DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION GAMING INITIATIVE
Our goal is and has always been to strive for greater diversity and inclusion in our TTRPG community.
To do that we want to provide Game Runners, who are from communities that have been historically and currently disadvantaged in our hobby, with the ability to designate their Games as DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION GAMES.
Doing so allows them to:
1) DEFINE THEIR OWN COMMUNITY using their own terms and language (e.g. Women+, BIPOC, Disabled, Neurodivergent, Queer, etc.).
2) EMPOWERS them to decide if they will include Allies or keep the game solely for members of their own community.
3) SET THE BOUNDARIES for those Allies being welcomed into their community space (we were inspired by the Coyote & Crow Core Book and its Note to Non-Native Gamers that does a wonderful job of explaining boundaries for that world and how to play in it).
WHAT IS DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION ("D-E-I")?
We understand DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION in the following ways:
Equity is defined as the removal of systemic barriers (e.g., unconscious bias, discrimination, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc.), enabling all individuals to have equitable opportunity to access and benefit from the ttrpg community;
Diversity is about the variety of unique dimensions, identities, qualities and characteristics individuals possess along with other identity factors; and
Inclusion is defined as the practice of ensuring that all individuals are valued and respected for their contributions and are supported equitably in a culturally safe environment.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
We have added several questions to our Game Submission forms, with the "DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION" tag.
This helps us to identify your game and assign your event to the DIVERSITY-EQUITY-INCLUSION GAME EVENT CATEGORY that people will see on your event page and can search. This will help everyone to know that this game/event is a safe space for this particular D-E-I community to play in.
This is our first attempt at creating these types of safe spaces, we are learning as we are going but our intention is that everyone has a safe and respectful place at this convention and in the TTRPG community. We are not perfect but we are trying to be better.
How to BE an ALLY?
To us being an ally includes:
supporting equal rights for everyone – regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, culture, place of origin, age, ability, socio-economic status, or religion;
doing what you can to call out discrimination and to fight for equality;
trying to make the world a better place for anyone who is facing discrimination or marginalization;
being a kind and compassionate human being.
