquility: choose a white man for avatar, generate male, turn off the camera, stifle an accent or cut the microphone … because the double phenomenon of sexism and racism remains extremely widespread in the geek universe, on online video game cats, in streaming sessions, on youtube and social networks.
“In general, toxicity is trivialized in video games, summarizes Jennifer Lufau, French gameuse of Togolese origin. We have this very widespread image, especially in multiplayer games,” hardcore gamer “, the one who rages , who screams, who insults his opponent … And this violence often fits into structural relations of domination. Go see what is happening on Twitch when a black person, a woman or both: they immediately receive a wave of hateful comments. Our presence disturbs and we are made to feel. “
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