The Credit Bureau Goes to Hive

Gaming communities must be intersectional and they must support and protect the most vulnerable members of the community. 

Games provide a frame of reference for connecting with others. At the table, we tell stories together that matter. We share experiences and create memories. Games, like movies or books, provide a lexicon of shared experience. They are a powerful media. 

Diversity in media matters. All media. Including gaming. 

Because it matters so tremendously, being a woman or a minority in media is an inherently defiant and political act.  

When I look at the challenges we face, I am daunted. The question gets asked regularly - "How do we get more women and minorities involved in what we're doing?" 

I have spent years listening carefully to the answers to this question, and they boil down to this -
We cannot ask people to step in or up alone.
We cannot ask them to bear the dreadful burden of being the sole representative of "the other."
We cannot expect them to engage as though they possess the same opportunities and resources as others.
The conflicts we face are plentiful, immutable and constant.
Games are perceived as leisure time, and how leisure time is valued, allocated and prioritized is different for us. 

Last fall, I helped launch an initiative at Metatopia called The Credit Bureau. (no website yet; we're still a very young initative) The Credit Bureau is intended to support and advocate for women and non-binary folks who verb games. Our first effort was transformative; now, instead of being alone in our efforts, we are connected. 

When one of us speaks up against a micro-aggression at the game table or refuses to be paid less than they are worth for a game-related project, we stand with them. Together, we reject the exceptional-woman model, where the lone woman on the project or at the table is expected to be grateful and flattered when she is told how much she's not like "other girls." 

We challenge the convention model that puts all the speakers who don't identify as menfolk on the same panel, names it "Women in Gaming" and considers it progressive. Or put all speakers of color on the same panel and bury it on Sunday morning at 9am. 

In order to continue this work, I need to continue to educate myself. I need to connect with leaders in other communities and to learn what challenges they are facing and what tools they are using. I need to find mentors and educators who understand non-profit models to advise me as we move forward. 

To this end, I am attending the Hive Global Leaders Program in San Francisco. http://hive.org/about/ 

The program has a reputation of attracting forward thinking, social-equity minded professionals from a variety of backgrounds. I expect it to be a treasure trove of experiences to be collected, synthesized and applied to our efforts in gaming. 

The program is prohibitively expensive. I'm only about 18 months into being self-employed "in the industry," and like many smaller media markets, the margins in gaming aren't going to buy any yachts anytime soon. An incredibly generous scholarship has made it possible for me to attend at all. 

However, the peripheral expenses related to taking a week away from our small company, flying across the country and networking with other business professionals add up. Airline tickets, new business cards, car rental, meals. 

I'm having a hard time putting the burden of this venture on the company we have spent so many years nurturing. It has taken 19 years to reach the point that my calling is my career, and it feels incredibly risky to dip into savings to attend Hive on the chance that I learn enough for The Credit Bureau to justify the expense. 

I am asking you, our community, to help me and to distribute that risk. It's possible that I might come home and say "well, that wasn't what I expected." But if I come home with new contacts and new access to expertise, I will share it gladly. 

I am preparing to do a terrifying thing to support our community - to be a better advocate and ally, to be a better activist and a more educated organizer. and I am asking for your financial support in doing so. 

Please consider donating. 

I have had to forgo many worthy campaigns recently because being a small-business owner feels financially precarious. If you cannot afford to donate, please share my link. 

I can't promise hand-written thank you notes; I'm terrible at that sort of performative gratitude. 
However, I will think of you every day I'm in SF. I will praise you on panels and every time I'm asked to speak at a convention or conference. And if you need to tap my brain with a question about what I've learned at Hive, I will make time for you.