Skip to content
PEGASUS

Promoting equity and game cultural sustainability in Finland

First conference appearance: CEEGS’24

a cat is lying down on the ground in front of the Mediterranean ocean. it is evening with the sun setting. there is an old stone fort on an island in the background.
Photo by Pekka Heljakka.

Our research team, represented by Essi Taino, Kalle Laakso and Taina Myöhänen, held a presentation Digital Game Culture Sustainability and Inclusivity Through Co-Design at this year’s Central and Eastern European Game Studies Conference. The presentation showcased preliminary findings of our springtime co-design workshops.

The Central and Eastern European Game Studies Conference (CEEGS) was held in beautiful and sunny Nafplio, Greece on the 10th-12th of October. CEEGS’24 marked the first official conference where PEGASUS research data was presented to a wider public. The shown data was gathered during April and May at the PEGASUS co-design workshops, where key game culture organization representatives discussed current diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) successes and challenges in Finnish game culture. During these workshops participants brought forth their views regarding DEI in Finland, after which they co-designed possible pilotable solutions for their chosen challenges. The workshop data was also used by the PEGASUS team to formulate further actionable pilots for testing at various game culture organizations later this year. Along with data from the workshops, these actionable pilots were also presented at the conference.

three people are standing in front of a presentation screen, talking about what is shown on the screen.

The presentation was a success, and the PEGASUS stickers handed out after the presentation brought smiles to many faces. Our team also greatly contributed to the visibility of game culture DEI issues in their other presentations at the conference. Usva Friman along with her co-author Matilda Ståhl presented their study about the Women’s Nordic CS2 Championship Tournament 2023, Kalle Laakso and co-author Riikka Aurava talked about the influence of game live streaming on the game culture participation of girls, and Taina Myöhänen presented about DEI activism in the Finnish game industry.

Nafplio was an exciting venue for a game conference, with its presentation tracks being spread out in three separate buildings in the center of the picturesque and labyrinthine oceanside city and the first capital of modern Greece. Additional fun was provided by the numerous friendly feral cats wandering around the streets and sitting under restaurant tables, just waiting to be captured on camera like a kitty-fied version of Pokemon GO.

An open-access, peer-reviewed article with more in-depth coverage of the co-design workshop results will be published next year and a link added to our blog.