Queer Oceanic and Asia Pacific games are getting a major spotlight during Sydney WorldPride, with the newly-established Pride at Play event spotlighting 31 queer tabletop and video games in playable and non-playable forms, in Sydney.
The event will be hosted at the Sydney College of the Arts Project Space and online, with visitors able to explore these diverse games under their own steam.
‘When you look at mainstream games out there, queer characters receive a lot of attention for a narrow slice of representation,’ organiser, researcher, and Pride at Play curator Xavier Ho said of the event. ‘We created Pride at Play to be an amplifier for games that are designed with authentic, purposeful, and thoughtful queer representation.’
Read: Aussie game Wylde Flowers nominated for GLAAD Media Award
Sessions will be free, although visitors will need to register to help organisers understand numbers for talks from queer game developers, and for tabletop role-playing adventures.
A catalogue spotlighting the available games will be on sale at the show, with proceeds going towards LGBTQ+ charities working in the Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.
Games confirmed to appear so far include:
- So, About Last Night – Elissa Black
- Small Town Emo – Fnife Games
- Mima and Nina’s Chocolate Workshop – npckc
- Unpacking – Witch Beam
- Wylde Flowers – Studio Drydock
Other games from across the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia will be available to play and experience during the event.
Pride at Play runs from 21 February to 4 March 2023 at the Sydney College of the Arts on Manning Road, Camperdown. You can find out more about the event on the Pride at Play website.
