Overview: This campaign is aimed at helping the panelists on the “Mental Health and Tabletop Role-Playing Games” panel and the “Being Political on Twitch” panel afford the expenses of attending TwitchCon 2017 (Oct 20-22). Our panels are diverse and many of us need financial support to be able to attend. We’re setting our goal high with the hope that we can make real change happen at TwitchCon and afterwards!

Overarching Goal:

We would like to attend TwitchCon this year (Oct 20-22) and support change for conferences in the future. Not every panelist needs financial assistance, but four of us really need your help. We have a long-term goal of making Twitch events like TwitchCon more accessible. It’s a huge financial undertaking for individuals to attend – especially marginalized people. We need your help to attend this year as many of us have no substantial income.

Part of the power in attending a conference in person is being able to talk more easily with others, meet people who share your interests and passions, and provide different voices and content to panels. Our shared goal in attending is also to work with Twitch (community members and employees) to create future conferences with accessibility in mind so that it’s easier to attend and share our ideas and knowledge.

We’ll be streaming regularly, making comics, and blogging so that you can help us get to our goal!

Panel 1: Being Political on Twitch

This panel is concerned with addressing the importance of being political as a creator, as the representative of a business or organization, and as a streamer. The purpose of this talk is to help empower people by talking openly about the risks and gains of struggling in a landscape that demands conformity and the continued repression of identities. https://www.twitchcon.com/schedule/being-political-on-twitch/

Panel 2: Mental Health and Tabletop Role-Playing Games

How do tabletop role-playing games support people with mental health disabilities? This panel engages with how the constraints and designs of tabletop RPGs on Twitch provide a space for people to alleviate pressures related to agoraphobia and social anxiety.

https://www.twitchcon.com/schedule/mental-health-and-tabletop-role-playing-games/

Panelists that Need Your Help!

  • Tanya DePass: founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit foundation based in Chicago, that is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. Tanya travels to conferences, gives talks, writes blogs, streams, and is a tireless advocate and organizer for marginalized voices in games. (Follow her on Twitter at @cypheroftyr)
  • Jennasaisquoi: is a streamer who openly talks about diversity, race, politics, and inclusivity (Follow her on Twitter at @_JennaSaisQuoi_)
  • Andrew “Commuting Crow”: the creator of “Girl By Moonlight”, a new RPG integrates mental health and identity into their game designs as well as into their play style! (Follow them on Twitter at @CommutingCrow)
  • Tara: the moderator of both panels, is an Iranian-Canadian artist, activist, and game dev who works to support marginalized communities in areas of mental health, project management, and game creation. (Follow her on Twitter at @inspectorbeans)

What We Need

Travel to and in the U.S. is expensive. We need your help to afford:

  • Tara cannot currently afford to go to TwitchCon *at all*. She needs help with airfare, accommodation, and food! She is a freelance illustrator and designer, and full-time night school student at Dawson College’s Independent Game Design program (woo!).
  • Tanya, Andrew, and Jenna need help with various expenses, but mostly with airfare and accommodation!

Financial Goals (rewards follow)!

We’ve set goals to help us make this endeavor possible!

  • $1500: Tara can afford flight & hotel and gets to go to TwitchCon!
  • $2500: panelists who need it can have their accommodations compensated!
  • $3500: panelists who need it can have their accommodation and airfare compensated!

REWARDS

  • $1500: Tara will create 1 comic per week until the last week of October (and be able to go to TwitchCon)
  • $2500: We will blog and vlog our experiences at TwitchCon and provide mini interviews, photos, write-ups of different panels, and general info!
  • $3500: We’ll set aside a chunk of time to meet with Twitch employees and discuss ways to improve the accessibility and conference for *all* people! Attending conferences is a privilege and we would like to make sure that more voices can be heard and more people can attend these events! We’ll report all information with full transparency as we continue to work and continue to work well past October!
  • Describe your plan for solving these challenges.

If We Can’t Meet Our Goal

Conferences attendance is a privilege. If we can’t meet our goals, Tara will opt out of TwitchCon and put *any* donations directly towards the panelists that need it and pay Tanya to be a moderator for the panels.

Other Ways You Can Help

Some people just can’t contribute, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help:

  • Spread the word!
  • Help us make Twitch events more accessible!

Wish us luck!! ❤

All Our Panelists ❤

  • Adam Koebel: co-designer of award-winning tabletop RPG “DUNGEON WORLD”. He’s also a twitch streamer and GM of RollPlay, home of many exciting RPG properties like Swan Song and Court of Swords. He’s the GM-in-Residence (oooh fancy) at Roll20.net. Adam is a queer person and advocates openly for inclusivity and diversity in all his work.
  • Brian aka “Citizen”: an organizer of Twitch’s Unity program, is an organizer and advocate for better tools and conduct for Twitch’s streamers and users.
  • Tristarae: is part of the Misscliks, an amazing DM and GM, stream moderator, and streamer! Trist is open about her mental health and advocates for inclusivity and diversity in all her work.
  • Kent: is a game designer, writer, and artist who speaks openly on subjects of mental health and diversity.

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.