Tanya DePass

Tanya DePass, also known by her username Cypheroftyr, is an American journalist, activist, and streamer. She is the founder of the non-profit organisation I Need Diverse Games, which she established in 2016.

Tanya Colleen DePass
Born1973 (age 46–47)
Chicago, IL
Years active2014-Present

Biography

DePass was a fan of tabletop and video games from her early childhood.[1] She has written articles on topics of diversity, feminism, and race, for publications including Polygon and Vice,[1] and provides diversity consultation services to game development studios and organisations.[1] She is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX.[2] DePass is the editor of Game Devs & Others: Tales from the Margins (2018), an anthology of essays from games industry professionals and players who felt marginalized by the industry.[1][3] Additionally, she is a 2020 Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow at USC.[4]

DePass is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG, based on N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy (2020).[5] Her work has been featured in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Design/Play/Disrupt exhibit.[1]

Online, DePass goes by the username Cypheroftyr.[6] She is a streamer on Twitch, where she has faced harassment.[7] In 2020, during the George Floyd protests, DePass ran a charity stream to raise funds for The Bail Project—the stream raised over $140,000 USD in a single day.[8]

She also plays Dungeons & Dragons in the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play livestream, which features a cast of people of color.[9][10] The show began in 2018 in Chicago as an official Wizards of the Coast production, broadcast on the official Dungeons & Dragons Twitch channel.[11]

I Need Diverse Games

In 2014, DePass used the hashtag #INeedDiverseGames while responding to a statement from Ubisoft claiming that it would not be feasible to animate female characters for the upcoming Assassin's Creed game.[1][12] DePass has said she is "sick of games where I don't get to be the hero".[13] The hashtag became popular, particularly during the Gamergate controversy, when the hashtag was used in numerous anti-Gamergate tweets. Tweets using the hashtag were primarily those sharing positive messages about a desire for increased diversity and broader representation in video games.[14]

DePass founded a non-profit using the name I Need Diverse Games in August 2016.[1][12][15] The organisation, based in Chicago,[12] aims to support visibility and access for underrepresented people within the video games industry, and is funded through Patreon and fundraising campaigns.[12] One of the organisation's initiatives is to provide financial support and passes to video game conferences such as the Game Developers Conference.[12] As of 2020, I Need Diverse Games was sending about two dozen people to the Game Developers Conference each year.[16] The organisation also runs seminars on diversity at other games industry events, and highlights the work of underrepresented people.[1][16]

References
  1. Marie, Meagan (2018). Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play. DK Publishing. pp. 336–337. ISBN 0744019931.
  2. "Tanya DePass's schedule for OrcaCon2020". OrcaCon 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. DePass, Tanya (2018). Game Devs & Others: Tales from the Margins. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN 9781138559042.
  4. "2020 Cohort". Annenberg Innovation Lab. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. Patterson, Adreon (5 August 2019). "N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy Receiving Fantasy RPG Adaptation". CBR.com. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. Romano, Aja (26 August 2019). "The frustrating, enduring debate over video games, violence, and guns". Vox. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  7. Grayson, Nathan (29 January 2019). "For Streamers Dealing With Stalkers, Twitch's Solutions Fall Short". Kotaku. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  8. Grayson, Nathan (4 June 2020). "Black Streamers Are Grateful For New Twitch Viewers, But Heartbroken It Took Police Violence To Make It Happen". Kotaku. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  9. Stuart, Keith (29 November 2019). "'It's cool now': why Dungeons & Dragons is casting its spell again". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  10. Farough, Amanda (17 March 2020). "How tabletop RPG actual play shows are inspiring a new generation of fans — and products". VentureBeat. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  11. Hoffer, Christian (21 June 2020). "Rivals of Waterdeep is Dungeons & Dragons' Flagship Show". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  12. Elahi, Amina (30 March 2017). "I Need Diverse Games works to give minorities and women a louder voice in gaming". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  13. Porter, Justin (25 February 2017). "A Fresh Narrative in Gaming". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  14. Evans, Sarah Beth; Janish, Elyse (2015). "#INeedDiverseGames: How the Queer Backlash to GamerGate Enables Nonbinary Coalition". QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. 2: 125–150 – via JSTOR.
  15. Spiegelman, Karen (2 March 2020). "20 women in gaming you should know". VentureBeat. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  16. Notis, Ari (2 June 2020). "How You Can Support Black Gamers". Kotaku. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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