Organizers

The 2020 Queerness and Games Conference is brought to you by a diverse and enthusiastic group of academics, game developers, artists, and activists. This year’s organizers include:


Bahar Vaghari Moghaddam (she/they) is an undergrad student who enjoys painting, baking, and playing games. When they’re not thinking about homework, they’re thinking about pasta, androids, the colour yellow, or archiving games.


Bonnie Ruberg, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Informatics and the Program in Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Their research explores gender and sexuality in digital media with a focus on queerness and video games. They are the author of Video Games Have Always Been Queer (2019, New York University Press) and the co-editor of Queer Game Studies (2017, University of Minnesota Press). They received their Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and served as a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California. They collect antique sex toys and like snuggling in unicorn onesies.


Cameron Siebold (they/them) is a non-binary entrepreneur-in-residence in Los Angeles. In their spare time, they love cuddling with their lil black cat Luna, building 3D models, and crushing competitive Overwatch.


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Chelsea Howe (she/her) likes making games that make a difference. She’s currently Owlchemy Labs’ creative producteur/owl overseer and co-founder of the Queerness and Games Conference. Previously, she’s worked at EA, TinyCo, SuperBetter Labs, and Zynga, experimenting with F2P and consulting on playful experiences. By night Chelsea designs award-winning indie games, runs game jams, and has taught at places like Coder Dojo and California College of the Arts. Her recognitions include Forbes 30 Under 30 in Games, Fortune’s 10 Powerful Women in Games, and Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.


Chris Goetz (he/they) is a film and videogame scholar whose research focuses on fantasy and play across media. Chris is Assistant Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa.


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Chuck Roslof (they/he) is a queer person who likes video games. Incidentally, they are also an in-house lawyer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that hosts Wikipedia. During their time in law school, Chuck was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. In addition to organizing QGCon, Chuck volunteers with GaymerX, a non-profit organization that celebrates and supports LGBTQ people and culture in gaming by organizing fan conventions and running programs for queer creators in the game industry or looking to enter it.


Dietrich “Squinky” Squinkifer (they/them) is a writer, programmer, musician, and visual artist who creates games and playable experiences about gender identity, social awkwardness, and miscellaneous silliness. They live in Montreal.


Jasmine Aguilar (she/they) is an interactive media producer and a genderqueer, bisexual femme xicanx with a deep love for games and getting sh*t done. This is Jasmine’s third year overseeing the QGCon Arcade!


Jess Rowan Marcotte (they/them) is a queer mixed white-passing Mi’kmaw game designer, writer, maker, teacher, and PhD candidate currently based out of the TAG lab (Concordia University). Their research focuses on physical-digital hybrid games from an intersectional feminist perspective. Their latest solo work, UNLOCK. UNPACK. explores the affordances of carry-on suitcases, puzzles, and written messages as tools for self-exploration and creating intimacy between strangers who may never meet face to face. Find more of their work at http://jeka.games


Kaelan Doyle-Myerscough (they/them) is an academic and game designer based in Toronto and Hong Kong. They write about the emotional capacities of game worlds and worldbuilding, and make games about strange collaborations and eldritch monsters.


Len Predko (they/he) is queerdo and play architect, making games in Toronto Canada. They make games, installations and playful experiences that centre on creating worlds that are mysterious, silly, and filled with monsters. He starts a thousand projects, and finishes some of them.


Meghan Blythe Adams (they/them) is a queer nonbinary doctoral candidate and occasional game designer currently based on Guelph, Ontario. They enjoy reading depressing children’s fiction and supporting local burlesque.