{"id":110091,"date":"2020-03-06T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/?p=132880"},"modified":"2020-03-06T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T20:00:00","slug":"meet-the-new-xbox-mvps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/03\/06\/meet-the-new-xbox-mvps\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the New Xbox MVPs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n

\n

We are proud to welcome three new Xbox most valuable professionals (MVPs) awardees: Dhayana Sena, Courtney Craven, and Matt Armstrong. Everything from creating a welcoming community to creating awareness of game accessibility, these leaders go above and beyond in the gaming community. Read on to find out more about them and how they impact the gaming community.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Dhayana\"<\/figure>\n

Feeling alone and cast aside due to her
\nlove for pop culture and geekdom, Dhayana created her own, community hub, a
\nwebsite called Attack On Geek<\/a>. After adding game
\nreviews and content to her new site, she became aware that several women around
\nthe world often hid their genders\/identities in order to be taken seriously
\nwhen playing games online. This discovery inspired her to take a stand against
\ndiscrimination and create awareness for inclusivity and accessibility in
\ngaming. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that true change comes
\nfrom within, so by starting a community that focuses on content for everyone \u2014
\nregardless of background, level of experience, and such \u2013 I hope that others
\nwill feel inspired to do the same,\u201d explains Dhayana.<\/p>\n

Overtime Attack on Geek evolved from a
\npersonal blog to a platform that shares all voices and varied content including
\nwriting and streaming. Now, the community has grown beyond Attack on Geek.
\nToday, there is Women of Xbox Twitter<\/a> and
\nDiscord accounts to empower female gamers, strengthen community ties, and share
\nthe love of Xbox gaming.<\/p>\n

Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
\nabout Dhayana<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anika: If you could talk to girls growing up who love gaming, what
\nwould you tell them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dhayana: <\/strong>My advice to girls
\nwho love games and feel alone, is that you\u2019re never really alone. Gaming
\nconnects us all globally and just when you think you\u2019re all alone, you\u2019ll find
\nsomeone who may share in your experiences, love the same things you do, and
\nsomeone who you might form strong bonds with. So, don\u2019t fret if you feel as if
\nthere\u2019s no one out there who understands you. Trust me, there are plenty!<\/p>\n

Anika: What do you like to do in your free time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dhayana:<\/strong> Free time? What\u2019s
\nthat? (Laughs). Beyond working on Attack On Geek, Xbox content and Women of
\nXbox, I really enjoy keeping up my health and fitness, collectible shopping (I love
\nanime and comic book statues), and watching anime.<\/p>\n

Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dhayana:<\/strong> \u201cTough pick but if I have to pick just one, I\u2019ve always loved Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Courtney\"<\/figure>\n

Two years ago, Courtney, along with her partner, Susan Banks, created Can I Play That? (CIPT)A website dedicated to sharing content about gaming accessibility authored by gamers who have disabilities. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to use our platform and
\nsuccess to pass the microphone to gamers with disabilities and allow them to
\nspeak on the accessibility areas in which they are the experts,\u201d Courtney
\nexplains. <\/p>\n

CIPT includes accessibility game reviews,
\nfeatures why and how contributors play, as well as accessibility reference
\nguides for game creators and developers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve grown massively in our first year
\nand every so often, I\u2019ll get an email from someone noting that they\u2019d never
\neven considered the accessibility of games and after visitingCIPT,
\nlearned so much and came away with a new perspective,\u201d notes Courtney, \u201cI\u2019d
\nlike to continue to spread that sort of awareness and I\u2019d also like for us to
\nhelp standardize accessibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to all the impactful
\ninformation and stories on the site, CIPT Awarded several developers for
\naccessibility in their games \u2014 including Gears 5<\/em> for Best Overall
\nAccessible Game and Apex Legends<\/em> for Most Accessible Multiplayer Chat. You
\ncan view the full list here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
\nabout Courtney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anika: <\/strong>What do you want
\nthose who work in the gaming industry to know about the importance of gaming
\naccessibility?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney:<\/strong> One of our new
\ncontributors wrote our \u201cBlind and
\nLow-Vision Accessibility Guide<\/a>\u201d recently and something she said in it really
\nstuck with me: Know that blind people want to play your game. I think that\u2019s
\nthe thing that may not be something enough people are aware of. Not just blind
\nplayers, but disabled players of all kinds. Know that there is a massive desire
\nfrom the disabled community to play your amazing game, so do what you can to
\nallow them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anika: What do you like to do in your free time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney:<\/strong> I have a
\none-year-old Cattle Dog mix who I\u2019m continually trying to tire out and keep
\nentertained. She keeps me from spending all my free time sitting in front of my
\nTV, playing a game. I\u2019m also a fiction writer and I\u2019m hoping to have the
\nmanuscript I wrote for my MFA thesis published.<\/p>\n

Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney:<\/strong> It\u2019s a tie between the Mass Effect trilogy and the Dragon Age series.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Matt\"<\/figure>\n

Matt has been an active Xbox community member and fan for many years. His passion for Xbox led him to becoming a moderator for the XboxOne subreddit, a title he has held for three years. Since then, he has become a moderator for the Xbox Insiders subreddit and is involved with early access discussions on Reddit, \u201cHaving an engineer directly respond to issues is a great way to show gamers that you\u2019re listening and working to resolve issues,\u201d explains Matt, \u201cHaving that interaction with the community makes for a very positive experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to moderating two subreddits,
\nMatt is also part of an indie developer studio based in Washington state. Over
\nthe last summer, they released their first game on Xbox called Masked Memories.
\nIn this game, Matt was both the narrator and audio director of the game. <\/p>\n

Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
\nabout Matt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anika: 
\n<\/strong>What
\ndo you like to do in your free time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt:<\/strong> When I\u2019m not moderating Reddit, I spend time with my 2 girls who are
\ngrowing up to be gamers as well. I\u2019m also a voice actor and have been in a few
\nsmall YouTube animations, as well as a few indie games. My first role was the
\ncharacter I (eye) in a Fallout 4<\/em> mod called The Code. I\u2019m also the
\nnarrator for the game Masked Memories<\/em>, and a news reporter in the RPG Exospace<\/em>.
\nOutside of that, I\u2019ve starred in a few fanfic dubs and audio dramas. I also
\nnarrate audiobooks for Learning Ally. Outside of that, I\u2019m usually sailing the
\ntreacherous waters in Sea of Thieves<\/em> or playing one of the countless
\ngames on my Switch. <\/p>\n

Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt:<\/strong> This is a tough one. I\u2019ve been gaming since the dawn of the NES. Looking back through all the games I\u2019ve played I\u2019d have to say my absolute favorite is Super Mario World<\/em>. In this current gen though, Sea of Thieves<\/em> is really taking the top spot for me on Xbox and even though it hasn\u2019t dropped yet, I\u2019m confident Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/em> will be my favorite on Switch.<\/p>\n

More Than an Award<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Xbox MVP award is given to community
\nleaders and professionals who are committed to helping others through their
\npassion, knowledge, and expertise in all things Xbox. MVPs spearhead many projects
\nthat impact the gaming community. Everything from starting their own charity
\ngroups to building fun, welcoming communities, MVPs are leaders who go above
\nand beyond in the gaming community.<\/p>\n

For more information about the MVP
\nprogram or if you would like to nominate someone check out https:\/\/mvp.xbox.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are proud to welcome three new Xbox most valuable professionals (MVPs) awardees: Dhayana Sena, Courtney Craven, and Matt Armstrong. Everything from creating a welcoming community to creating awareness of game accessibility, these leaders go above and beyond in the gaming community. Read on to find out more about them and how they impact the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-xbox-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}