The game that unites. In Florence from 26 to 27 april with In/Visionte

Dialogue of Katya Relative with the organizers of In/visible3

Playing is not just a pastime, as we fans well know well. It can work, indeed, from a vehicle of extremely important messages. And in/visible, an event to be held in Florence on 26 and 27 April, it is proof of this. Here's how his organizers answered our questions.

What is in/visible?

In/visible is a convention that for three years has brought the transfeminist, intersectional and queer visions within the playful world, continuing the path of other realities that preceded us. Every year we propose with the help of guest people and those who participate a set of panels, workshops, playful activities and long conversations with the idea of ​​deconstructing and reassembling the playful world in alien and unexpected ways.

Although aware of the distortions that characterize the playful worlds, from production to marketing to dominant social spaces, we try to take a positive look and directed towards a future that includes space and freedom for all marginal communities.

What is the program of this edition?

The central theme of this year is sex, which will be declined according to three aspects: sexuality, consensus and representation of the bodies.
We have decided to deal with the complex theme of sex because perhaps it is one of the most present topics and together less treated in the playful world, and which is represented in the various playful modes with very different degrees of processing: if for example in the Larp, for years, complex tools on consent, on the liberation of the bodies, on the various facets of human sexuality, the video game outside of independent productions is still dominated by a vision of the heteronormate, penetrating sex have been elaborated, on the liberation of the bodies. aware of the dynamics of creating consent.

What is the relationship between play and inclusiveness?

Inclusiveness is a term often used when it comes to the relationship between a certain reality and marginalized communities, but which we find full of problematicities: it creates a subject to be included and a person who includes, who decides what the rules are, what is acceptable and what is not. In this sense, inclusion becomes only a different way to maintain the same power dynamics that create exclusion.

Also for this reason, the idea of ​​inclusiveness has allowed the playful companies to create a paradoxical exclusion: "more inclusive" becomes a plugin, an accessory and self -employed thing that at a certain point you can choose to add. A box to appear to give yourself a pat on the shoulder with the conviction of having done your part. Or, with the increase of fascist powers in western governments, a box to be removed from the list of objectives to be achieved.

The inclusiveness has also become a way to reward behaviors that do not create tension or dissent, which do not highlight the structural problems of our society, going to exclude what is considered instead as dangerous: consider to the anger of the racial communities, often the subject of criticism and control even in spaces that profess themselves inclusive.

With this immense premise, the answer we come to us is: a game can speak in a constructive way of a marginalized group if and only if that group is involved from the beginning to the end of the creative process, not only in the narrative and/or graphic aspects but also and above all in those of Game Design.

How can play experience help LGBTQ people?

Firstly, creating community, how to demonstrate for more than ten years the Gilda of the Cassero and the many other LGBTQIA+ playful realities on the national territory. Create spaces in which to be stess3 in a safer way and not feel more sol3, isolaet3.

There is also an aspect of self -determination: being able to see yourself in a game means knowing that you have the right to exist. And given that the game more than other media creates a concrete experience (Dr. Viola Nicolucci has made several interventions on the subject), the possibility of acting in an imaginative space becomes an opportunity to listen and understand when the external reality is not welcoming.

Finally, there is always starting from the experiential nature of the game, the possibility of helping people who are not part of the LGBTQIA+ community to better understand the joys and pains of our experience. This is perhaps the most complicated part, because the person who plays a queer experience does not always manage to understand that those a few hours are not enough at the table or in front of a screen to understand the complexity of our experiences (and here I recommend Bo Ruberg's interventions against Empathy Games).

With these same principles, the game can also hinder the well -being of each marginalized group: there is nothing neutral, light, casual in a game. Either it is built consciously, or risks perpetuating dangerous stereotypes.

We thank the girls for the answers, but above all, for the commitment and passion they put in this involving initiative. For those who still believe that video games are only pastimes, or had some doubts about it, in/visible it will dispel them all. Waiting for the event, you can know more about their social channels and on https://www.invisibil3.it