ConTessa

[EddyPo]

I ran across this and thought some of you may be interested:

ConTessa--
ConTessa is a free 4-day online apolitical gaming convention featuring the many women who play, create, and love games of all stripes.
We're a great big hippy love letter to all things gaming, because sometimes girls just wanna have fun!
Join us for an awesome start to your summer, June 21-24 2013!

http://www.contessaonline.com/

[Dr. Gerard]

Sounds good -- I'm so tired of all those political gaming conventions.

??

[EddyPo]

Sounds good -- I'm so tired of all those political gaming conventions.

??

I know. That's kind of confusing. Here's what they mean...

What do we mean by apolitical?

There are a lot of opinions out there on gender issues, and the subject almost always results in heated discussions and flared tempers. For good reason, too, the stakes aren't exactly small. We want ConTessa to be an oasis in all of that heat, a place where we can come and just be women who game rather than being women who talk about being women who game. While critical debate has a time and a place and a purpose, ConTessa is none of those. ConTessa is completely neutral ground.
ConTessa's goal is to change the world through example and exposure. We want to give women who run, write, design, play, talk about, and create games a platform for them to talk about their passions, and we want to show other women why we like gaming so much by introducing them to the games that we love and showing them how we play them. Anything that falls outside of those goals doesn't belong in ConTessa.

The basic litmus test for whether or not your event is suitable for ConTessa should be to answer the following question:
Is my topic likely to generate conversation of a positive nature, or is it likely to generate conversation of a negative nature?
In general, the following things are always 'political' and should be avoided:

Events that focus on criticizing works.

Events that focus on discussing gender-specific policies or the right or wrong of policies in general.

Events that focus on the negative aspects of being a woman in gaming.

For example, a panel created to talk about what artwork the panelists find the most sexist would be rejected, however a panel created to talk about the panelist's favorite pieces of artwork, and why they love that artwork so much would be approved. Similarly, a panel on the sexism women experience in the gaming industry would be denied, but a panel on women's favorite stories about being in the gaming industry, or their inspiration for working in that industry would be approved.

It is incredibly easy for women to find negative messages about themselves in this world. The importance of keeping ConTessa positive can't be overstated. If you have any questions about whether or not the event you want to run violates our apolitical policy, drop us an email to admin@contessaonline.com. We'd be happy to answer any of your questions and may be able to help you format the event you want to do in a way that remains positive and apolitical.

[Dr. Gerard]

Ah, now I get it. It's still a political position to promote positives messages, but this is a fair explanation.