2017 Speakers & Talks

The organizers of the 2017 Queerness and Games Conference are honored to present a variety of wonderful speakers from across industry, academia, activism, and art practice!

ALEXANDRINA AGLORO (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump”

MICHAEL ANNETTA (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Nevermind Post-Mortem – How a Cis Team Approached a Trans Story”

GABRIELA AVEIRO-OJEDA (view bio and abstract)
Talk: “Resistance through Play

MATTHEW BALOUSEK (watch session)
Talk: “Racist Bridges and Smelly Horses: What Is A Queer Game?”

RYAN B. (watch session)
Panel: “How Queerness (and its Intersectional Themes) have Shaped our Experiences as Student Game Developers”

STEPHANIE BOLUK (view bio and abstract)
Talk: “Feminist Killjoys and Magic Circle Jerks

ASHLEY BROWN (watch session)
Talk: “Cultural Differences in Creating and Financing a Serious Game for Sexual Health Project”

RACHEL BURTON (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump”

STEVE CHA (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Design as Drag: Performing Identity via Autobiographical Game Design”

IRENE CHIEN (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Videogame Pedagogy for Social Change”

MO COHEN (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Queer Quest: Self Care and the Game Design Process

ALAYNA COLE (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Making the LGBTQ Game Archive and Queerly Represent Me Database”

EVAN CONAWAY (watch session)
Talk: “Proud Labor: the Visual, Material, and Social Branding of a Queer Gaming Community”

NICOLE CRENSHAW (watch session)
Talk: “The Damsel and The Courtesan: A History of Gendered Game Design”

AMANDA CULLEN (watch session)
Talk: “Who Watches the Overwatchmen? A Digital Ethnographic Case Study of Queer Overwatch Fans”

TANYA DEPASS (watch session)
Talk: “Gaming as POC: Where the Industry Has Failed Us, Where It Hasn’t and What to Hope For”

Micro-talk session: “Out of Sheer Spite” (watch session)

TAMMY DUPLANTIS (view bio and abstract)
Performance: “Experimental Chiptune Performance”

MAUREEN ENGEL (watch session)
Talk: “Go Queer: A Ludic, Locative Media Experiment”

JOHN EPLER (view bio and abstract, watch session)
Keynote: “The Privilege of Default – Unconscious biases in AAA Games

ERIC FREEDMAN (watch session)
Talk: “Engineering Queerness in the Game Development Pipeline”

DAN GARDNER (watch session)
Talk: “Charting Performative Possibilities in Games: A Large-scale Census of Characters and Representation”

TODD HARPER (watch session)
Talk: “Orcs and Bowsers and Bara, Oh My: The Complicated Case of Monstrous Queer Male Bodies”

J.C. HOLDER (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Jamming Along to Game Jams: An ILU Game Jam Post-Mortem”

CHELSEA HOWE (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: Imagining LGBTQ History through Games: A Game Design Workshop in Collaboration with the ONE Archives

ALEAH KILEY (view bio and abstract)
Talk: “Cheerleaders and Martyrs: Feminists and Queer Women in the Indie Industry

JOCELYN KIM (watch session)
Panel: “How Queerness (and its Intersectional Themes) have Shaped our Experiences as Student Game Developers”

EVAN LAUTERIA (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Making the LGBTQ Game Archive and Queerly Represent Me Database”

KRIS LIGMAN (watch session)
Micro-talk Session: “Out of Sheer Spite”

CLAUDIA W LO (view bio and abstract)
Talk: “How RimWorld‘s Code Defines Strict Gender Roles”

Panel: “Getting into Queer Game Studies” (view session description)

JEZZ LUCENA (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump”

JENNIFER MALKOWSKI (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Videogame Pedagogy for Social Change”

EMILY MARLOW (watch session)
Talk: “Subverting the Heteronormative (?) Jesus in Video Games”

HEIDI MCDONALD (watch session)
Talk: “Don’t Fear the Queer: Audiences Are Ready”

INNES MCKENDRICK (watch session)
Micro-talk Session: “Out of Sheer Spite”

KAELAN DOYLE MYERSCOUGH (watch session)
Talk: “I’m Taking Care of You: Pharmercy and Sensation in Video Game Romance”

JOSEF NGUYEN (watch session)
Talk: “Reframing Consent through Debates on Control in Games

Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump” (view session description)

JOSIE NORONHA (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Consideration In Your Core: A robo-tea! Postmortem”

MIGUEL PENABELLA (watch session)
Talk: “The Politics of Driving Queerly: Policing Movement & Urban Spaces in Roundabout

CHRISTOPHER PERSAUD (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Making the LGBTQ Game Archive and Queerly Represent Me Database”

JANE PINCKARD (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Videogame Pedagogy for Social Change”

AMANDA PHILLIPS (watch session)
Talk: “Unruly Bodies: The Queer Physics of Fumblecore

Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump” (view session description)

WHITNEY POW (watch session)
Talk: “I’m Sure Your Woman-Arms Will Be Able to Lift It: Queering Affect, Interface and Phenomenologies of Privilege in Anna Anthropy’s Realistic Female First-Person Shooter

Panel: Getting into Queer Game Studies (view session description)

DIANA “TEDDY” POZO (view bio and abstract)
Panel: Getting into Queer Game Studies

ZOE QUINN (watch session)
Micro-talk Session: “Out of Sheer Spite”

ERIN REYNOLDS (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Nevermind Post-Mortem – How a Cis Team Approached a Trans Story”

KATE RINGLAND (watch session)
Talk: “Minecraft as a Site of Sociality for Autistic Youth”

HEATHER ROBERTSON (watch session)
Panel: “How Queerness (and its Intersectional Themes) have Shaped our Experiences as Student Game Developers”

BONNIE “BEAUX” RUBERG (view bio and abstract)
Panel: “Getting into Queer Game Studies”

SARAH SCHOEMANN (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Diversity in Games: Looking Back and Moving Forward”

NIAMH SCHÖNHERR (watch session)
Talk: “Cute Games: Using Icelandic Krútt Music to Understand Revolution and Resistance in Alt/Queer Games”

YIFAT SHAIK (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Humor on Behalf of the Ridiculous”

ADRIENNE SHAW (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Making the LGBTQ Game Archive and Queerly Represent Me Database”

LONI SHIBUYAMA (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: Imagining LGBTQ History through Games: A Game Design Workshop in Collaboration with the ONE Archives

DIETRICH “SQUINKY” SQUINKIFER (watch session)
Micro-talk Session: “Out of Sheer Spite”

REBECCA STIMSON (watch session)
Talk: “Beautiful Monsters: Building Space for Queer Gaming in Monster Factory”

KARA STONE (watch session)
Post Mortem: “Ritual of the Moon Post-Mortem: Queer Narratives, Mental Health, and Time”

JOSH TANENBAUM (watch session)
Talk: “Charting Performative Possibilities in Games: A Large-scale Census of Characters and Representation”

T. L. TAYLOR (view bio and abstract, watch session)
Keynote: “Play as Transformative Work

AARON TRAMMELL (watch session)
Talk: “The Damsel and The Courtesan: A History of Gendered Game Design”

CARLI VELOCCI (watch session)
Micro-talk: “Out of Sheer Spite”

MICHAEL WILDE (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Creating Positive Queer Characters in Video Games”

KLEW WILLIAMS (watch session)
Talk:: “Trojan Horse Narratives: Sneaking in Queer Stories”

Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump” (view session description)

HONG-AN WU (view bio and abstract)
Workshop: “Supporting Queer Students as Game Makers & in Games Studies in the Age of Trump”

LISA YAMASAKI (watch session)
Talk: “Playing Queerness in Life Is Strange

EMILIA YANG (watch session)
Post mortem: “Downtown Browns: Diversifying Interactive Media and Mapping Oppression”