Case study · Games · 2019
Gender Equality Game Jam
Australia’s first gender equality game jam: two days making games that tackle gender stereotypes and the gendered drivers of violence against women and all marginalised genders.
Run by Girl Geek Academy with the City of Port Phillip, Star Health and The Arcade, and funded by VicHealth’s Gender Equality in the Arts program.
Games made
11
Still playable on itch.io
When & where
14–15 Sept 2019
The Arcade Melbourne, Port Phillip
Who
Open-gendered, 18+
Curated teams of 3–5
Why a game jam?
“Gender imbalance is a familiar concept in the gaming industry.”
Only 22.9% of games industry employees identified as something other than men, while 52.1% of players were women or non-binary. Games shape how people see the world — so we asked the people making them to take on gender equality directly.
How it ran
- 4 September
Pre-jam workshop
Selected participants learned from experts in gender equality and games before a single line of code was written.
- 14–15 September
The jam
Over two days, curated teams of 3–5 made a game of any genre or platform, with a purpose of social change and challenging gendered constructs.
- 15 September, afternoon
Play Party
The public was invited in to play the games made over the weekend — people of all ages, backgrounds and genders.
- October
PAX Australia
Teams were invited to show their games in our community space at PAX Australia.
The games
Eleven games came out of the weekend. You can still play them.
- EmojiOhm
- You Look Good Today
- Your Interview is at 10…
- Life of Ryan
- Baby's First Gender
- Genderally Speaking
- The Art of Communication
- Hirely.io
- The Lesser of Two Equals
- Plan of Autonomy
- Refraction
Run a game jam for change
Game jams, Play Parties and games career programs — seeSheMakesGames, our#SheMakesChange hack day and ourother case studies.