Meet Cody
The pandemic brought change to the world, while also bringing some things to light. Some of us focused only on the changes the pandemic brought to our own lives. But Cody Mejeur looked beyond their own life to see what the pandemic exposes about inequity–and continues to work for positive change. Cody is an Assistant Professor in Media Studies at the University of Buffalo. They work to bring together social justice, digital media, and games. They want to teach their students the importance of inclusion in all aspects of media development. Cody is working on implementing this goal in their team’s upcoming game, “Trans Folks Walking,” a narrative game about Trans-stories and experiences “Trans Folk Walking,” presents in multiple sensory modes, everything is both auditory and visual. Through the work, Cody is changing how we think about gaming by creating more inclusive content meant for everyone.
Cody hopes to bring about a better future by focusing on difference, equality, and social justice. They know it’s not just about talking about how to make social change, but also taking action to create change. Through their work, Cody strives to bring attention to social injustices. Diversity is very important in Cody’s work and their drive is to make all differences respected. Some of the ways Cody and their team hope to accomplish this is to make the programming more accessible. “My hope is that by working with students on this it will contribute to things changing in the industry and games culture.”
COVID-19 Pandemic Strengthens Work Towards Equity Mission
During the pandemic many social injustices were brought to light. For Cody these injustices highlighted how important creating inclusive games is to everyone involved. The injustices were always there, but now are not so easily dismissible. Injustices such as, access to technology, health care inequalities for people of different race and gender identities are just a couple examples of the inequalities exposed during the current pandemic.
The pandemic also reinforced Cody’s connection to their own creativity. One way they did this was through joining various game communities. These virtual communities gave Cody an escape during the pandemic.
Partnering with Creativity in the Time of COVID
The goals of Creativity in the Time of COVID-19 and Cody’s are very similar, so the collaboration was pretty seamless. Cody was already familiar with DHLC Labs from when they were a graduate student at Michigan State University and when they became aware of the Creativity in the Time of COVID-19 project they reached out to see how to get involved. The project gives Cody the perfect outlet to express their expansion into game development, combining both her passion for game development and social justice.
One of the aspects of Creativity in the Time of COVID that brought Cody to partner with us was how varied the artwork we are looking for is. They liked that we didn’t just accept what was normally thought of as art, but that passions like crafting in games were also thought of as art.
“Like the example of crafting items for my gaming communities–that’s something that is so important to me personally, but officially or institutionally it would be looked at as something silly or insignificant. But, [Creativity in the Time of COVID] makes space for these things, and I think that’s representative of an inclusive and expansive overall vision for the project that invites many more people to share and be involved.”
Creating a Community
Through the work of their games, Cody has created a small community. Their students meet together on Discord to talk and support each other outside of class. Cody gets great feedback from students about this project. They told them that the class was one of the easiest to attend during the pandemic. Their team turned the most difficult of times into a real and safe community. This helped to create lasting relationships and gave people a sense of connection during this difficult time.
Cody is an advocate for inclusivity and an example for change that we should strive to emulate. They are an important part of the Creativity in the Time of COVID-19 grant project and we all benefit from our work with them and their teams. We also thank the Mellon Foundation for this “Just Futures” incentive and making our research possible.
If you would like to submit your creative work to the project, follow the survey link below: