Hot Pink Freak

I suppose the easiest way to get back into the habit of writing is to just do it. I know, you’re amazed by this discovery. I’ve been a naughty naughty girl by ignoring my blog, especially since I’m always complaining that I have way too many things to say. This post will be pretty simple. I’m coming into the downswing of convention season and I have two more to go. One for pleasure, the other for work. Of course, the work one will be pleasurable, but I won’t be lollygagging all over the place like I will at a con I’m not attending for work.

First up is Conjecture/ConCord 2012.

It runs this weekend, Friday-Sunday. I’ve never been to this convention, but smart people I like tell me it is a good local event. I decided to submit some panels; one of them was chosen! I volunteered to be on others, with a total of 3 panels over the weekend. Here they are:

Breaking Down the Culture of Misogyny in Online Gaming – Sat 10/6 3:00 PM
With increased awareness of the levels of hate and harassment that female gamers face for instance, the backlash against Anita Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter project, and the tracking of misogynistic comments documented on fatuglyorslutty.com , what are ways for both male and female geeks to effectively combat misogyny in geek culture in general, and specifically in online games?

I’d normally take issue with “female” gamers versus calling us women. However, since men are referred to as “males”, it works for me. We only have one hour, so I don’t know if we’ll get to touch on gender issues as well. If I’m lucky, we can continue the discussion as a “stealth” panel, after the main discussion is complete. I love taking conversations out to the halls, the pub, or coffee shop, to discuss the topics further. Cross fingers!

Game Community – Sun 10/7 11:00 AM
Game communities have grown beyond small game clubs, web forums and IRC as social networking has become integrated with game companies and created even more game communities. Our panelists will discuss social networking and creating a positive community via chat tools, web forums, Twitter, Facebook and 3rd party news/blogs.

This is the panel I submitted! It’s a big passion for me, of course. I love to help people who want to be a part of game communities and those who want to create them. I’ll be talking about my own experiences finding people to play board/card games with and leading groups in Meetup.com and such. It’s not hard to run a game group, but it is a /lot/ of work. The best part is when you find others who are just as passionate and you can build an amazing team. You don’t have to like people to create an amazing experience. Pick others who are just as passionate as you; you may find that you have more in common than you thought.

Star Wars: The Very Expanded Universe – Sun 10/7 2:00 PM
Six films, five made-for-TV movies, five animated series, a huge number of tie-in novels, comic books, and games, and a possibly huger number of fan films recognized by Lucasfilm since 2002 in The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards, later the Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge), plus toys, trading cards, and then all the fanart and fanfiction — what (other than clever marketing) has driven the development of such a vast body of work? Why do we keep buying, and making, more of the Star Wars universe?

Outside of the poor writing in this panel description, I’m very excited about this panel. Anyone who knows me will hear or see something Star Wars in my every day life. Whether Twitter, Facebook, or just IRL blathering, I’m surrounded by Star Wars. I laugh along with the absurdities, I cry while reading the novels. Okay, some of them I cry because they are terribad pieces of literature. I have been emotionally attached to Star Wars since I saw it in the theaters so many years ago.

The only misgivings I might have about this panel is that I’m the only woman on it. You better believe I’ll be all up in some people’s grill if they start mansplaining to me like Genevieve Valentine experienced at ReaderCon when she was the only woman on a FrankenStein panel.

Let’s face it. I’m gonna totally nerd out on this one.

The other thing I want to highlight is the Backup Ribbon Project. I’ll be bringing Backup Ribbons to the event. Find me wandering around and I’ll have one for you. Want to know more about the Backup Ribbon Project and how you can help? I’ll be your girl! I’ll be happy to pass them out at the “Breaking Down the Culture of Misogyny in Online Gaming” panel if you want to know how to find me.