Saturday, July 23, 2016
12:30 PM
Location: Black Rock
If you like video games and love seeing awesome new titles with great stories and characters that everyone can really get behind, this is the talk for you.
Tired of not seeing herself in the games she’s spent many years playing, Tanya DePass started #INeedDiverseGames in 2014 after being disappointed one too many times in the choices available to her in current games or games yet to come.
Diversity is a way to enrich the video game experience, not a quota to be filled, or a tool to avoid criticism. Diversity is essential not just to reflect the variety of our community, but also to push the limits of immersion, to present audiences with a perspective that they have never experienced before, and ultimately, to foster empathy for others.
Today, I Need Diverse Games seeks to bring projects, works and research by marginalized folks to light. We also seek to discuss, analyze and critique identity and culture in video games through a multi-faceted lens rooted in intersectionality.
about our speaker:
Tanya DePass is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, is the #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make it better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s the Founder and EIC of @OutofTokensCast, the Diversity Liaison for GaymerX and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions.
about I Need Diverse Games:
The Purpose of our Work:
- Provide a safe space for gamers of color and of any other marginalized identities (including race, gender, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, disability etc)
- Provide a safe space to promote the work of creators in the gaming industry, including journalists, developers, artists that are marginalized and would otherwise go unheard.
- To encourage and defend diversity in all forms of gaming, and most importantly, make sure it is done right by creating conversations that invite both critique and praise for the art of gaming.