Announcing the Gameheads Store!

Leigh Alexander, a prominent game journalist wrote an article in 2014 which was a big influence for me when I created Gameheads, titled, “Gamers’ Don’t Have to Be Your Audience. ‘Gamers’ are Over,” she argued that the “gamer” identity was becoming outdated, limiting, and hostile to a broader, more diverse mainstream audience. On the backdrop of Gamergate, Alexander was commenting on a hardcore group of gamers that were a bit hostile towards a demographic of gamers that best represented what the Western world looked like: Multicultural. Socioeconomically diverse. Multi-religious. Gendered or non-gendered. And, yes, White male gamers who played video games in bodegas and inner city arcades. 

The consensus, at the time, was that those gamers didn’t belong. And, truthfully, I agreed with them. Those “gamers” didn’t belong to gaming culture because they belonged to something different. The game players I knew were not like them. They were interested in different games, different elements of a game and they wanted to play new game experiences. They weren’t gamers. They were Gameheads.

Gameheads was meant to be a play on the word Sneakerheads. 

A Sneakerhead is a shoe enthusiast. A Gamehead is a video game enthusiast. Gameheads are people who don’t identify with the typical image of a video game player. Gameheads are cool. Cool like Dr. Robert Farris Thompson. Cool like Rebecca Walker. Gameheads are stylish. Gameheads are knowledgeable about video games but  they also understand where video games can go within the culture. Gameheads are cultural alchemists who love hip hop, classical music and Afrofuturism; they’re also developers, artists, organizers and designers.

A Gamehead wants better options for Black hair when they’re customizing their character. A Gamehead doesn’t mind politics in their video games. A Gamehead may not have grown up playing video games in a basement. A Gamehead doesn’t care to be a gamer. Since we have started, we have trained and engaged well over five thousand young people – women, Black youth, queer youth, indigenous and Latinx folks- many who don’t fit into the typical view of a “gamer” but love games, and have passion, knowledge and talent.

Today, we announce limited edition merchandise in honor of Women’s History Month. This collection highlights the artwork of our female artists who have created some incredible worlds over the last twelve years. But, the Women’s Appreciation Collection is more than that. The merch – a first of its kind for us – is a reflection of what makes the Gameheads community unique. We are not just gamers; we are something far more swaggy. A huge congratulations to our artists for making that a reality. 

Damon Packwood

Creator, Executive Director 

Gameheads