The Gotland Game Conference is reviewing its award categories this year. One priority is to introduce an award that recognizes student projects which engage thoughtfully with inclusive game design, representation, accessibility, and social or cultural perspectives.
In both the education and the conference, we try to engage thoughtfully with questions of representation, gender, intersectionality, and perspectives shaped by marginalization or underrepresentation. We would like an award that highlights student projects showing an especially conscientious, nuanced, or well-researched understanding of these issues.
But we need help:
- What should we call this award?
- What would be reasonable evaluation criteria for such an award?
- Who should we invite to help playtest and evaluate the games? We are especially interested in people or organizations with relevant expertise, lived experience, or community connections – for example around LGBTQ+ issues, race and ethnicity in Sweden, accessibility, gender, or other relevant perspectives.
Specifically: the department faculty should not be the sole authority on this. That matters both for the quality of the evaluation and for the perceived validity of the award. While the fight is ours to take, it is not on us to declare any sort of victory. And in terms of validity of the award – it risks being seen as self congratulatory.
So. I am currently looking for any sort of input, really. If you don’t want to discuss publicly, feel free to grab me over e-mail!
If you would like to be part of the Gotland Game Conference jury, read these instructions and submit an application. Leave a comment in the last field if you have relevant expertise or experience and would like to contribute to this part of the jury process.
Thank you!
//Ulf Benjaminsson
