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#INDIEGAMEaDAY2016  
“When was the last time an indie game made you feel guilty about your race, gender, or sexual identity? Were you more or less woke after you played it?”

Prior to getting into indie RPGs, I didn’t know any trans people. Now I know a bunch.

Back in 2012, I played a trans character in a game of The Mountain Witch at Forge Midwest. It was a great game for me! Thankfully, I also got a chance to talk about playing that character a little bit with a trans woman. With her help, I learned about some of the good things I did and some of the not-so-good. While I didn’t feel guilty, I did feel humbled, and by the end of the discussion I’d learned more about her day-to-day experience than I knew before.

I have no idea what “woke” means in this context. I assume it’s something akin to “enlightened”, in the “learned something” sense (as opposed to the spiritual sense). So, if that’s the right meaning, then I absolutely felt enlightened — and grateful.

32 thoughts on “#INDIEGAMEaDAY2016”

  5. Who the hell wrote this question? “Feeling guilty”? You might learn something about power dynamics and life through a game (or any other media), but guilt is not the point, or necessary to the learning.

    “Oh, the point is to make you feel bad” – no…if education is part of the point, then it’s aimed at maybe helping you consider or learn something about people you don’t think about, or have been taught to think of as less than people.

    Plus appropriation and misuse of “woke” in AAVE.

  9. Chris Chinn I believe the intent of the question — like all of the #indigameaday2016  questions — is to be both self-reflecting snark and sincere introspection. I would not take “guilty” literally.

    Edit: or “woke” as appropriation, afaik.