Izvor: Megafon.co, 26.Jun.2023, 21:54
Žena u gejming industriji
Jedna od najenergičnijih ljudi koje sam ikada upoznala je Vero iz Slovačke. Njeno puno ime je Veronika Golianova i ona je suosnivačica i suizvršna direktorka kompanije Impact Games.
Zahvaljujući nekoliko godina rada u međunarodnoj organizaciji, Vero je stekla dobar uvid u grant šeme, upravljanje projektima, izgradnju partnerstava i zagovaranje. Loš društveni položaj nevladinih organizacija i njeno nezadovoljstvo njihovom neefikasnošću u rešavanju društvenih problema doveli >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu Megafon.co << su je do osnivanja Impact Games. U Impact Gamesu se fokusira na izgradnju partnerstava i upravljanje projektima.
U okviru programa Community Solutions, saradjivala je sa organizacijom Search for Common Ground u Vašingtonu, D.C.
Vero Golianova, Foto – Impact Games
Obrazovanje u igre i igre u škole
Vero i ja smo se bolje upoznale kada je posetila Boston zbog konferencije. Zajedno smo provele tri sjajna dana, o kojima imamo mnogo priča, ali ovaj put pričamo o njenim dostignućima.
“Najviše sam ponosna na organizaciju koju smo izgradili. U Impact Gamesu, naša misija je donošenje obrazovanja u igre i igara u škole. Razvijamo obrazovne igre i sarađujemo sa nastavnicima kako bi im pomogli da koriste ove igre u učionicama. Ove godine slavimo 4 godine postojanja, i za to kratko vreme, uz pandemiju, uspeli smo da proširimo naš tim na 13 ljudi, razvijemo i objavimo 4 igre (još jedna dolazi za nekoliko nedelja) i izgradimo obrazovnu platformu Gamifactory.eu koju trenutno koristi 520 nastavnika”, kaže Vero.
Impact Games, Foto – Impact Games
Kada su započeli pre 4 godine, kaže da je bilo mnogo više skeptika nego onih koji su ih podržali. Ali to se sada promenilo, jer su uspeli da dokažu da igre stvarno imaju ogromnu moć da povećaju motivaciju za učenje.
“U mojoj zemlji, Slovačkoj, 9 od 10 učenika ide u školu samo zato što moraju. Nemaju unutrašnju motivaciju za učenje, niti radost u učenju. To je ogroman problem i znam da nije samo pitanje u Slovačkoj. Drago mi je da vidim iz prve ruke kako se to menja kada dolazimo u školu sa našim igrama.”
Karijera
Vero kaže da je često najteže samo nastaviti dalje. Posebno na početku, kada još uvek učite i imate više neuspeha nego uspeha. Ali upornost je ključna.
“Studirala sam međunarodne odnose i radila u oblasti međunarodnog razvoja pre nego što sam započela rad u Impact Gamesu. Dakle, to je bio veliki preokret na mom karijernom putu. Morala sam mnogo toga da naučim. Nikada pre nisam razvijala igru, niti išta digitalno. Pokušala sam, nisam uspela, naučila – tako je bilo dugo vremena. Prvi uspeh došao je tek posle godinu dana ili tako nešto. I još uvek je više neuspeha nego uspeha. Dakle, važna stvar je samo nastaviti plivati.”
Impact Games, Foto – Impact Games
Govoreći o tome kako je biti žena u gejmingu, Vero je podelila aktuelnu statistiku iz zvaničnog izveštaja o slovačkoj gejming industriji za 2022. godinu, kao i svoje lično iskustvo.
“Od svih zaposlenih u gejming industriji u Slovačkoj, 19% su žene, a samo 7% obavlja funkciju koju ja imam. Još uvek su muškarci dominantni u industriji i još uvek je prilično uobičajeno da sam jedina žena u prostoriji. Doživela sam veoma seksističke komentare na poslovnim sastancima, poput “oh zaista, čak i ti igraš igre”. Dakle, to svakako može biti izazov. Ali drago mi je da vidim da se situacija poboljšava. A u Impact Gamesu, čak imamo više žena nego muškaraca u timu!”
Život u Americi
Njeno iskustvo u Americi tokom boravka na CSP-u, kako kaže, bilo je neverovatno. Praksa u jednoj od najvećih organizacija za izgradnju mira bila je inspirativna.
“Upoznala sam mnoge inspirativne ljude i prisustvovala izuzetno zanimljivim događajima. Moje odgovornosti su uključivale koordinaciju radne grupe Saveta za tehnologiju i društvenu koheziju, što je bio odličan spoj za mene s obzirom na moje iskustvo u tehnologiji i prethodnu karijeru u međunarodnom razvoju, a pre toga akademsko istraživanje na društvenim mrežama. Planiram da koristim ovo iskustvo razvijanjem e-učenja o medijskoj pismenosti u svetu veštačke inteligencije za nastavnike.”
Foto – Impact Games
Kaže da nije doživela veliki kulturološki šok. Ali bilo je nekoliko svakodnevnih stvari na koje se trebalo naviknuti.
“Jedna manja stvar su bile udaljenosti; Amerika je ogromna! Dolazeći iz Evrope, koja je mali kontinent gde ljudi svuda pešače, trebalo mi je neko vreme da se naviknem da to nije moguće. Takođe, mentalitet ljudi je malo drugačiji, ali na dobar način – Amerikanci su mnogo ljubazniji od Evropljana. Nedostaju mi slučajni prolaznici na ulici koji mi govore koliko im se sviđa moja haljina i simpatične situacije poput toga. ”
Kako se bližimo kraju priče o Vero, pitala sam je koji su njeni planovi za budućnost.
“Nastaviti izgradnju Impact Gamesa i borbu protiv patrijarhata, znaš već, uobičajene stvari. ”
Znam, Vero, samo nastavi!
A Woman in Gaming Industry
One of the most energetic people I have ever met is Vero from Slovakia. Her full name is Veronika Goilanova and she is a Co-Founder and a Co-Chief Executive Officer for the Impact Games.
Thanks to several years of working in an international organization, Vero gained a good overview of grant schemes, project management, partnership building and advocacy. The deteriorating societal position of NGOs and her frustration of their ineffectiveness to solve social problems led her to co-found Impact Games. At Impact Games, she focuses on building partnerships and managing projects.
Within Community Solutions Program she collaborated with Search for Common Ground in Washington DC where she supported partnership development and utilized technology for positive social impact.
Bringing education to games and play to schools
Vero and I got to know each other better when she visited Boston for a conference. We ended up spending 3 great days together with a lot of stories to tell, but this is a story about her accomplishments.
“I am definitely the proudest of the organization I helped to build. At Impact Games, our mission is to bring education to games and play to schools. We develop educational games and work with teachers to help them use these games in classrooms. We will celebrate 4 years in September, and in these short pandemic-affected years, we managed to grow our team to 13 people, develop and release 4 games (another one coming in a couple of weeks) and build educational platform Gamifactory.eu that currently serves 520 teachers”, says Vero.
When they started almost 4 years ago, she says that there were definitely many more sceptics than supporters. But this changed now, as they managed to prove that games do have enormous power to increase the motivation to learn.
“In my country, Slovakia, 9 out of 10 students go to school only because they have to. They have no intrinsic motivation to study, no joy of learning. This is a huge problem and I know that it is not an issue only in Slovakia. I am happy to see firsthand how these changes when we come to school with our games.”
Career building
Vero says that often, the most difficult thing is just to keep going. Especially at the beginning, when you are still learning and having more failures than successes. But the persistence is the key.
“I studied International relations and worked in the international development field before starting Impact Games. So, for me, it was an extreme change in my career path. I had to learn a lot of different things. I never developed a game before, I never developed anything digital for that matter. I tried, I failed, I learned – it was like this for quite a long time. First success came only after a year or so. And still, I fail much more than I succeed. So, the important thing is just to keep swimming.”
Talking about being a woman in her field of work Vero shared concrete and actual stats from the Slovak game industry report of 2022 and her own experience.
“Out of all the employees of the gaming industry in Slovakia, 19% are women and only 7% hold the position that I have. It is still a very male-dominated industry and it is still quite common that I am the only woman in the room. I have experienced very sexist comments at work meetings, such as “ooh really, even you play games”. So, it definitely can be a challenge. But I am glad to see that the situation is improving. And at Impact Games, we even have more women than men on a team!”
Life in the USA
Her experience in the USA while there on CSP was, her words, amazing. Doing her practicum in one of the largest peace building organizations was inspiring.
“I’ve met many inspiring people and attended super interesting events and places. My responsibilities included coordinating the working group of the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion, which was a great match for me given my background in tech and my previous career in international development, and before that, academic research on social media. I plan to use this experience by developing an e-learning course on Media Literacy in the world of AI for teachers.”
She says she didn’t experience a big culture shock. But there are some everyday things that were something to get used to.
“A smaller thing were the distances everywhere; the US is so huge! Coming from Europe, which is a small continent and people walk everywhere, it did take me some time to get used to not being able to do so. Also, the mentality of people was a bit different for me, but in a good way – Americans are so much nicer than Europeans. I miss random people on the street telling me how much they like my dress and cute situations like that. ”
As we are getting to the end of the story about Vero, I asked her what are her plans for the future.
“Continue building Impact Games and fighting patriarchy, you know, the usual stuff. ”
I know Vero, just keep going!
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