On Friday, I ventured into Croydon to meet with the G2G gang and report on filming a special promo for a very exciting, top-secret project: part of our ongoing mission to give back to our local community by providing valuable learning resources for young people. This particular project takes a focus on developing young people’s digital skills.

It’s estimated that by 2030, 75% of jobs will require advanced digital skills. Currently, the supply of workers with these skills cannot meet this demand, but G2G is hoping to aid the community in rectifying that!

As a games retailer, we have a strong understanding of the importance of being digitally literate. If anything, the pandemic has shown just how much we rely on media like video games to keep our minds engaged. And, with more and more employers looking for applicants who can work from home too, it’s extra essential that you’re able to use software without constant supervision and resolve technical issues yourself.

I learned a lot of my digital skills through my love of video games: I learned basic scripting while making my own visual novel game demo. I learned about tinkering with computer files to manipulate my games, add community mods, etc. So I think this is a very fitting ethos for Go2Games!

I was delighted to be a part of the project today, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it come to fruition with the community’s help. Together, we can help build the crucial employability skills of young people in Croydon and beyond.

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The post Go2Games’ upcoming project! first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Go2Games, Who We Are, What We Do and Why You Should Shop With Us

We, Go2games have been working on bringing you the best content and provide you with high-quality games and products as a games retailer, but that’s not all.

Recently we won the Gaming Retailer of The Year PCR Award, sponsored by Netatmo, as well as the COVID-19 Business Commitment to Education, Training & Skills Award & the Community Collaboration in response to COVID-19 Award sponsored by the Croydon Awards. It couldn’t have been achieved without you or our community and all the people that contributed towards the projects and programmes over the course of COVID-19. So far, we’ve…

• Held CV and Interview skill workshops, ongoing in partnership with the Bigger Pie, who is championing the employment of female entrepreneurs into the tech space in careers such as blockchain.

• Have a Continued partnership with Legacy Youth Zone, with whom we are currently the only Gold Supporter offering mentorship and work experience opportunities as well as running Esports Contests.

• Lastly, A partnership with the LSBU is confirmed for the first three events, providing media coverage, event organisation support and equipment. We aim to solidify a long term agreement in the coming weeks which is being discussed.

This is only a SMALL fraction of what we’ve been able to do with your help. Following @Croydon_Awards and our page @Go2gamesshop and shopping with us, will help us be able to give back to the community, not just our company but many others as well!

YOU can help change lives and support other companies who aim to do the same.

A special congratulations to the other Gaming Retailers of the Year: Box Ltd, Fierce PC, GAME and Scan Computers.

If you enjoyed this, keep up with all the latest gaming news, competitions, future discounts and amazing content.

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The post Why You Should Shop At Go2Games, The Gaming Retailer of The Year first appeared on Get2Gaming.

With so many great companies and organisations, skip to the bottom for other suggested businesses to keep an eye out for. Otherwise, read on for the rest of the article.

A moment of thanks!

I am pleased to announce that Go2Games has won not one, but two awards at the Croydon Awards! Community Collaboration in response to Covid-19 and Covid-19 business commitment to education, training and skills. I can definitely speak to the validity of that second award, as I’ve only been working for Go2Games for almost 2 weeks at time of writing. My bosses and co-workers have been very welcoming and helpful with explaining how things work and the best ways of going about my work. I always felt comfortable asking questions whenever I had to and already I feel I have developed my journalistic skills alot in my time here.

With my blog articles, I’ve gotten to report on important and trending news pieces in the gaming community while also having the creative freedom to mix in my own personality and sense of humour. Had a great time writing everything from double-entendres about D-Pads to hyperbolic nonsequitirs like ‘let’s say over the game, you go from two doubloons to 69 Hope Diamonds and a packet of crisps‘. For a summary on the greatness Go2Games has helped do for the Croydon community, on everything from trainee mentorship to charity work and more, click here.

Go2Games – A Helping Hand

Segment written by Emma Regan:

At Go2Games we have been working to #keepcroydonconnected constantly, whether it’s to;
distribute old laptops, tablets, and PCs to those that needed them during the pandemic; our work
with Place For Life Foundation to provide gaming consoles to local, disadvantaged children, young
adults, families and hospital wards; or our gameathons with Croydon’s Youth Legacy Zone, we have
had your back through the worst of the pandemic.

We strive to represent the diversity that runs all through Croydon, whether it’s to;
offer apprenticeships through our deeply cultivated relationship with Croydon College; our
partnership with Fashion Meets Music that we share its store with to offer free gaming experiences
to the locals; or our workshops and traineeships like the Kickstart scheme with the government, we
allow amazingly, talented people a chance to start their career.

The Croydon Awards And More!

Follow the social media handles of the event: The Croydon Business Resilience Awards were expertly presented by Fayon Dixon (@FayonTV), professional broadcaster contributing to BBC Radio London and a newspaper reviewer on Talk Radio. She is also the creator, host and producer of ‘The Kids are Alright Show’ on Riverside Radio and awards for Best Presenter and Best Community Content in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Find out more about her by clicking here for her official website. Fayon Dixon also presented segments of the event with Katherine Glass, director of White Label, which focuses on creative marketing and events organisation.

@CroydonAwards is the primary account linked on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The awards ceremony was delivered via Zoom seminar, which is great for me because I get the feeling a Samurai Champloo T-shirt and unkempt hair wouldn’t exactly be the model of professionalism. Fayon was dressed in a sparkily golden dress and sometimes uses one of those mask-on-a-stick accessories like you see in fancy ball scenes in films, which I thought was neat… Not the exact one, but here’s an example of how I meant by “mask on a stick” down below (thanks Google).

The primary award brackets for the seminar include (of which we applied for 2): Young Person’s Contribution. Community Collaboration in Response to Covid-19. Industrial and Logistics Business Hero. Covid-19 Startup. Covid-19 Business Commitment to Education, Training and Skills. Sustainable Green Investment Award. Outstanding Team Award. Covid-19 Business Resilience Award. Business Pivot Award.

Between different award brackets, each set of finalist companies (chosen via popular vote) would have their name flash up onscreen while discussed with a brief description of their contributions during covid times or general positive traits making them eligible for whichever award is being discussed (averaging at 3-12 companies per award bracket). Then, the video would cut back to Fayon, where a different high-position businessperson will read out two runner-up companies before moving onto the winning company/organisation of each reward bracket.

The event (not this article, keeping it completely unbiased up in here) was sponsored by: Croydon Business Improvement District, Croydon College World of Work, Prologis, Queen’s Square, Regent, Royal Russell, Amp House, Croydon.Gov.UK and Silverleaf.

Businesses to watch who have contributed to the community to reduce impacts of Covid-19.

• Mighty Men of Valour – Mental health help organisation specialising in boys, men, husbands and fathers.Work includes mentoring, training, advocacy and employment.
• Crushed Bean – Independent coffee shop specialising in tea, coffee, light lunches and cakes. LGBT+ safe-space. Dogs welcome.
• Cheeky Sport – Sports discussion/commentary group channel presented by Joel Beya. Funny and vibrant. Active on Twitter and Youtube. 
• Savvy Theatre Company – Featuring company opportunities for adults and young people. Also has the 3-D Drama Group, specialising in theatre with adults with learning disabilities.
• Frigginwell – An environmentally friendly mindfulness organisation, offering useful tips for maintaining mental wellbeing and tackling work.
• Spice Village – A multi-award-winning series of restaurants and catering organisation.
• Ethstat – Ethically sourced stationary and more.
• Croydon Yoga Hub – Featuring online and in-studio sessions.
• Musical Bumps – Singing and musical classes for youngsters and parents. I have fallen in love with their website interface, so hover your mouse over one of the options for a surprise.
• Diane’s Hair & Beauty – A family-owned hair and beauty salon, nominated finalist in the Outstanding Team Award.
• Art & Craft – An indie arts and craft shop, wool shop and haberdashers hosting art and craft lessons. A haven for those who want to see what they’re buying and speak to like-minded people.

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The post The Croydon Awards! Two at a Time and More first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Since 2012, Go2Games has been operating from the heart of Croydon, reaching out to gamers across the UK and EU. Started by four friends native to the borough, today Go2Games’s entire workforce are from the local community, representing the diversity that runs all the way through Croydon. However, Go2Games does not want to be solely an online retailer. Nor does it see its contribution to society as merely that of a local employer. Go2Games has always placed community cohesion at the centre of what it does – and it is this civic duty that underpins what it is about. In early 2020, the planet surrendered to the hellish grip of a sustained global pandemic and it was shortly thereafter that Go2Games doubled down on its role for the many strands of community that together, make Croydon what it is.

Crystal Palace Football Club literally runs through the blood of Go2Games, with several of its employees, including its MD Craig, lifelong (and some might say long-suffering) fans of the team. Because of this, Go2Games has developed a historical partnership with the Palace For Life Foundation, having sponsored its Down Syndrome Eagles Football Team. During the early stages of the pandemic, back in April 2020, Go2Games got together with Palace For Life to provide gaming consoles to local, disadvantaged children, young adults and families, whilst also distributing consoles to hospital wards too. As Craig said himself, “As families increasingly feel the need to tighten their belts, we thought giving away some free consoles might have a positive impact on local lives, and we’re grateful to Palace for Life for identifying for us those who need it most.”

This partnership with Palace For Life deepened even further in 2021 as Go2Games launched its #keepcroydonconnected campaign. With the pandemic causing schools across the UK to close and learning to then go online, if you were stuck at home without the tech you needed to do your schoolwork, to log onto online Zoom classes or to submit work to deadlines – you were truly at a disadvantage. Partnering also with Croydon Commitment and Croydon Voluntary Action, G2G’s #keepcroydonconnected campaign sent out a call-to-action borough-wide asking people to donate any used laptops, tablets and PCs that they had no further use for. Go2Games would then receive these laptops, send them to a refurbishment company and then, with the help of several people and groups including local MPs, distribute these devices to the young people and older adults who needed them the most. Pre-pandemic, this communitarian quest to help those less fortunate members of the community had long been part of G2G’s DNA – #keepcroydonconnected was a logical extension of this mission.

GO2GAMES PROUD TO BE A DISABILITY CONFIDENT EMPLOYER ❤ @playstationuk@nintendouk@xboxuk pic.twitter.com/IlYVtBhF9m

— Go2Games (@GO2GAMES) January 21, 2021

It is those who before the pandemic, have already had the odds stacked against them that stand to struggle the most coming out of the pandemic into the “new normal”, whatever that might mean. Ableism and its impact on those seeking employment who have some sort of disability is, on the part of employers, borne out of a lack of education, an unconscious bias, an absence of compassion and understanding – or a cocktail of all three. That is why Go2Games has committed deeply to being a Disability Confident status employer. Announcing this in January 2021, Go2Games is proud to hold this status and more importantly, is now an employer which is confident in doing so and in turn, is an employer that people with disabilities can feel confident to both approach and apply for roles at the company.

Two years ago, Croydon’s Legacy Youth Zone threw its doors open to the young people of the borough. Built on the model of existing On Side Youth Zones which give young people safe and inspiring places to go in their leisure time, somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to, Legacy offers world-class facilities to young people to engage in the activities they love doing but also to find out about and discover new passions and hobbies alongside each other. Go2Games has partnered with Legacy as a Gold Supporter and have been involved with Legacy throughout every step of the way. In recent times, Go2Games have run gaming sessions at Legacy, premiering new releases and trying out new and featured products, eSports FIFA tournaments and regular junior Mario Kart tournaments – all inside and outside of lockdown, as per government guidelines around youth centres.

Since May 2021, Go2Games have been in partnership with the local social enterprise Fashion Meets Music, taking up a space on the shop floor to promote new releases and a selection of our wide stock range, to offer shoppers at Centrale a free gaming experience by courtesy of Nintendo Switches and a PS5 with classic and new games – but most importantly, to offer an array of traineeships and accredited work experience for the people of Croydon.

We are currently running a Kickstart scheme from the shop, having brought on board some amazing new content creators, post-production crew, streamers and social media administrators – all of whom are now heading up the effort across our social media platforms! Working together with Fashion Meets Music, who showcase independent, black fashion designers, pan-African art and textiles and some banging playlists has been wonderful and places Go2Games quite literally at the heart of Croydon. Come down and meet the crew, see if you can beat us at Mario Kart, FIFA, Street Fighter or any of the titles we have there and if you are interested, put your name down for some 2021 gold dust in the form of a PS5 or an Xbox Series X!

Finally, a good news story! A couple of weeks ago, stand-up comedian and all-round stand-up guy White Yardie came down to the shop to meet Go2Games and launch a charity prize draw to win a PS5 – in order to raise vital funds for the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who have recently had their lives turned upside down by the eruption of the volcano La Soufriere. The prize draw has now since ended and we are thrilled to have raised £1075 in just a ten-day period! The draw has now since ended and White Yardie spoke to a very excited winner to congratulate them and to highlight in detail how much St Vincent and the Grenadines have been through in the last few months.

We are nothing without the people with whom we share this town and there is so much more that unites us than that which divides us. Go2Games was born out of this unity and shared experience and as it has grown, Go2Games’s values have remained rooted in this sense of community and social responsibility. Stay tuned for the next chapter in this story – and if you think you can help us write it, come find us because as a wise man once said: “Without people, you’re nothing”.

The post Go2Games in the Community first appeared on Get2Gaming.