2025 Speakers
Jess Rowan Marcotte, Co-Founder, Designer, Writer for the job title, Soft Chaos Cooperative
Dr. Jess Rowan Marcotte (they/them) is a queer, transgender, mixed white-passing Mi’kmaw and Euro settler game designer, maker, writer, researcher, teacher and community organizer. They are one of the three co-founders of the Soft Chaos Cooperative, a worker-owned cooperative that turns feelings into experiences, designing meaningful, playful interactions that connect people at the interstices of physical and digital worlds. They also co-organize the Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon) and consult on educational health games with WHO (WHO Academy) and game initiatives for refugees with UNHCR Innovation Services. Their work focuses on interactive experiences of all sorts, including interactive installations, larps, tabletop games, alt control/hybrid games, video games, and more. What unifies their design work is a general focus on queer, intersectional feminist themes and design approaches, as well as explorations of awkwardness, vulnerability, and intimacy. They try to create games that encourage people to reflect on their relationship to themselves and others.
