Kate Edwards

Geographer, Culturalization Innovator, Award-Winning Advocate, Speaker, @SetJettersApp CXO/Cofounder. Former Executive Director of the @globalgamejam and @IGDA.

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

To all my followers, I rarely post here anymore and I'm slowly winding it down, so feel free to connect with me on @bluesky - I'm much more active there.

https://t.co/wtkLipMDo9

[GamesBeat @GamesBeat]

GamesBeat Next welcomes Kate Edwards, CEO of @geogrify, as a featured speaker. A pioneer in culturalization and global strategy, she’s helped studios shape stories that resonate worldwide.

Nov 12–13 | SF

GBN25*25: https://t.co/X6GYue3ge1

#GamesBeatNext #Gaming #GamesIndustry

[Game Industry Conference @gdcon]

𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬
The talk by @geogrify from SetJetters

We've all experienced incredible game worlds that display a rich in-game culture or present a real-world culture, past or present. Game creators leverage their inspiration from real-world experiences and perceptions, but this often leads to unintentional missteps. The key to managing this challenge is understanding “allegorical distance”, the degree to which in-game implementation is sufficiently different from the real-world inspiration. This lecture will also define cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation and demonstrate how to successfully build respectfully-made in-game cultures

The talk: https://t.co/Ueui6uY9s0
Do you want to become a speaker? Apply now: https://t.co/JB1DDipSSX

#gamedev #indiedev #gic #gameindustryconference

[Laia Bee (ⓛ ω ⓛ) @Laiabee]

Longest-running diversity panel at @Official_GDC #1ReasonToBe is looking for potential panelists

We are looking for underrepresented women in video games living in the U.S.,or from abroad who normally attend GDC, due to the challenges of entering the U.S

https://t.co/rmeBgxoKb1

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

@AlaskaAir demonstrates its complete lack of crisis management skills, despite this not being their first. Over 4 hours getting the runaround this morning at @flySEA after my flight was cancelled. And my bags are not going with me despite assurances. Seriously WTF? COMMUNICATE!

[Game Conference+Convention Industry Event Calendar @eventsforgamers]

Podcast Clip: Game Industry Unionization with Kate Edwards 🎮

An award-winning game industry veteran, Kate Edwards chats with us in this podcast clip about the State of the Game Industry and Unionization 📣: https://t.co/3LlfSFFARm @geogrify #GameDev #IndieDevs

[Morocco Gaming Expo @Mgexma]

is an award-winning 30+ year veteran of the game industry 🎮, and the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, a consultancy which innovated content culturalization in games, as well as the CXO and Co-Founder of SetJetters 🎬, a film tourism app.
@geogrify

[NerdyNorwegian @GeniDude]

Got to interview @geogrify at @konsollbergen 2024! https://t.co/Oq9SL21dzS https://t.co/WkYKUfsNHP

[X Notification @egdcollective]

Join us for our virtual panel for WG#8, happening on Sunday, April 6th! Hosted by the incredible @geogrify, it will dive into how game devs can gather inspiration from real-world cultures while steering clear of pitfalls like cultural appropriation! 🌟

Register: [LINK IN BIO]

[Science and Technology Innovation Program @WilsonSTIP]

A massive thank you to the brilliant minds who shared their time and insight:
✨ Dr. Constance Steinkuehler, Tracy Fullerton, @markdeloura, Dr. Dan Baden, @tolchocker, @JasonDCMatthews, Maria Burns Ortiz,
@Mindtoggle + @geogrify✨

[Science and Technology Innovation Program @WilsonSTIP]

“There's a lot of AAA games, and main games where the narrative designers are pulling in what I would call, what used to be typically serious game themes.”–Kate Edwards (@geogrify )

📺: https://t.co/FYNTmOgmr2

[Echo Base Con @EchoBaseCon]

Panel announcement: SetJetting in the Star Wars Galaxy

Where was #StarWars really filmed? Discover the real-world locations behind the saga with Kate Edwards & Vlad Micu. From Tunisia’s deserts to Ireland’s cliffs, explore the places that shaped the galaxy far, far away!

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

After a great holiday season, I'll start my 2025 with a visit to #WashingtonDC this week for meetings. And then on to speak at @PGConnects London, followed by a quick trip to #Madrid to speak at @fitur_madrid. Then to #Norway to keynote the @globalgamejam site in Hamar! Whew!

[Pocket Gamer Connects @PGConnects]

Faces some of you might be familiar with.

🔹Sarah Hoeksma, @FireshineGames 
🔹Simon Byron, @yogscast Games
🔹Alexis Bonte, @Stillfront 
🔹Kate Edwards, @geogrify / @SetJettersApp

If you still want to meet them and join us in London, grab your ticket ASAP!

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

@James_Batchelor This is quite disappointing to hear @James_Batchelor, you’re one of the excellent journalists that the #gamedev industry sorely needs. Thank you for your integrity and service, and best wishes on the next steps!

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

@32nds @Xelnath @steven_lynn_ @MartyTheElder So true - it’s kept me very busy, between @AgeOfEmpires, @CivGame, @riseofnations, @assassinscreed , and on and on :)

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

@32nds @Xelnath @steven_lynn_ @MartyTheElder That’s actually one of the reasons I created the Geops team - because those kinds of questions aren’t necessarily legal, but cultural. Some of those issues do have a legal aspect but many don’t. So I often had legal coming to me with those questions

[Kate Edwards @geogrify]

@32nds @MartyTheElder @Xelnath I would have said “Myrmidon” is totally fine :)

[Marty O'Donnell @MartyTheElder]

A couple weeks ago, Alexander Brazie @Xelnath, posted (LinkedIn) a quick fun story about meeting Kate Edwards @geogrify, and hearing about how The Dervish was changed to The Arbiter for Halo 2. It was inaccurate enough for me to start a conversation that has lead to the following TRUE version.

Marty:
Reading a quick short story about something that seems easy to believe can be potentially problematic. Real true history is much more nuanced and interesting, and the reality may be the complete opposite of the anecdotal story, at least depending on the point of view. This happened over twenty years ago. However, since I was the person most affected by it, I believe my memory is sound. By 2004, Bungie had experienced great success making games. I had been working on their games as Audio Director for over seven years and had shipped several titles. We were now working on Halo 2 and were owned by Microsoft. We submitted the finished script to Microsoft for approval. The script was deep, filled with Judeo/Christian symbols (Halo, The Prophets, Heretics, The Ark, The Flood etc.), nothing in the script was casually conceived. We wanted to introduce a new character, The Dervish, who would be a hero from the other side of this fictional universe - the antithesis of The Master Chief. This was a serious step in the process. Anyone who’s ever made a big budget game understands that casting, recording, animating, and implementing characters is time consuming and expensive. Never begin this step unless you know that you have the final EVERYTHING. We waited a few weeks and got the approval (we thought) from Microsoft brass – which included some department called Geops.

Kate:
I created the Geopolitical Strategy, aka “Geops” team in April 1998 to help Microsoft avoid making brand-damaging geopolitical and cultural mistakes. This had already happened a few times up to that point, because in a company so large, the product teams aren’t likely to know if a group across the company got into trouble over a specific issue or in a specific market. By the time Halo 2 was in production, my team was well established although the games division under Robbie Bach was a bit slower to adopt the processes my team had implemented across most of the company. As was standard on any new game project, I would do an initial review of the general idea of the game – the world building, the characters, the narrative, etc. – and provide some initial feedback. I had already done some work on the original Halo, so I was very familiar with the world and the lore (as well as a huge fan of the game!). The lead lawyer for the games division and I reviewed Halo 2’s script one afternoon for a few hours and that’s when I flagged the “Dervish” issue. As far as I was concerned, everything else I saw in the game was totally fine. I felt that the use of the term Dervish, which originates in Sufi Islam, was setting up a potentially problematic allegory in what we knew was going to be a massive title for Microsoft (and the game industry as a whole). As I was already dealing with some Muslim representation issues at this time in other Microsoft products, and given this was just a couple of years after 9/11, the sensitivity was especially high. I did extensive research on the issue, including getting opinions Microsoft personnel across the MENA (Middle East / North Africa) region, and there was a strong consensus that this unintended allegory would be perceived as a “revenge fantasy of the US against Islam for 9/11”, which would be a massive public and government relations hit on Microsoft across the region and beyond. Therefore, we requested Bungie management to make one change in the game: don’t use “Dervish”. Despite many follow ups and a prolonged inaction/silence on the issue for 8 months(!), the lawyer and I had a meeting with Bungie management in which it was clear there was no intention to make the change. I then had no choice but to escalate the issue up my chain – which went all the way to Gates and Ballmer, who made the decision that this must be changed.

Marty:
We weren’t aware of anything that Kate was doing on her side, and as we thought we had Microsoft approval of the script, I had cast the actors, scheduled the sessions, and was on my way to LA, Chicago, and Seattle to record. At this point, I had cast several relatively big names out of Hollywood: Keith David, Michael Wincott, Ron Perlman, Julie Benz, and many others. Getting them wasn’t easy and working with their busy schedules was complex. We finished the sessions, I edited, the animators animated, and we implemented these characters in our game. The pressure and crunch on Halo 2 were incredibly intense and several of us in the studio weren’t sure we would be able to even ship this game on time. Then, at what seemed like the last moment, I was told that we couldn’t call that character The Dervish. Somehow Microsoft had decided that it was culturally dangerous, and we needed to change the name (even though, as Kate related above, that request had been called out at least 8 months previous). I and the rest of the creative leads were furious and fought back but to no avail. Somehow, in the midst of this hellish crunch, I was able to reschedule all the actors, re-record, fit their new performances into the already implemented scenes and ship the game. I remember that Keith David, the voice actor for The Dervish, complained that since all these Judeo/Christian terms were used and accepted it seemed like an insult to not use Islamic names also. Plus, since he was a hero and not a villain, it seemed like a completely disrespectful change. That’s how we ended up with The Arbiter - in my mind, a pale substitute to this day. Several years later, I met Kate Edwards at a game conference. The first thing she told me was “Hey, I was the one at Microsoft that made you change the name of The Dervish!” After I calmed down, she told me her side and I told her mine. Over the years and over many drinks, we’ve been able to laugh about this story and have become fast friends. I totally understand the issue, and only wish that the folks at Microsoft and at the business side of Bungie had let us communicate with each other at the moment when it would have been most advantageous for all of us – at the time the script was approved. Even if we disagreed at some level, I believe that we would have done the right thing, made the change that Geops recommended and promptly forgotten about the whole thing.

So, remember, history is more nuanced and deeper than we’re led to believe.
I still think The Dervish is cooler.

[AfricaGamesWeek @AfricaGamesWeek]

Kate Edwards is joining us at #africagamesweek2024 as a speaker & moderator🌍

Kate is an award-winning >30 year veteran in the industry, CEO & Principal Consultant of @geogrify & CXO and Co-Founder of @SetJettersApp, a film tourism app

AGW2024 Tickets
🎟️ https://t.co/ZHp5pHjHv9