Dhayana "MissDeusGeek," Gaming Influencer, Xbox Ambassador, Founder of Women of Xbox
In Career Spotlight, we profile women and nonbinary people who work in the gaming industry. It is our goal to show the vastness and variety of jobs within the world of gaming and to share professional advice and perspective with our readers.
This week we profile Dhayana, also known as “MissDeusGeek,” a South Asian/South East Asian gaming influencer in Australia and New Zealand. She is an award-winning Xbox Ambassador and the founder of the not-for-profit community group, Women of Xbox, a global initiative focused on supporting and empowering female Xbox gamers. As of 2021, Dhayana became the Chief Diversity Officer of the global Xbox-focused independent media brand, Games Press Network. She is the co-host of the podcast, The XBOX Show.
Dhayana “MissDeusGeek”, photo courtesy of the subject
Let’s start way back – when did you first get into gaming? What was your first gaming experience?
My first foray into gaming began around the age of five, when I watched my uncle play games like Doom and Wolfenstein on his PC and Mortal Kombat on his Sega Mega Drive console. If I recall correctly, my first gaming experience was around the same time, when my uncle taught me how to play Doom.
When did you decide that gaming could be something you could work in professionally? How did you build your career path from there?
I never really thought I could work in games professionally. I come from a South East Asian/South Asian upbringing where from a young age, I was led to believe that only those working as doctors, lawyers, engineers and accountants were successful. Any other pursuits, especially in entertainment, were too far out of reach and not sustainable.
I did what was expected of me as a result and became a lawyer. However, instead of practicing the law, I went on to work in public relations. It was around that time that I set up a personal blog to review films and comics, given how much of a nerd I was. Soon after, I met my partner who was so deeply engrossed in gaming that it reignited my own love for games and I realized that I could easily incorporate game reviews into my personal blog.
Things took off from there, even more so when I started to stream and create content. The combination of my legal background, understanding of PR and marketing, and my fondness of connecting with people all helped me turn a small personal blog into a thriving multi-platform brand, which I now run alongside my partner.
Through this experience, I’ve essentially hustled and worked hard to carve out opportunities for myself in the gaming space, which include partnerships with brands, speaking at panels, running streaming workshops for young teens and more.
What are some skills you use in your current jobs?
Interaction and relationship building with the community (anime) and media.
Marketing campaign planning and execution (planning and scheduling is very important for content creation too)
Design asset briefing (similar to requesting/commissioning artwork for streams, emotes etc.)
Pitching stories/work to media (similar to pitching to work with gaming brands and sending proposals)
Analysis and reporting (tweaking and improving is so important)
One of the things you seem to promote in your work is representation of women in games who stem from BIPOC backgrounds. Can you tell us a bit about what representation means to you and why it’s important?
Representation feels almost similar to the saying “seeing is believing.” Growing up, given my background, I never saw anyone like me in Western entertainment or games. People who looked like me, especially women, were led to believe that we could not be what we wanted and instead we needed to be what others wanted us to be. However, when I saw more and more women playing leading roles in films, and playing crucial roles in games, I began to question if it was even possible for someone like me to be in the entertainment and gaming industry.
Seeing others who look, sound, behave, and come from backgrounds similar to you, help make it possible for you to imagine and believe that you too can follow the footsteps of those you are seeing make headway in the spaces that you’re passionate about.
It’s so important to see all gamers represented because it paints a more fair and equal picture of what gaming is, that is, an activity that can be enjoyed by all with no real barriers to entry besides perhaps financially.
I’ve spoken with young girls who’ve said that they hide their gender while playing games because they don’t see as many girls playing or that games are “just for boys”.
Representation can mean so much to allow individuals to truly pursue and believe in their dreams without hesitation, something that in this day and age, should be achievable.
What do you think needs to happen to make the world a better place for people of marginalized genders in the gaming industry?
A willingness to be inclusive and truly representative of who gamers are is a great start, especially by having a diverse team in leadership. From a content creator standpoint, being open-minded to working with a diverse group of creators, to ensure all gamers from all walks of life are represented fairly and equally, goes a long way to help.
What advice do you have for gameHERs who may want to pursue a role as a professional streamer? What are some steps someone can take to get started?
The most important step is to start. Regardless of whether you have a good-looking overlay, have your channel fully set up, or if you have followers, hit that go live button. Often, starting is the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Once you’ve started, the best advice I can offer anyone wanting to become a professional streamer is to not worry about numbers or what anyone else is doing. You’ve got to make sure you’re streaming for the right reasons and that you’re having fun, in order to keep up the momentum required to stream consistently and to grow. Hone in on what makes you unique and remember to find your people by networking with like-minded streamers and gamers in communities that you’re a part of. the*gameHERs is one example.
What excites you about the future of the gaming industry, and what challenges do you foresee?
There’s definitely a shift happening in terms of inclusivity and accessibility in games. With innovations like Cloud Gaming soon to be launched, more and more people across the world will be able to play games and I think that’s something that’s very exciting to see. That is on top of the fact that gaming is now becoming more mainstream.
The challenges I foresee still boils down to representation. If more people are playing games, brands and organizations need to ensure that their teams and their marketing represent all gamers. Making sure checks and balances are in place to avoid allegations of harassment and abuse in workplaces is another major challenge, especially if more and more women and people of colour are working in games.
Would you like to promote anything you’re working on to our community?
Right now, I’m working to grow my main pop culture brand’s presence on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Gaming in order to diversify content and reach a much broader audience. I’d be grateful and appreciative of any support of Attack On Geek. It’s the brand I launched in order to craft out a space for myself in the games industry so I’d be remiss if I didn’t keep working on growing it.
I’m also, slowly but surely, taking steps to really build out Women of Xbox to truly be a space where female gamers are able to come together to support one another and empower each other. I’m currently seeking voluntary help in order to build the community and carry out activities that will help keep our members engaged and feeling supported.
Finally, I’ve also been shortlisted as the only woman outside of the US and Europe for the Women in Games Global Awards in the category of Most Influential Esports Campaigner / Entrepreneur. Voting is currently underway, which I am campaigning for in order to see a woman of colour from the Asia Pacific region be represented at this year’s awards. I’d like to be able to help show other women / girls from similar backgrounds like me that if I can do it, so can they.
Follow Dhayana on social media:
Twitter: @missdeusgeek
Instagram: @missdeusgeek
Facebook: AttackOnGeekTV
YouTube: AttackOnGeek
Twitch: attackongeek
Dhayana “MissDeusGeek,” photo courtesy of the subject
Love this interview? Share it using the social media icons below: