Games Intersectional Symposium 2025 — Online, 19–20 September

What is intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a concept developed by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how different forms of oppression, like racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and more, don’t act separately, but overlap and reinforce each other. A queer migrant woman will face different challenges than a white disabled man or a neurodivergent trans person — because systems of oppression are interconnected.

We believe designing inclusive spaces means recognizing those intersections — and also our limitations. We know that intersectionality was not coined for white academics, but as a framework rooted in the lived experiences and resistance of Black women and other women of color. We aim to honor that origin by working to create spaces where underrepresented voices are not only heard, but centered.

What is a symposium?

A symposium is a gathering where people come together to share ideas, experiences, and projects — usually through presentations, discussions, and workshops. At Games Intersectional, our symposium is: a place to present your work (in whatever format you like) and a space to exchange ideas with others across disciplines and perspectives.

Why this symposium?

The GI Symposium is a space for marginalized voices in games to connect, create, and reflect — whether through research, storytelling, design, or community practice. We are not here to reproduce gatekeeping or hierarchy. We’re here to share knowledge, build care-based networks, and open doors for each other.

Topics & Tracks

We welcome submissions that engage with themes such as:

• Playing with Power: labor, oppression, and games that subvert dominant systems
• Decolonize the Game: Indigenous design, non-Western storytelling, resisting colonial tropes
• Intersectional Realities: queerness, migration, race, disability, survival through play
• Games of Care: trauma-informed design, mutual aid, emotional labor, peer support
• Games of Resistance: activist games, radical worldbuilding, collective organizing
• Accessibility: inclusive design, disability justice, access as praxis
• Meta Reflection: pedagogy, teaching, research methods, writing from the margins
• Open Track: If you don’t fit into a box — we want you even more!

Formats & Contributions

We accept a wide range of formats, including but not limited to:

• Presentation
• Workshop
• Panel Discussion
• Game Demo
• Interactive Art
• Creative Writing
• Reflective Essay
• Community Project

All times in CEST (Europe/Vienna, UTC+2). Online in GatherTown.

Friday, 19 September — Day 1

• 10:00 – 10:20
  Conference Opening

  Opening
• 10:20 – 10:55
  Queering Play and Playing Queer in The Sims 4

  Nic Kilzer

  Talk
• 10:55 – 11:30
  The Role of the (Queer) Body in Role‑Playing Practices — An Autoethnographic Analysis of Cosplay Experiences

  Alex

  Talk
• 11:30 – 12:05
  Customizable* Character Creators in Games

  Eileen Carette

  Talk Game Demo
• 12:05 – 13:00
  Lunch Break

  Break
• 13:00 – 13:35
  Game Design Justice: Towards a Community‑led Practice to Create the Games We Need

  Erin List

  Interactive Art Talk Panel Discussion
• 13:35 – 14:10
  In Other Bodies — Inhabiting the Nonhuman Body in Video Games as a Means for Empathy

  Flo Schäfer

  Talk
• 14:10 – 15:25
  Intrapology

  Zoyander Street and team

  Performance
• 15:25 – 15:40
  End of Day 1

Saturday, 20 September — Day 2

• 10:00 – 10:45
  Informal Online Brunch

  Social
• 10:45 – 11:00
  Opening Day 2

  Opening
• 11:00 – 11:35
  Social Innovation and Video Games: Exploring Implications for Learning and Teaching

  Milica Marković

  Case Study
• 11:35 – 12:10
  Disruption through Strategic Game Design: Challenging Caste Transmission Using Interactive Media

  Srikanth

  Reflective Essay Presentation
• 12:10 – 12:45
  Congratulations, You’ve Chosen Poorly

  Laura

  Reflective Essay Creative Writing
• 12:45 – 13:40
  Lunch Break

  Break
• 13:40 – 14:15
  No Diversity, No Games: Why Inclusion Is No Longer Optional

  Jack Gutmann

  Talk Panel Discussion
• 14:15 – 14:50
  Ascension Day

  Ricardo

  Game Demo Performance
• 14:50 – 15:25
  An Afternoon at Home: Playtest and Discussion

  Tan Schütz

  Game Demo Panel Discussion
• 15:25 – 15:40
  End of Day 2

You can submit via the embedded form below or open it in a new tab.

After the conference we will offer two forms of sharing work on our website:

• Academic Proceedings: For those who need a formal publication record, we’ll host an open-access PDF collection of selected submissions.
• Creative Zine: A colorful, multimedia digital zine filled with weird, beautiful, non-traditional expressions from the symposium!

Games Intersectional is an interdisciplinary community of researchers, students, developers, and artists who explore games through queer, feminist, anti-colonial, and intersectional lenses. While we study, teach, and work at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, our aim is to connect with and bring together people worldwide. Our shared goal is to foster links and exchange between people from marginalized communities in the games industry and academia. We want to create space(s) for critical conversations, playful experimentation, and collaborative care.

Organizers of the GI Symposium 2025

🐸 Kseniia Harshina (she/her)

I’m a PhD student researching games and forced migration. I believe academia can use more community and diversity!

🥑 Rachel Gorden (she/her)

I work with international students and hold an MA in Game Studies.

🐼 Tan Schuetz (they/them)

I hold an MA in Game Studies and teach about topics of gender and queerness in games.

🦄 Tom Tucek (he/him/any)

I’m a PhD student in Game Engineering, exploring how AI can be used ethically and thoughtfully in games.

🥽 Shivi Vats (they/them)

I'm an XR researcher with an MSc in Game Engineering and teach topics such as game development and computer graphics.

🌻 Sara Skubiszewska (she/her)

I am currently working in my masters in game studies & love Stardew valley (Team Robin)

Questions? Ideas? Want to help out? Email us at gamesintersectional@gmail.com.

If you have any thoughts on how we can make the symposium, or this website, more accessible or inclusive for you, please let us know.