LTU conference to study GamerGate on 10th anniversary

SOUTHFIELD, Mich (FOX 2) - A decade ago, the online controversy that became known as "GamerGate" exposed an ugly streak of misogyny and homophobia in the online gaming community.

Ten years later, what have we learned? How have things gotten better? What challenges remain?

A major national conference will be held in September at Lawrence Technological University to help answer those questions.

"Alt+F4: Rebooting Community After GamerGate" will be held on LTU’s Southfield campus Sept. 25-28. And excitement is building, given the caliber of speakers already lined up for the event.

Ahu Yolaç, assistant professor of game design in the LTU College of Architecture and Design, said planning for the event began last year. LTU’s College of Arts and Sciences initiated the planning, and the conference committee is led by Paul Jaussen, associate professor and chair of that College’s Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Communications. Other members from the College of Arts and Sciences are Hamad Al-Azary and Julia Kiernan, assistant professors in that department, Franco Delogu, associate professor in the department, and José González-Belmonte, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as Yolaç and Stephen Mallory from the College of Architecture and Design.

Yolaç said that like the committee, the issues raised by GamerGate are interdisciplinary, in that they raise issues in design, technology, social studies, game studies, and media studies.

In GamerGate, Yolaç said, "bad things happened. This event will show how we can use GamerGate as something we can learn from, how we can do better, how we can create a more positive environment. We intend to make this an exciting and inclusive event for scholars, students, game enthusiasts and anyone who is excited about games and the surrounding discourse."

Scheduled keynote speakers for the conference include:

* Kishonna L. Gray, PhD, associate professor in writing, rhetoric and digital studies and Africana studies at the University of Kentucky. She is an interdisciplinary, intersectional, digital media scholar whose areas of research include identity, performance and online environments, embodied deviance, cultural production, video games, and Black cyberfeminism. 

* Rachel Kowert, PhD, research psychologist, visiting professor at the University of York in the United Kingdom, and founder of Psychgeist, a multimedia content production studio for the science of games and pop culture. She is a world-renowned researcher on the uses and effects of digital games, including their impact on physical, social, and psychological well-being. 

* Anita Sarkeesian, creator of the award-winning "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games," a critically acclaimed video series exploring the history of women's representation in gaming that has garnered nearly 14 million views on YouTube alone. Her work as a media critic, public speaker, and filmmaker who thrives at the intersection of digital culture, accessibility, and social justice sparked a paradigm-shifting conversation about improving the representations of marginalized people in video games.  

"Our speakers are rock stars in this environment," Yolaç said. "I'm so excited about this event."

Added Mallory: "I think what we’ve been able to accomplish in planning this event reflects really well on us as an institution." He also said the conference will also reflect and be inclusive of the community, including game jams and community-facing game design events, and would be designed to attract everyone from teen gamers to career academics.

Sponsors for the event are still being sought. So are papers to be presented at the conference. For more information, visit https://www.ltu.edu/alt-f4 .