Hello, gaming lovelies! I’m still groggily angry about daylight savings time stealing a precious hour of sleep. With spring hiding behind the corner of yet another Northeastern snow storm, let’s warm ourselves with this week’s gaming news!
Heal Your Pokémon
Using Pokémon GO’s Snapshot feature, veterinarians at Médica Veterinaria Coovet in Mexico created the first “real-life” Poké Center. Did the Niantic developers know the potential for cuteness when they coded the feature? It’s hard to know. But these adorable photos are spreading smiles across the interwebs.
Where Are All the Female Tabletop Game Designers?
Elizabeth Hargrave is having a banner year. I first discovered her as a game designer last summer when her charming game, Tussie-Mussie, won the 2018 GenCant Game Design Contest. Since then, she’s designed and released the critically-acclaimed tabletop game Wingspan, earning her a NY Times article and, even more impressive, a spot as one of only eight games in BoardGameGeek’s Top 200 list designed by a woman. Last Friday, she took to the Twitter, using her platform to raise awareness of other female game designers.
Today for #InternationalWomensDay I would like to introduce you to some women who design #boardgames. I won't get to everyone — please RT and add more!
— 🕊️ Elizabeth Hargrave🕊️ (@elizhargrave) March 8, 2019
The entire thread is definitely worth your time. But she’s not just about raising awareness of existing designers; she’s focused on how the tabletop community can address representation issues and encouraging dialogue. A few weeks ago, the 2019 Cardboard Edison Awards finalists were announced. And the game designers were all men.
100% men in the @CardboardEdison finals, and I'm guessing 93% white.
What would it take to get 50% non-men in the finals? And more POC?
Think harder than "more need to enter." What would need to change for that to happen? And for those new designers to be winning caliber? https://t.co/mz6ex0hiSr
— 🕊️ Elizabeth Hargrave🕊️ (@elizhargrave) February 28, 2019
ICYMI: Tabletop Game Tutorials Now With ASL
Be still my ever-inclusive heart! The popular board-game-teaching YouTube channel Watch It Played is now offering tutorials with American Sign Language. By partnering with Stephanie Jessup from ASL gaming channel, Dibs on Blue, this is a huge step towards inclusion in the tabletop community. So much awesome that makes my heart go squee!
Other News You Can Use
- The father of video games, Ralph Baer, gets a birthday celebration! Spoiler alert: I know the organizers.
- Valve had to make a decision this week about what content would be allowed under their new curation policy, resulting in Rape Day being pulled from Steam.
- A cautionary tale of parent entitlement and a LARP.
Community builder, artist, convention organizer, gamer, geek writer Women Write About Comics and Sidequest. Product Maven at Almost a Game. Owner, Bittenby Studios.
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