Queer wins Best Game at Games [4Diversity] Jam

Mar 9, 2014

This weekend, the first Games [4Diversity] Jam took place in the office of Amnesty International in Amsterdam. During this game development weekend, game industry professionals came together to find out how women, gay, lesbian, and transgender people can be better represented in video games. 

The heterosexual man dominates in many games. A homosexual character is rare, and even if a game features a queer character, it’s often just a sidekick or NPC. Games that feature a romance between characters of the same sex are rare as well. When there are games with LGBT elements, this often results in harsh criticism. Mass Effect for example got roasted by Fox News, calling it ‘vulgar and repulsive’. 

The theme that game jam participants worked with was ‘make a game to challenge prejudice against LGBT people’. 8 teams consisting of 6 people presented their vision of this team. The games varied from digital to a adjusted version of Charades. 

 

Show what it is like to be on the other side

Menno Deen, organizer of the Games [4Diversity] Jam: “I am pleasantly surprised with the creativity of the teams dealing with this theme. However, it turns out that sometimes, you need stereotypes to take away prejudice. But in all cases, the theme was handled respectfully, and the stereotypes haven’t been ridiculed anywhere.”

Participants and the audience chose the game Queer as the winner out of 8 games. Tino van der Kraan, spokesman of the winning team: “People still can’t be themselves. With Queer, we want to show players that don’t face prejudice what it is like to be on the other side of that.” Games of all team can be viewed here.