ALT+F4: Rebooting Community after GamerGate

In August of 2014, the hashtag #Gamergate emerged online, used as a weapon deployed against women in the video game industry. Through online harassment tactics, including threats of physical violence, GamerGate constituted an instance of digital mass mobilization deliberately attacking what was perceived to be a turn away from gaming culture’s historical association with young male players. As commentators have since noted, GamerGate would become a precursor to subsequent social media mass mobilizations, including disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theories, and online grievance culture.

This conference seeks to revisit the social and cultural implications of GamerGate on its ten year anniversary. To be held over four days in September 2024, this gathering of academics, designers, and community participants is designed to extend current conversations of game development and game studies beyond the existing heteronormative, hegemonic discourses through offering an integrated, multiperspectival, digital humanities retrospective focused on the social and technological sources and afterlives of GamerGate.

This event is going to be held at the conclusion of the Detroit Month of Design 2024 .

Event Dates (Times Eastern Time Zone)

Academic Symposium: September 26, 2024, 4pm - September 28, 2024, 8pm
Gamer Village/GameJam/eSports Invitational: September 26, 2024, 4pm - September 29, 2024, 12pm

Conference Registration is now open HERE .

There are several hotels within walking distance of the University.

Reservations can be made with special pricing at the Comfort Suites Southfield . For special pricing, all reservations must be made before 9/5/2024 .

Additional accomodations can be made with the following nearby hotels:

	Kishonna L. Gray Professor in Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital Studies and Africana Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies Director, Faculty Learning Community on eSports and Gaming Dr. Kishonna L. Gray (@kishonnagray) is a Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. She is an interdisciplinary, intersectional, digital media scholar whose areas of research include identity, performance and online environments, embodied deviance, cultural production, video games, and Black Cyberfeminism. Dr. Gray is the author of Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming (LSU Press, 2020). She is also the author of Race, Gender, & Deviance in Xbox Live (Routledge, 2014), and the co-editor of two volumes on culture and gaming: Feminism in Play (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018) and Woke Gaming (University of Washington Press, 2018). Dr. Gray has published in a variety of outlets across disciplines and has also featured in public outlets such as The Guardian, , The Telegraph , and The New York Times .
	Rachel Kowert Research Psychologist Founder, Psychgeist Author Dr. Kowert's keynote is titled Loud Misogyny, Silent Support: The lasting influence of #GamerGate* on gaming cultures* Rachel Kowert, Ph.D, is a research psychologist, Research Director of Take This , visiting professor at the University of York (UK), and founder of Psychgeist , a multimedia content production studio for the science of games and pop culture. She is a world-renowned researcher on the uses and effects of digital games, including their impact on physical, social, and psychological well-being. In her current work, she serves as one of the primary investigators on the first grant-funded project from the Department of Homeland Security about games and extremism. She has spoken about her work to thousands of people across the globe, including the United States Congress, United Nations, and Department of Homeland Security. An award-winning author, she has published a variety of books and scientific articles relating to the psychology of games and, more recently, the relationship between games and mental health specifically. She also serves as the editor of the Routledge Debates in Media Studies series and the series from ETC Press, The Psychgeist of Pop Culture . In 2021, Dr. Kowert was chosen as a member of The Game Awards Future Class, representing the best and brightest of the future of video games. Dr. Kowert has been featured in various media outlets, including NPR , the Washington Post , the Wall Street Journal , the Atlantic , New York Times , and Wired Magazine. To learn more about Rachel and her work, visit www.rkowert.com
	Anita Sarkeesian Media Critic Creator, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games Anita Sarkessian is the creator of the award-winning Tropes vs. Women in Video Games , a critically acclaimed video series exploring the history of women's representation in gaming that has garnered nearly 14 million views on YouTube alone. Her work as a media critic, public speaker, and filmmaker who thrives at the intersection of digital culture, accessibility, and social justice helped create a new lexicon and sparked a paradigm-shifting conversation about improving the representations of magrinalized people in video games. She has been featured in The New Yorker , on Good Morning America , and The Colbert Report as well as being named one of TIME's 100 Most Influental People .
	Additional Speakers are forthcoming. Please direct any questions to the Organizing Committee here .

Vendor Application for Alt-F4 Conference and Game Village

Important Dates and Information

Application Window: May 22, 2024 - July 31, 2024
Notification Date: August 5, 2024
Table Dimensions: 6'x 2'
Registration Fee Deadline: August 31, 2024
Registration Fee Amount: $50 per table; multiple table reservations are allowed
Location: Southfield, Lawrence Technological University
NOTE: This is a family-friendly and community oriented event. As specified in the application, we request that you do not bring any NSFW content, drug paraphernalia, weapons (gun props, steel swords, etc) or any explicit references to alcohol or drug abuse. We do not want to limit what artists/dealers bring, but must abide by institution rules. Please keep items PG-13 if possible.

Registration available here
Contact the Organizing Committee for more information at this link .

Committee Invitations have been sent. Current Members include:

Neil Jones, Game Developer, Never Yield
Timothy Welsh, Associate Professor of English, Loyola University of New Orleans
Edmund Chang, Associate Professor of English, Ohio University
Alenda Chang, Associate Professor in Film and Media Studies, University of California Santa Barbara
Francesco Ruotolo, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Campania
Kat Schrier, Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Games and Emerging Media program, Martist College
Marc Ouellette, Associate Professor of English, Old Dominion University
Diamond EB Porter, Assistant Professor of Digital Technology and Culture, Washington State University
JC Lau, Game Developer and Advocate, ProbablyMonsters
Melissa Kagen, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Interactive Media and Game Development Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

If you are interested in joining ALT+F4 as a sponsor, we would welcome your partnership! Please learn more about our sponsorship opportunities by clicking here and reach out to Amy DeWys to start the conversation.

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