Creating the world inside a video game requires thoughtful and intentional considerations of cultural elements– from character design and outfits to symbols and architecture. Culturalization expert and geopolitical strategist, Kate Edwards joins Open World this week to share insight and guidance for effectively navigating video game culturalization. She highlights the importance of allegories for bridging real-world culture and video game fantasies and the need for greater active cultural awareness.

Guest:

Kate Edwards is CEO and principal consultant at Geogrify LLC. With almost 30 years of experience in the video game industry, Kate is a unique hybrid of an applied geographer, writer, and content culturalization strategist with a passion for global cultures and media technologies. She has held several positions as an industry advocate, including her former role as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA®) from 2012 to 2017, and her current role as Executive Director of The Global Game Jam. She also worked at Microsoft as geopolitical strategist for over 13 years, consulting on many game franchises including Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Dragon Age, and Modern Warfare.