Women and Games at Montréal Joue

Montréal Joue is a festival of game culture produced by Bibliothèques de Montréal (Montreal Libraries) and is currently running for the fourth year. This year, for the first time, they have a theme: “Femmes et jeux”, or women in games. They state on their website that the theme aims to deconstruct the views people may have of women and their roles in the “video game ecosystem”. Women imagine, create, plan and play videogames (where there are occasionally even female leads!).

Along with other groups such as Pixelles and Ludia, Skawennati was invited to take part in the festival by showing work that she and AbTeC/Obx Labs have created. Research Assistants Erica Perreault and myself went with her to run the table and interact with anyone who wanted to know more about the works. TimeTraveller™ was playing on an iPad, while Ienién:te and the Peacemaker’s Wampum, a game created during the Skins 4.0 workshop was featured on the big screen. Postcards featuring commissioned art from IIF were available as cool take-aways.

TimeTraveller™ drew in a couple of fans who recognized the work and were happy to speak with Skawennati. The postcards were popular and the game had some people playing all the way to the end! A cold Montreal evening was made warmer with good company.