What Happens When Brazil’s Favelas Take On The World Of Online Gaming?

One of the factors working against the 12 million people living in Brazil’s lower-income communities or favelas is digital isolation. According to the Locomotive Research Institute, 43% of the residents have little to no access to 3G or 4G internet networks, and regular broadband internet services are often unavailable. At the same time, families can’t always afford computers at home, and public schools lack resources as they are severely underfunded.

The pandemic brought the severity of this situation to light, as school closures meant that over four million students missed out on education because they didn’t have access to remote learning or in-person classes. Of these, Black or Indigenous students and those from lower income households, were hit the hardest.

Cassiane Cardoso dos Santos, a 17-year-old student from Vigário Geral, a favela in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, is one such student. She explains: “At the beginning of the pandemic it was very difficult because in order to study, I had to have access to the internet and I didn't have it at that time. So it was very difficult not only for me but also for my brothers. This ended up affecting my grades a lot and also my siblings' learning.”

For Thais Xavier, a 23-year-old Illustrator and Game Developer who lives in Tijuca, another Rio neighbourhood, this is also a problem. “Things got really bad in the community where I live. The reality was that a lot of people were losing their jobs and had nothing to eat. The course I was changing from being in-person to online classes, which prejudiced me since I didn't have the necessary equipment at home for what the class was about”, she said.

But one initiative is opening the doors to an alternative kind of education, and even a potential source of income. 

Where? In the unlikely world of video games. 

AfroGames is a Rio-based non-profit that defines itself as the world’s first eSports player training centre inside a slum. Kitted out with expensive, state-of-the-art gaming equipment, it provides 100 young people, aged 12 and over, with classes in Game Programming, League of Legends, Fortnite, and English. Its mission, Executive Director Ricardo Chantilly explains, is to “bring the billionaire gaming world into the favela.”

And he’s not exaggerating. In 2020, the video game market was valued at $159.3 billion, according to Statista. And with technology becoming ever more accessible, and the pandemic seeing even greater numbers of players turn online, this figure is expected to hit an incredible $268 billion by 2025. So yes, if you want to try your hand at video game development, the time is now. 

A lack of diversity

The gaming industry has long been a very white field. However, it has been even more challenging for players in favelas due to location-specific obstacles. In addition to slower internet speeds and the barrier of costly gaming equipment, athletes in these communities have to contend with police raids, flying bullets from “milícia” paramilitary groups, and drug factions recruiting new members off the streets. 

However, as game development tools become more accessible and representation grows, we are seeing a new wave of games that recentre non-Eurocentric narratives; with the likes of Mulaka, The Wagadu Chronicles, and Kabaret, to name a few. 

Where does TALES come in?

Tales of Us (TALES) has had its sights set on creating a video game for quite some time now. Not only because of the estimated 3.24 billion gamers in the world in 2021—that’s 3.24 billion people who have the power to support social change—but also because the interactive element of gaming opens up entirely new realms for storytelling and understanding other people’s experiences.

Inspired by the success of Upper One Games’ Never Alone, which worked closely with the Iñupiat, an Alaskan Native people, to tell their stories, TALES started to think about how other communities may want to share tales from their cultures through games too. 

TALES already had a personal connection to Brazil among team members, so the initiative's game engine project—World of Us (WoU)—proposed to join forces with AfroGames. 

How? By inviting students to create virtual minigames in a game jam. And what better fusion of ideas and interests than to create these based on indigenous myths, told from the perspective of Brazilians themselves. 

The big idea

Participants aged 12-29 were invited to sign up for the game development marathon, titled Game Jam World of Us, which took place between 12-14 November. They were then split into groups where they could decide who would take on the roles of the story researcher, scriptwriter, developer, and pitch coordinator. 

They then had just 48 hours to think up a concept and develop it into 2D minigames, using the free platform ‘Construct’, and the help of former AfroGames graduates, before presenting it to a panel of judges. These included Obirin Odara, a former AfroReggae social worker; Ricardo Souza, an expert in animation and 3D design; Bernardo Assad, an industry expert who had also grown up in the favela; and Tainá Moreno, a Brazilian-Dutch producer at Tales of Us. 

The cash prize: R$5 thousand (five thousand reais—or €1,569) for each of the two winning teams.

According to Marcela Zanon, who coordinated TALES' organisation of the AfroGames, the event taught more than basic coding and 3D development: “The only thing the students really know how to use is Discord, actually. I think they are born knowing how to use it. They have never had experience with how you organise things, how you share content, how you create an idea and express it, and how you keep your whole team updated. And so, at the end of the day, it's not only learning about technology, it's much bigger than that.”

The event was hosted in the headquarters of AfroReggae, the umbrella organisation that started back in 1993 as a social impact project aimed at reducing the rates of crime and drug trafficking on the streets by empowering communities through art, dance, education, and Afro-Brazilian culture.

Back then, Vigário Geral had made global headlines when a massacre took place; a showdown between police and warring militias resulted in the deaths of 21 innocent people. While AfroGames has supported individuals in the area, gang warfare continues to mark the backdrop of the community. When asked about it, Zanon described walking through the main square to visit the AfroGames project and seeing kids “playing football, and there was a guy with a gun. And for them, it's nothing, they are totally unphased.”

On the day

Depending on the age groups, the contestants responded differently to the mythology briefings, with the younger kids asking how they would make the game more fun, and the older students reflecting on how the myth and format could speak to their own stories. 

After reading the briefing once, Xavier knew immediately what they should do. 

“It was incredible to see”, explained Manuela Rahal, another event coordinator. “Because it was so quick. She mixed her own story with the mythic story. We thought they were going to just read the myth and create a game. We didn’t expect them to bring their own perception, individuality, life, story. So I think that was a high point in the project for me.” 

Xavier’s game starts with the main character reading and discovering a myth online. Falling in love with the tale, she reads the story again and again until she eventually falls asleep. In her dreams she sees herself as Iansã, the warrior, setting out on a heroic quest to free a character named Xangô. 

Xavier explains: “This story is about a girl who wants to find out about her ancestry and why she is the way she is. This is an experience that every Black girl has gone through; wondering where her family name comes from and what her origin is.” 

At the end of the second day, it was time to hear the judges' decision. It was a full turnout. Zanon remembers: “Their parents were there. Their grannies were there. Just to watch them experience something they couldn't even believe was possible. It was incredible. The mother of one of the girls was so proud, saying, ‘She is my daughter, this girl will run the world.’”

Xavier’s game “Ominira” won joint top place alongside “The legend of the Guaraná”, based on the Sateré-Mawé indigenous peoples’ myth about the origin of the Brazilian guaraná fruit. The two teams then moved through to the accelerator phase, where they were mentored by experts in the final development of their games.

Was it a success?

While it’ll take work on multiple fronts, including federal support, to tackle the complex issues of the education deficit and social inequality, projects like this can benefit individuals by creating new job opportunities and promoting wider recognition of the talent that exists there. 

As Xavier explained: “What I hope people will learn is that indie games make it possible to identify ourselves within this type of narrative. They can show the value and beauty of our ancestry, that for years was considered not worthy. This has a huge impact because it not only gives me the strength to continue, but is also an opportunity to show my friends and family that besides being fun it is a job.”

For Chantilly too, the project marks a milestone. “A digital inclusion and social impact project such as AfroGames is a space of opportunities and shelter for children and young people who live in a situation of social vulnerability. Through courses, and events like a game jam, students are able to see the world with a more optimistic perspective. And it doesn’t only affect the child or young person participating in this project, it also affects family, friends, and the local community. Because it is through the project, and the activities it promotes, that the favela is seen, felt, and shared with the world”, he said.

Community-led projects like this can be repeated elsewhere, and according to Xavier, should be: “Events like this bring a new vision, not only for those who live in favelas, but an important message to the rest of the world. Slums are not just violence and misery, they are also full of potential, work, dreams and intelligence.”