The Digital Games Conference (DGC), kicked off on the 15th of June with powerful thought-leaders in the gaming industry. During the first half of the morning, there were panel discussions with Luciano Rahal, the Marketing Manager of Riot Games MENA, before a networking opportunity.
Key speakers
Mohamed Harb, Head of MENA Sports Operations at TikTok with content creators KiraDXB and The Hot Head Sam joined a panel discussion about taking your gaming brand to TikTok. After the short lunch break, Andreas Hadjipaschali, CEO of Bravado Gaming spoke about the gaming lifestyle and the importance of synergy in gaming culture. The topic of conversation was around doing Esports differently and he, therefore, answered how creators and everyone in the industry are working together to change the stereotype around gaming, and how we are educating everyone on the positives of gaming.
In a conversation with Andreas, we asked him what the positives are if a child is playing a video game, to which he replied “there are many advantages – one being them having to problem solve to get to the next level, another would be tactical thinking, then teamwork, and much more.”
The mention of educating everyone on gaming then flowed through to Philip Wride’s talk on gaming as an educational tool. Philip spoke about his venture Classbridges which combines gaming and education together. The idea behind the concept is to make maths fun and engaging by putting equations within popular games that children enjoy playing.
Many of the discussions and talks on stage opened conversation and ideas, inspiring the audience to look at gaming in a different, and more positive way.
How the Arab world is taking content by storm
The final discussion was held by Thomas Shambler, who spoke with creators in the Middle East on how the Arab world is taking content by storm. Thomas spoke with Saad Sarwar, the Senior Vice President MENA, Galaxy Racer, and two content creators including Topz with 2 million followers on Instagram, and Hanody Awesome with 902 thousand followers.
During the panel discussion, Hanody was asked the question of what creators are doing differently in the Middle East to which he replied “I want to say this guy’s name, Joe Hattab. He is one of the best creators in the Middle East. He does different projects on his own, so for me, this guy is one of the best YouTubers ever.”
It is refreshing to see influencers praising and supporting one another in the same field or different fields. The comment that was made was acknowledged by everyone on the panel as they nodded their heads in agreement.
The day ended with more networking and a chance to meet the creators. Are you interested in finding out more about DGC? Go onto www.dgc.mea for more information.
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