Gamecity Impulse: Queer Authenticity in the History of Games

How authentic can the representation of queer content and characters in video games be? Join us online for a talk & discussion on the topic!

For our next Gamecity Impulse event during Pride Month, we want to shine a light on "Authenticity." How authentic can the representation of queer content and characters in video games be? Where do we draw the the line between stereotypes, tropes and faithful representations? Stereotypical or authentic portrayals can have a major impact on players' self-esteem or personal mindsets.

Our speaker Lara Keilbart works as a freelance journalist, podcaster, and speaker, with a focus, among others, on queerness and diversity. She will enlighten us on "Queer Authenticity in the History of Games" on June 23!

About our guest speaker:

Lara Keilbart works as a freelance journalist, podcaster and speaker in Berlin. Her focus is on queerness and diversity, feminism and sexism, anti-fascism and storytelling. She and Andreas Müller, a freelance games journalist, run Polygamia, a digital culture criticism magazine.

What is Gamecity Impulse?

Gamers are diverse: Around 2,2 billion people around the world play video games, coming from a multitude of ethnic and religious backgrounds, nationalities, genders and sexual identities, abilities, age and language groups. The communities that form around games and the teams that make the games aren't always as diverse. This has already sparked a host of discussions throughout the games industry and community. The German games industry has picked up on the topic, by starting the joint declaration “Hier spielt Vielfalt”, as well engaging in projects, discussions and initiatives as individual companies, associations and people.

As Gamecity Hamburg, we want to contribute to the important discourse by hosting talks and panel discussions on diversity-related topics in different fields of the games industry and gaming culture in our digital event series “Gamecity Impulse”. We hope to help raise awareness of, start discussions, provide food for thought as well as offer industry insights on ways to improve equality, diversity and inclusion.

You can find out more about Gamecity Impulse and watch recordings of the three past editions on our website.

Schedule:

• 6:00 pm: Begin of event / Zoom call is open
• 6:05 pm: Introduction of Gamecity Impulse format & speaker Lara Keilbart
• 6:10 pm: Talk "Queer Authenticity in the History of Games" by Lara Keilbart
• 7:00 pm: Q & A round
• 7:30 pm: End of event

This event will be held in English.

An invitation with the Zoom link to the event will be sent to you by e-mail after registration.