Invisibility Blues is a new video series currently on Kickstarter that aims to discuss racial representation in video games. The project is being put together by Dr. Samantha Blackmon and Alisha Karabinus of Not Your Mama’s Gamer. The final project will consist of six documentary-style videos, each using game footage, critical analysis, and interviews with gamers, scholars, and possibly developers to explore the matter of race and how it is presented in games.
Some of the topics they plan to cover include:
- Character generation engines and representation
- Reactions to game critics and representation
- Women of Color and Intersectionality
- Indigenous populations in North America
- Race and Fantasy games
The project is at $2,300 of its $4,500 and with only 10 days to go could use some signal boosting! As always if you are unable to contribute to this project financially but still want to see it succeed, hop on the social media platform of your choice and spread the word! It looks to be a fascinating series illuminating a very real problem facing the gaming community. The women working on this game believe gaming should be for everyone, and everyone should have the chance to see themselves represented in the games they play. If this is something you believe in too, then check out their Kickstarter here!
Dr Samantha Blackmon is an Associate Professor of English at Purdue University. She has been gaming for more than 30 years, and now teaches and researches issues related to rhetoric and game studies. Specifically, her interest lays in critique of identity and identity formation in game studies. She is the founder of the blog and podcast “Not Your Mama’s Gamer”, which explores issues of gaming through a women-centric lens.
Alisha Karabinus is a PhD student at Purdue University studying rhetoric and composition. A longtime writer in a variety of forms, from literary to critical, she currently serves as Managing Editor for “Not Your Mama’s Gamer”.
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