A few months ago I was introduced to The Nexus. This great spot in Johannesburg that was a giant building of awesome. The Nexus houses the AWX store, a restaurant that makes the best milkshakes in Joburg and a host of experience rooms. Each room offers up fun new tech and incredible games. It is completely free to go through to the venue and hang out. While I was there I couldn’t help but think that this would be the most incredible spot to have a giant slumber party.
The guys at The Nexus agreed
It was about this time that an idea started formulating in my head. By now you know I’m pretty passionate about Esports. I’m also pretty passionate about gaming. I’m not a good gaming though. Never have been. I don’t naturally get the mechanics and I struggle in the beginning to figure it out. For a long time I felt a little bit ashamed about that. I felt embarrassed to try my hand at a new game when people were around. Even if I really wanted to. I’m still not sure if that is because of the stereotypes that affect women who play games. The truth is I’m sure there are stacks of guys who feel the exact same way but I think being a woman also plays a role. I didn’t want to be just another girl sucking at video games. So I hid from it.
I want everyone to play video games
The truth is, even if you suck, playing video games is fun. It really is so incredibly rad and I want more people to understand that. I want more people to watch Esports and see how incredibly entertaining it can be as a past time. I want to be able to share my love with others. I’ve been lucky along the way. I’ve met incredible females in the gaming space who share my passion. My visit to the Nexus inspired me. I mentioned the giant slumber party idea and their response?
How do we make this happen?
And so we did
On the 7th of June we’ll be hosting a gaming evening at The Nexus. I want to invite ladies from Johannesburg to join us. If you’ve never played a game, you should pull through. If you’ve been too afraid to learn a new game, you should pull through. If you’ve been playing online and are ready to take your passion professional, you should pull through. We’re going to have the entire place kitted out for every level of gamer. From Xbox consoles to learn the ropes on in smaller rooms to an entire Esports area where you can scrim with some of the best female (and a few male) gamers in the country – we’ll have it all. This is your chance to just kick back, hang out with friends and game!
The incredible folks at Acer have come along and are going to be ensuring that you have the best devices to jam on. They want to make sure everyone enjoys the gaming experience, no matter your gender. Xbox has also joined us and will be there as well. There’s no such thing as a gaming overload but they’re making sure you’ll never not have enough. During my time with this blog I’ve also had the opportunity to partner with some rad brands, they’re all going to make this awesome too. We’re talking Red Bull, ghd, Urban Decay, Converse, Razer, Dentyne….. the list is still growing.
I’m not doing this alone though
Remember those incredible women I spoke about earlier? They’re joining in on the action. The Nexus is going to be abuzz with some of the most prominent females in the South African gaming scene. All on hand to share their passion with you. They’ll be there to help you navigate your first game or to jump in on some 1v1 action. Take a look:
Pippa Tshabalala
Pippa Tshabalala gave me my first opportunity to talk about games in her magazine Spiced. She’s the leader of the pack and one of the females in the scene that I look up to and aspire to be.Shazz
Meet Shazz. One of the best Esports professionals in South Africa and a Copenhagen Games winner.Zoe Hawkins
Zoe Hawkins is a mom, a journalist over at Critical Hit and a mommy blogger. She turned gaming into her career and no doubt will pass it on to little Harley too!ChaniZA
ChaniZA is a giant geek, rad gamer and even a youtuber. She also writes for this blog and is a special human who I love dearly.Constantine104
Constantine104 not only writes for Tech Girl but also has the most incredible gaming YouTube channel. She’s pretty damn rad.Bish
Bish is the current captain for eNergy Esports all female team and a kick ass CS streamer on Twitch.If you want to join us on 7 June at The Nexus then all you need to do is register here. There is no entrance fee. There will be lots of yummy food, delicious milkshakes, a healthy dose of Red Bull and more gaming than you could ever imagine. Some of the top Esports organisations in the country will also be around during the evening to talk you through what they do and how you can go pro. All ages are welcome. The only question left is which game you’ll play first?
Oh yeah, this isn’t an actual slumber party. We’ll try wrap it up at around 10pm.
