The theme they picked (this is from an article that ran in swedish media) is a british "Gentlemen's club". I don't know about you but for me that is a male-only upper-class establishment. I'm not so sure that's a vibe you want your indie gaming company to project.
Then again, you can't politize everything and it's probably meant to just be different and be in "good fun", shrug
Guess the good thing about having your own company is that you can do what you want :)
The word "Gentlemen" implies the class bit, but clubs and societies exist all over Britain from the humble workers clubs for the miners through to the exclusive clubs in the West End. Very few (perhaps none) are now gender exclusive.
What you're missing is the role of the members clubs in the industrial revolution.
They were instrumental as a place where business leaders could get together, relax, share ideas, views, experiences and do business. Debating the days' news, and enjoying a drink.
From that light... I'd do it too. I'd build part of an office as a club and would encourage other startups and developers to drop-in and share.
Gentleman's clubs were the environment for serendipity of their age. And even with mass communication and global travel, it remains the case that if you can get people together, relaxing, dreaming big ideas and laughing... magic can happen.
Yeah, I'd build a club environment too. And it wouldn't be so I could pretend to be of that class, it would be to construct an environment that was proven to be good for serendipity.
I'd also stock the bar well and subsidise it... helps to grease the wheels.
There is a great deal of absurdity in modern society, which demands that everyone have spaces which they can call their own - except whites/white males, whose spaces must be open to everyone. Tell me, do women-only gyms also have bad connotations for you? What are the connotations of the "no whites allowed" workshops during the recent(ish) gay-pride idiocy in Gothenburg?
Then again, you can't politize everything and it's probably meant to just be different and be in "good fun", shrug
Guess the good thing about having your own company is that you can do what you want :)