Mixed Feelings Jam is a game jam intended to bring together people from mixed race and mixed cultural backgrounds to create video games, tabletop games, LARPs, or zines inspired by our experiences as mixed people. 

All too often mixed race narratives (or analogues to these) are told in ways that are stereotypical or not representative of actual mixed experiences. We're considered tragic, not really here or there, never truly belonging. There may be elements of truth to stereotypes (hence "mixed feelings"), but they can still be very harmful, particularly when perpetuated by people who don't have real life experience with the identities they're representing, even if the storyteller thinks they're being a good ally. 

So I decided to make a game jam for mixed people to tell mixed stories through games. Not just for ourselves to feel seen, though that is very important, but to put out more media into the world with more realistic mixed themes to combat harmful stereotypes.

Here's some themes to consider exploring:

• The joy of participating in multiple cultural backgrounds
• "Passing" and conditional passing
• Celebrating holidays
• Growing up mixed with low cultural connection
• Growing up mixed with cultural connection only on one side of the family
• Growing up mixed with strong cultural connection
• Growing up with mixed parents
• Experiences with colorism and racism
• Self consciousness about appearance and belonging
• Feeling like you're not *insert race/culture* enough
• The assumption that all mixed people have a white parent
• Growing up with parents of different religious backgrounds
• Thoughts on "percentages" and wholeness
• Thoughts on identification
• Our relationship with mixed stereotypes
• Our relationship with language(s)

This is a pretty broad swath of inspiration, and there are no rules for the structures of your games aside from them being inspired by mixed race or mixed cultural experiences. This is a noncompetitive jam, so the focus is more on just creating something cool for other people to play and have them all be listed in this central place. There are, however, a few rules:

1. All submissions must have at least one mixed race or mixed culture creator.
2. Be careful when dealing with stereotypes, but feel free to address them from your lived experience (i.e. stories about mixed species characters, tragic mixed stories, etc.)
3. No games that promote bigotry. This includes racism, homophobia, biphobia, aphobia, ableism, sexism, etc.
4. Games can include explicit or potentially triggering content, but please use the game listing page to warn potential players.
5. No blatant copyright infringement, like art theft. Making supplemental content for other games is fine. Hacks and fan games are fine too, as is using legally available content.
6. You can charge money for your games, as this isn't a judged jam.

You may want to check out A Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People: https://www.safehousealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/A-Bill-of-Rights-for-Racially-Mixed-People.pdf

Olivia M./Metaparadox - Organizer Mixed Feelings Jam, Ace Jam, Aro Jam, Otherships Jam, Neurodiversity in Games Jam, and Zine Jam