Google ‘gaming’ and the images you’ll most likely see are those of young men wearing headphones, focused on a screen in front of them, seemingly disconnected from the rest of the world. But you might be surprised by the games they’re increasingly playing – and indeed by those playing them.

Welcome to The Future of Gaming, OZY’s latest editorial series that prepares you for the shifts that could transform how games are played, what they’re about and those bringing them to you.

This is the unexpected future of gaming: Four young Hong Kong women casually dressed in oversize hoodies, each holding a stuffed panda and smiling timidly into the camera. Gaming, as with many sports, has long been dominated by male players. But these women are members of PandaCute, Hong Kong’s first all-female gaming team, founded in October 2016, and — despite the silly name — they’re part of a revolution in Asia’s gaming industry.

Garabed Khachadour had just 48 hours to create a video game about freedom. He was competing in a tournament against seven other teams of developers hoping to win support to further develop their games. Khachadour, who is Lebanese-Armenian, based his game on his great-grandmother and his grandfather, the only two survivors from their village during the 1915 Armenian genocide. “My grandfather was just an infant at the time,” says the 24-year-old. “I thought, why try to speak about the experiences of others when I have my own family history to talk about.”