About

What is this?

This is the website/virtual location for the East St.Paul Teen Gaming Conference 2020 going online July 13th. It is mainly a website to introduce teens to all things gaming (how to game and get better at it, how to make video games, and how to meet other teens into gaming) but it will also be a landing site for a virtual, interactive conference for teen gaming!

Join us for 3 days (July 14th-16 11-3PM) of fun, competitions/co-op gaming & activities with multiple chances to win free video games!

Who are we?

We are a group of five Americorps members serving in the CTEP (Community Technology Empowerment Program) program who have a passion for games, advocating for social justice/change, and sharing/teaching technology.

Find out a little bit about each of us below:

• Erienne: (1st from the left): Hey peeps, my name is Erienne (pronounced like air-E-N). I serve at Mounds View Adult Education center. I'm a huge anime dork and primarily a PC gamer though I used to have other systems. I l like games with a lot of strategy but don't mindless grinding. I'm also a fan of mobile games and am currently playing Jurassic World Alive, Age of Empires, Pokemon Fan Games, and a few others that are childhood favorites of mine.

• Kim (2nd from the left ): Hiya fellow nerds, my name is Kim (pronouns: they/them) and I serve at the Ramsey County Libraries, primarily the Maplewood branch. I am huge nerd for cartoons, sci-fi, and supernatural things. I grew up playing PS2, Nintendo DS lite, WII games, and PC games here and there, but am relatively new to gaming & the gaming community. I now mostly play on PC and am currently into sandbox games like Minecraft and semi-horror games like Limbo.

• Matthew (middle): Hi, im Matthew (pronouns: he/him/his) and I serve at the Arlington Hills Community Center on Saint Paul's East Side. I am a fan of everything Nintendo, and I spend most of my free time playing some sort of Nintendo console or searching for deals on retro games to add to my collection. My all time favorite video game franchise is Pokemon and the first three generations hold a special place in my heart. Aside from Pokemon and Nintendo, I also enjoy open world sandbox games like Minecraft, as well as farming simulators like Stardew Valley.

• Pierre (2nd from the right): What's up young gamers? My name is Pierre Young, and I serve at Metropolitan State University (which I am enrolled there) and Dayton Bluff libraries. I am very passionate of other youth learning how to play video games. Like Erienne, I'm also an anime dork! I grew up watching DragonBall Z and Naruto. Plus I love attending anime conventions meeting voice actors in anime and I been playing video games since I was 5 playing PS1,N64 and Sega classics such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Spyro the Dragon,Crash Bandicoot and Pokemon. I also want to get into streaming video games on Twitch Tv because I love watching other streamers and I love to record myself playing games! Together with my fellow CTEPs I want to make a change with working with youth to lead them in a career that will let you guys succeed in the world! Also, I want to become the world greatest African American Video Game Designer!

• Rachel (1st from the right): Hey guys, my name is Rachel Brodt (pronouns: they/she), and I serve at Sun Ray Library. I love anime, terrible movies, and, of course, video games. I was a Nintendo kid growing up, but in recent years I've also branched out into indie games on PC and mobile rhythm games like Cytus. My all-time favorites are Hollow Knight, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the Ace Attorney series, Cytus 1 and 2, Bastion, and Super Mario Galaxy.

What's the point?

• To challenge the common portrayal of who can be a "gamer"/part of the gaming community by creating a safe space for all teens of diverse identities (lgbtqia+, poc, lower income, with disabilities, etc.) to get involved with various aspects of gaming (coding, analysis, watching, and playing). Increased diversity and inclusion will lead to increases in game innovation to reach and serve these audiences and vice versa allow underrepresented stories to be seen by those unfamiliar with them. See New to Gaming, Create Your Own Game, and Gaming Together pages to get started.

• To expose and lessen the digital divide (people have varying access to technology & technology skills like using email or microsoft word depending of income & social identities like race) and exclusivity () in the gaming community by providing an introduction to gaming, coding, and game community literacy to teens. Doing so will ease the bar for entry to newcomers (young and old) and allow the medium to be more widely talked about and utilized for good. See New to Gaming page and it's subpages to learn more.

• To bust the myth that gaming is all violence and mind-numbing by showing how it helps teens develop social & technical skills and can provide many viable educational and career paths. Doing so will provide yet another outlet for teens to be able to learn outside of school and vice verse providing information for teens to bring to schools/parents to show how games can help improve their learning. See +'s of gaming page to see how!

How to get involved?

• Explore all this website has to offer & invite your friends and family to join you all summer long!- see home page for all we have to offer.

• Join us on here June 14th-16th 11AM-3PM for gaming themed competitions and prize raffles every day- see Lets Play Together page for more info.

• Give us feedback! Fill out our survey or email us, all information will be anonymous and only used to find out what learning outcomes were achieved and how to improve the site/conference format, and if you do either you'll get an additional entry into every day's prize raffles.