Jonaya Kemper
| |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Game designer/writer and academic |
| Employer | Carnegie Mellon University |
| Known for | LARP theory of emancipatory bleed |
| Notable work | Thirsty Sword Lesbians co-writer |
| Awards | Nebula Award, ENNIE Awards |
Jonaya Kemper is an American game design academic and game writer/designer. Kemper's work includes LARP, tabletop role-playing games, and computer games. Kemper coined the term and developed the theory of "emancipatory bleed."[1]
Kemper developed the theory of emancipatory bleed in live-action games[2][3][4] as a way of analyzing how players with marginalized identities can achieve political liberation through embodying imaginary characters.[5][6] Kemper also developed guidelines to design games for players with intersectional identities[7] and an auto-ethnographic process for LARP research and documentation.[8][9]
As Game Design Lead in Carnegie Mellon's computer science department's Human-Computer Interaction Institute,[10] Kemper conducted professional research on human-robot interactions in educational games[11] and racial and gender biases in the design of children's games.[12]
Kemper co-wrote Thirsty Sword Lesbians (Evil Hat Productions), winning a Nebula Award for Best Game Writing[13] and ENNIE Awards for "Best Game" and "Product of the Year."[14] Kemper wrote a game based on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel called Feeding Lucy in the LARP anthology Honey & Hot Wax (Pelgrane Press).[15] Kemper wrote Tales from the Corner Coven, a short tabletop role-playing game about bodega cats in Brooklyn, for Simon & Schuster's The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book.[16] Kelly Knox for Nerdist called Tales from the Corner Coven "bewitching" and said, "We want to play right meow."[17]
Kemper also wrote the adventure "The Little Mx. Scare-All Pageant" for Visigoths vs. Mall GothsbyLucian Kahn and contributed writing to 7th Sea.[18]
