GDC 2017 Reflections: Tales from a GDC Badge Timeline

I could only find 3 of my 5 total GDC badges, but, now that GDC 2017 has come to a close, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on how things have changed over the years.

From left to right: 2014, 2016, 2017

The ribbons and badges themselves tell their own stories, from achievements to new identities to opportunities to improve. An important part of combatting imposter syndrome and burnout is taking time to appreciate all you've achieved and how you got there. I struggle with stopping to celebrate my own successes, so maybe this badge timeline is a bit of a celebration for me. It feels a little indulgent, but a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from scores of people made each thing possible, so I'm expressing gratitude, too.

To me, these ribbons and badges tell the following stories from 2014 to 2017:

I transitioned from DigiPen student to GDC Conference Associate to GDC speaker
Matthew Lee and I resurrected the IGDA Serious Games SIG and kept it going
Aviva Maya Schecterson became chair (and ribbon-bearer!) of the IGDA Jewish Game Developers SIG
UBM made an important statement about inclusivity in games by offering free gender pronoun ribbons at GDC
I already had my first professional game writing job by the time I shared my 2nd Platinum-winning essay in a GDC poster session
I became comfortable enough to openly declare myself a feminist (pin) and an LGBTQ+ advocate (in my GDC talk)
Through it all, Oded's party fellowship persists!

I can't wait to see what stories my GDC 2018 badge and ribbons will tell!

Also, I'm continually inspired by the awesome work that my fellow game devs do, so I'd love to see other people's badge timeline stories sometime, too.