We are happy to be joined again by three designers of excellent games with non-traditional themes – Elizabeth Hargrave, designer of Wingspan; Sarah Reed, designer of Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture; and R. Eric Reuss, designer of Spirit Island.
In this half of the conversation we consider some larger picture questions that arise from their games. They share thoughts on how much background research went into all of their games, and also how they address the issue of problematic depictions of different cultures in games. Finally, we tackle the difficult issue of representation in the game designer and publisher communities. We hope this conversation sheds more light than heat, and that folks with lots of different perspectives can learn from it.