Hi y’all, let’s talk about representation, especially the ways we don’t serve the community well. We need to improve and need your feedback.

This isn’t a call out post on ourselves, but acknowledgement that we can do better. For example, we’re abysmal at covering the following:

  • Trans representation. We aren’t talking about it enough, or much at all really. We need to cover more trans folks in gaming & stories.
  • Non-Binary representation, again we don’t touch on it as much as we could. We need to do better. Lots of NB folks in gaming.
  • We don’t cover disability in games, with all of the great writing out there. We need to be better about it.
  • Neuro-divergence is barely talked about, and we should be doing that. It can’t rest just on those who are neuro-divergent to speak up
  • Mental health issues are also a topic we fail at discussing. It’s a prevalent issue in games but not a lot of talk here. That’s not good
  • Religious diversity is definitely a huge fail. It’s not usually considered as part of diversity, we can fix that.

So for 2017, we want to do more, do better.To serve the whole gaming community. Not select segments or groups.  We’re open to feedback, criticism, suggestions. Would you all prefer an open form? or to contact us via DM, email, etc?

We’ve also got a slack channel and Discord for larger conversations. Talk to us so we can improve. It’s everyone’s community. ❤

Ok maybe it was a call out post on ourselves but hey, we need to improve so help us to help you. We’re still small and it’s a lot for a tiny crew to handle but we’ve heard you and know we can improve.

Published by cypheroftyr

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers attend the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make it better and more inclusive for everyone. She founded and was the EIC of Fresh Out of Tokens podcast where games culture was discussed and viewed through a lense of feminism, intersectionality and diversity. Now she’s a co-host on Spawn on Me Podcast. Along with all of that, she’s the Programming Coordinator for OrcaCon, she often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at multiple conventions throughout the year. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications.

3 thoughts on “We need to do better by you, our community”

  1. Just in thinking about transgender representation in games, the only one that comes to mind is Krem of DAI. I honestly can’t think of anyone else, let alone non-binary representation.

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    2. NB representation is hard. There’s Frisk from Undertale, but there’s nothing definitely saying that they identify as non-binary — but they do use they/them pronouns in the game. Also characters with they/them pronouns in Undertale is Monster Kid and Napstablook.

      There’s also Zer0 from Borderlands, who is often said to be nonbinary, but not really confirmed by canon or canon writers.

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