Russian Energy Drink Starts Movement to Defend Gaming’s Reputation

Energy drink Adrenaline Rush has announced the creation of a movement called Game Changers, focused on challenging stereotypes and unwarranted biases about gamers. The brand launched the movement’s manifesto for the Russian community, created by the agency Possible, on the movement’s official YouTube channel. In this address Adrenaline Rush calls on all gamers to unite and protect the interests of the community, inviting them to prove that ‘Gaming is serious!’

According to the statistics, around half of all Russians play video games. Their average age is 30 years old and more than 57% of them have families - which is a stark contrast to how gamers are usually perceived. 

Besides existing stereotypes there are many other issues: misunderstanding of gaming as a phenomenon, negative attitude to gaming as a pastime, cyber bullying, the toxic character of the Russian gaming community, aggression in games and others. The brand thinks that it’s time to change it: it’s time to say ’Stop’ to the disrespectful and distrustful attitude towards the culture of gaming and to get rid of unfair stereotypes.

Well-known streamers Alexey Dyachenko (TaGs) and Maksim Philipin (Filipin) were among the first to join the movement. On December 14th they organised the first Game Changers march, supporting the Adrenaline Rush initiative. It could be followed online in real time. During the march TaGs and Filipin together with other participants literally destroyed stereotypes inside a symbolic game, developed specifically for the march. The game was an adaptation of a popular team shooter, where different misconceptions about gamers were the main enemies. The event was accompanied by an avid discussion of current problems within the gaming community.