Welcome to the Games Institute
The Games Institute (GI) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Waterloo, advancing the study of games, gamification, interactive technologies and immersive environments (AR/VR).
Racial Equity Board Game Design Resources
Blogs | Games | Talks | Articles | Podcasts | Books | Other
Blogs
- Cooperative games: Advice from the experts – League of Gamemakers
- Design Tips: Make Losing Feel Good – Cloudfall Studios
- How three academics created a game about Indigenous culture and philosophy – Ruel Gaviola, Geek & Sundry
- Inclusive Game Design: Key Starting Principles – Filament Games
- Pipelies: Gamifying pipeline politics – Marisa Benjamin
- This is how board games spark social change – TESA Collective
- Tips on how to make a fun cooperative board game – Honest Rogue Games
- Unique problems of cooperative game design – Victoria Tran (Indie Megabooth)
Games
- Anti-racism education games & activities for Australian Schools - List by Racism No Way
- Arranged! – Nashra Balagamwala
- AUXGOD
- Freedom: The Underground Railroad
- Black Card Revoked – Latesha Williams and Jay Bobo
- Dawn of Peacemakers
- Games for Change 2020 Showcase
- Racism 24 board game
- Rap Godz – Omari Akil
- Rise Up: The Game of People and Power – TESA Collective
- Road to Racial Justice
- S.C.O.R.E – Audrey Clausen
- Spirit Island – R. Eric Reuss
- Steal away Jordan: Slave Narrative RPG – Julia Bond Ellingboe
- TESA Collective game library
- The Gift of Food – Beth LaPensée
- Trials & Triumph – April Preyar
Talks
- Black Industrial Designers Talk About Race and Design, Part 1 – Core 77
- Building for Inclusivity: How Games Have the Power to Transform People – Panel from GFC2020
- Cooperative Games Panel: Spirit Island and Overcooked 2 – Games Institute
- Games for a Change – Brenda Brathwaite
- Speeches on the Games for Change YouTube Channel
- Walk a mile in our moccasins - Janelle Pewapsconias
Articles
- “Designing Games to Foster Empathy.” Cognitive Technology 14(2), 2009, pp. 5-15. – Jonathan Belman and Mary Flanagan
- Designing Games That Foster Equity and Inclusion: Encouraging Equitable Social Experiences Across Gender and Ethnicity in Online Games – Gabriela T. Richard, CHI 2013
- Cultural framing of computer/video games – Kurt Squire, Game Studies
- Educational board gaming and counter politics – Anton Oehmsen-Clark, FPS
- Fighting bias with board games – Maanvi Singh, NPR
- “Indigenously-Determined Games of the Future,” kimiwan zine, Issue 8: Indigenous Futurisms (2014) – Elizabeth LaPensée
- (Re)Coding survivance and the regenerative narrative – S. Rose O’Leary, FPS
- Saskatchewan woman creates indigenous board game – CBC News
- The burden on our back: Conveying Nahua survivance through games – Joshua A. Wood, First Person Scholar (FPS)
- We need to have our stories: The Black Girl Gamers fighting for inclusion – Hani Richter, Vice
Podcasts
- Beyond Competition – The Magic of Cooperative Games — Suzanne Lyons
- Black games matter: Great games from black game designers – Tabletop Bellhop
- Games for Change/Cooperative Games with Rina Wehbe – Games Institute Podcast
- (Re)Coding survivance: Sovereign video games special issue – First Person Podcast
Books
- Critical Play: Radical Game Design – Mary Flanagan
- Discursive Design: Critical, Speculative, and Alternative Things – Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie M. Tharp
- How to be Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
- Persuasive Games – Ian Bogost
- Tabletop Role-Playing Games and the Experience of Imagined Worlds – Nicholas J. Mizer
- Values at Play in Digital Games – Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum
- Woke Gaming: Digital Challenges to Oppression and Social Injustice – Kishonna Gray and David J. Leonard
Other
- Anti-Asian Racism in Canada - The RepresentASIAN Project
Please also refer to the list of Anti-Racism Resources from the Equity Office at the University of Waterloo.
News Items
Our members are busy people; whether they’re taking their research to conferences, delivering keynote addresses, or running workshops at museums, we bring you the news to keep you informed on the latest research and activities.
Research Spotlights Blog
Every story offers an insider’s look into the Games Institute. How does brainstorming lead to new research directions? What really happens at the GI Game Jams? How does play-testing drive better game design? All this and more.
News
- July 20, 2021Dr. Lennart Nacke receives CIHR funding for EXERGETIC: a gameful exercise project for physical and cognitive training
- June 30, 2021Spreading Virtual Jam: Highlights from the S21 Game Jam
From June 23rd to 27th, 2021, the Games Institute (GI) held its third virtual GI Game Jam event. Run independently from the Global Game Jam, the Spring’s 2021 GI Jam brought in 26 participants for a total of 8 teams and 8 games presented on the final day. Alongside the participants themselves, the Jam organizers welcomed exploring new ways to facilitate discussions, voting, and celebration of submissions.
- June 18, 2021GI Successfully Launches International Conference on Games and Narrative Series
On June 12-16, 2021, the Games Institute (GI) held its inaugural International Conference on Games and Narrative. This 5-day conference welcomed participants and speakers from 47 universities, 28 of which were from outside of North America, some as far as Australia and South East Asia. Presentations included scholars at the forefront of games studies and offered a diversity of ideas and engaging discussions with keynote speakers, including Dr. Elizabeth LaPensée, Dr. Souvik Mukherjee, Dr. Clara Fernández-Vara, Dr. Jan-Noel Thön, Dr. Astrid Ensslin, and Dr. Kishonna Gray.
Blog
- Feb. 18, 2021CRIT Council's Pallavi Sodhi presents "Inclusive Board Game Design"
Pallavi Sodhi, Research Intern for the Council for Responsible Innovation and Technology (CRIT) and Dr. Jason Lajoie, Research Associate for CRIT, gave a guest lecture about inclusive board game design for students at Branksome Hall in Toronto.
- Jan. 15, 2021 "My avatar – my self?": Mitchell Loewen's thesis published in Frontiers in Psychology
Do our self-perceptions influence our preferences when designing avatars in the games we play? GI members Mitchell Loewen and Dr. Lennart E. Nacke, with Dr. Christopher Burris of St. Jerome’s University, co-authored a paper about the psychology of preferences toward game avatar styles.
- Dec. 9, 2020Research during COVID-19: VR Exergames for Older Adults Living with Dementia, ft. John Muñoz
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the research landscape. In this series, we explore how our community is navigating their daily lives and innovating to adapt their research and collaboration techniques.
Meet our people
Apoorva Sanagavarapu
English - Experimental Digital Media
Apoorva Sanagavarapu is a current Masters’ student in the the Experimental Digital Media (XDM) CO-OP stream of English, at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests have led her to develop a deeper understanding of topics, including, but not limited to: fan studies, digital/social media cultures, feminist and gender theory, critical media infrastructures, critical race theory, the Anthropocene and environmental sustainability, as well as LGBTQ+ representation in the media, canon, and/or “fanon.” She previously earned an Honours BA in English Literature and Rhetoric, along with specializations in Digital Media Studies and Technical Writing, as well as a minor in Italian Studies, also from the University of Waterloo. She continues to pursue endeavors related to her primary interest in fandom/fanfiction studies, as seen through her research creation projects for XDM.
