AADL Game Con | Politicizing and Queering Game Mechanics

When

Saturday April 13, 2024: 2:30pm to 3:30pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room

Description

Game designer Avery Alder opens this talk with a question: Whose politics and experiences are we building our games around? After examining the importance of queer representation in games, this keynote will take a critical look at why representation isn’t enough. From there, Avery will explore how game mechanics and systems can be queered, subverting common structural assumptions in order to reflect a greater range of lived experiences. Examples will be drawn from the past two decades of independent tabletop roleplaying game design.

Avery Alder (she/her) is a queer game designer visiting from Amiskwaciwâskahikan. Her work includes Monsterhearts, The Quiet Year, Dream Askew, Ribbon Drive, and a host of smaller, scrappier projects. She designs games that tug at the heartstrings, challenging the ways we look at relationships and community. Click here for Avery's website.