The Queerness and Games Conference
The Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon) is back for its third year this October 17 & 18 at UC Berkeley! QGCon is free and open to the public, but registration is required!
The QGCon brings together developers and academics for an interactive exploration of the intersection of LGBT issues and video games (feel free to interpret those concepts broadly). The event combines traditional presentations and panels with design discussions and creative workshops. Our goal is to put scholars and practitioners into discussion to help us imagine a future for a queer presence in video games, the games industry, and games studies.
Change is in the air, both for games studies and for the video games industry. Recently, the games industry has opened itself up to heated but important discussions about LGBT representation in games and game culture. Important communities of independent designers are exploring queerness directly in their games â challenging longstanding norms of homophobia and discrimination.
At the same time, games studies is beginning to blossom, and games scholars are moving past defining and defending the field to explore new ways to understand games. Meanwhile, queer studies is broadening its scope to include pop culture. Put side by side, they are ready to change our perspectives on both disciplines create a roadmap for the future of LGBT issues in game studies and game design.
Keynote Speakers: Sandy Stone and Lindsay Grace
Over 30 speakers and an arcade of new games!
QGCon is made possible by generous support from the Division of Equity and Inclusion, the Berkeley Center for New Media, the Division of Arts and Humanities, the Department of Film and Media, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of French at UC Berkeley, as well as the ModLab at UC Davis, the Critical Gaming Lab at Eastern Kentucky University, and the organizers of GaymerX.
See QGCon.com for more info!