In case you missed our symposium, you can find the VOD here:

QGJam Schedule

• Oct. 14 – Symposium (12:30 - 4:30 PM Eastern Time)
• Oct. 15-21 – Making Games
• Oct. 22 – Break
• Oct. 23-28 – Playing Games
• Oct. 24 – Showcase (1:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern Time)

What is QGCon?
QGCon is the Queerness and Games Conference – a conference for artists, game makers and games scholars to talk about intersections between queerness and games. We are interested in games that feature LGBTQ+ representation, games made by developers who identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and projects that “queer” what it means to make or play a game by reimagining the possibilities and potentials of the medium. 

We ran in-person conferences in California and Montreal between 2015 and 2020. Since the COVID-19 pandemic we shifted online, and have spent the past three years incorporating as the QGCon Collective, a non-profit organization based in Quebec, Canada.

How can I participate? 
Whether or not you’ve made a game before, and whether you consider yourself a game developer, a scholar, a student or something else, we would love for you to be involved! Here are some ways you can do that:

1. Make a game: you can join as a group or alone and make a game over the course of one week. You are free to join in whatever role or capacity you’d like – for example, you can take a core creative or technical role, contribute one or two pieces of art/sound/writing, or help manage a team’s workflow.
2. Join as a scholar: if you are interested in the study and theory of games but not in participating in game development, you can join a team as a “resident scholar.” Scholars observe the jam process and think about how the games relate to the theme and to queerness more broadly.
3. Volunteer: we are looking for help in a number of roles, including on-call tech support, chat moderation, mentors, and safety and code of conduct coordination. We hope to have funds available to reimburse volunteers for a meal and any expenses related to their participation. If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact us via email or on Discord. 
4. Offer feedback on games: the second week of our jam is dedicated exclusively to playing and giving feedback on jam games. If you don’t want to make something, you are still welcome to play the submitted games and share your supportive & constructive thoughts & analysis! 

How will it work? 
This jam will run from October 14-28, 2023. 

Most jams have a theme, but ours is a little unconventional. On October 14th (12:30 - 4:30 PM Eastern Time), we will gather virtually for a half-day symposium of invited roundtables with queer game experts, from academic scholars to game developers and artists. The ideas discussed there will serve as the theme and inspiration for a one-week-long game jam. The symposium will be streamed live on YouTube.

From October 15-21, jammers will form teams and develop their games. October 21st is the final day to submit a game on this page.

After a break on October 22, queer game experts – both those invited to speak at the symposium and others invited from the game industry – will spend the second week of the jam playing the games and offering feedback. We hope that players and observers will take this time to play each other’s games as well!

All of this will lead up to a final showcase on October 28 (1:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern Time), when we will have a closing discussion on how the themes from the initial symposium were reflected and elaborated on through the jam games. The showcase will be held on Zoom, with everyone who created or played games during the jam invited to participate. The discussion will be recorded and published after the event.

I’ve done jams before, and I’ve always found them stressful and exhausting. What are you doing to ensure that isn’t the case for QGJam?
We at QGCon are conscious of the ways that game jams can reproduce unhealthy work culture in the game industry – they can pressure participants to overwork and burn themselves out, foster a competitive mindset, and encourage jammers to remake familiar genres in order to push out something polished by the deadline. This culture contributes to the active exclusion of LGBTQ+, racialized, and gender marginalized folks from stable work in the game industry. We’re not fans.

To move away from these practices, we will be jamming according to four principles:

1. Self-care comes first: as a jammer, contribute only as much as is sustainable for you, and check in with your teammates about their energy and motivation levels throughout the jam.
2. Make something weird: in your creative process, emphasize experimentation, weird ideas and play over polish and execution. 
3. Communicate your needs and goals: define your goals for the jam, seek out teammates with similar goals, and communicate with your team if those goals shift. 
4. Imagine otherwise: use the jam to rethink our relationship to game jams, to labour, and to capitalism. What would a game jam look like in a world where our human value wasn’t measured by our productivity?

In our opening symposium and throughout the jam we will emphasize these principles. If you’re not interested in jams that center sustainable work practices, queer experiments and anti-capitalist imagination, we recommend you don’t participate. 

I’m so excited! What can I do next? 
We’re excited that you’re excited!

• The first step is to join this jam. Then you'll get updates here on our Jam page.
• Then, join our Discord to keep updated!
• Finally, tell your friends, co-creators, and university departments! Feel free to use this announcement as copy for all of your emails.

I want to help you run this event. What might that look like?
Thanks for your interest! We will be distributing a call for volunteers soon. Keep an eye out for that. If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact us via email or on Discord.

My company is interested in supporting this event. How can we do that? 
Thank you for thinking of us! We would love to talk with you about how your company can help us make QGJam a success. 

We are looking for financial sponsorship, which will go towards honoraria for experts, accessibility features (such as live captioning), and reimbursements for volunteer event coordinators. We are also exploring ways to invite industry partners to participate in the jam in a support role, for example by offering feedback on games or mentoring jammers. 

Please reach out to us at: contact@qgcon.com

Please note that QGCon has a code of conduct for our events, which also applies to QGJam. All QGJam participants are expected to read and follow the code of conduct. If you believe someone involved in QGJam has violated the code of conduct, you may reach out to Chuck, Jess, or Kaelan with your concern. During the jam itself, we will also have a volunteer safety coordinator who you can report your concerns to.