IndieCade East 2015

Graduate students Mariam Asad and Sarah Schoemann will reflect on the experience of organizing the Different Games conference, an annual event on diversity and inclusivity in games. Founded at NYU’s Polytechnic Institute in 2012 and now preparing its third run, the conference is both a specific intervention in the context of the independent game scene as well as a broader critique of normative, masculinist rhetoric in game design and computing culture. One of the first events of its kind, DG seeks to foster conversation about the value of games outside dominant paradigms like technical mastery and formalist design. DG offers an alternative platform for celebrating the personal expression of marginalized people and critiquing structures of oppression .

Schoemann and Asad will discuss the strengths of creating a community event where diversity is viewed not as abstract ideal, but an organizing principle yielding concrete, actionable goals. They’ll offer insight into handling interpersonal and organizational challenges such as prioritizing underrepresented voices among participants both with and without various kinds of privilege. They’ll also pay special attention to the ways that spaces driven by shared values, like Different Games and others, can act as both models and proxies for a re-imagining of the broader culture.