Here’s what I’m doing for OrcaCon, Jan 12-14, 2018!

Creating Inclusive Gaming Groups and Events, Friday 4:30 pm, Vancouver Room 

Tanya DePass [M], Bianca Anderson, Gabriel de los Angeles, Jeanette Bushnell, and Jonathan S. Tomhave

Enjoy board games? Love the idea of painting miniatures? Want to know how to find inclusive groups for gaming? How do you create your own gaming meet-ups? Our panelists will give you tips on creating game groups, finding public game meet-ups, and enjoying gaming conventions as a newbie. Want to be a better organizer? We’ll work with you to build positivity in your current groups, how to find new players, and how to encourage their participation.

Dragon Age: A Love Story 7:30 pm, Friday Vancouver Room

Tanya DePass [M], Bianca Anderson, Katherine Cross

How Bioware’s current 3-part RPG made me fall in love with the genre again. The romances of Dragon Age are more than an online fantasy dating Sim and cover a lot of moral choices in and around relationships. We’re here to beat the Darkspawn, for sure, but there is more to life than war and battle.

 

Imposter Syndrome, Saturday 1:00 pm, Vancouver Room 

Jaym Gates [M], Lilian Cohen-Moore, Liz Courts, Tanya DePass, Amanda Hamon Kunz, and Kiva Maginn

You’re not alone: how to deal with the feeling of being unworthy, or outclassed, why you should never self-reject, and how to fight through the bad days.

Representation in Games: Supporting Marginalized Creators and Players in Games Saturday 3:00 pm, Vancouver Room

Tanya DePass [M], Katherine Cross, Gabriel de los Angeles, Tifa Robles, Renee Nejo

What challenges do women, LGBT individuals, and PoC face in the gaming industry? Does the gaming community dissuade marginalized folks from gaming? What are some examples of game companies supporting diversity in game design, and how can game companies continue to improve?

QD3 Presents: Queering Your Setting Saturday, 7:00 pm, Vancouver Room

Joseph Carriker [M], Jeremy Crawford, Katherine Cross, Tanya DePass, Wes Schneider

Join Qd3 panelists as we explore ways and reasons to add queerness to your setting. We’ll look at different setting perspectives on queerness, at the place of queerness in differing cultures, and ways to introduce queer NPCs without resorting to tokenized or othered caricatures.

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.