Alumni Awards 2020: Video game designer wins Alumni Innovation Award

To most people, video games are simply a source of entertainment, and a fun distraction from everyday life. But to Kenzie Gordon (’11 BA(Hons), ’11 Cert(Peace/PCSt), ’18 MA), video games are a powerful tool that can potentially change the world, and ultimately save lives.

Combining her love of video games with her social work experience, Gordon has created games and apps that change beliefs and behaviours around sexual assault and domestic violence.

Gordon’s academic road to becoming a video game designer began with a Combined Honors BA in History and Middle Eastern and African Studies, as well as a Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies. After graduating in 2011, Gordon pursued a Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Calgary, before working in domestic violence outreach roles in the non-profit sector.

“As I was beginning to burn out on frontline social work, I was also taking the UAlberta online course Understanding Video Games,” Gordon recalls. “It inspired me to come back for grad school to study games, and how I could combine them with my passion for working in gender-based violence.”

Gordon completed her MA in Digital Humanities in 2018, and started her Ph.D. two weeks later.

“I can’t seem to leave the Faculty of Arts,” she laughs.

It was during her MA that Gordon partnered with the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton and the UAlberta Sexual Assault Centre to create a video game to supplement their Five Minute Friend training program. The game was to provide bystander intervention training for Edmonton nightlife staff.

Gordon called the game It’s Your Move, an interactive graphic novel designed to be played on a desktop computer or tablet.

“The game helps participants practice identifying and intervening in potential assault cases in a nightlife setting, but in a way that’s a little more interactive than roleplaying,” she explains. “It allows participants to make mistakes in a safe context.”

Gordon’s other creations include Flourish, an app she developed with the Edmonton John Howard Society to help domestic violence survivors seek safety.

Her games and apps earned her a 2020 Alumni Innovation Award, recognizing her strong sense of justice and visionary use of technology.

“It's rare for non-profit organizations to have the resources and time to explore innovative ways to use technology,” Gordon says. “This often means that sectors like gender-based violence prevention don't really have a sense of how technology could support their work, and perhaps add something to our toolkit. I think that’s a critical need, given the ongoing prevalence of gender-based violence.”

At the time of this writing, Gordon is completing her Ph.D. in the Departments of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, and Digital Humanities. As she reflects back on her eight years and multiple degrees from the Faculty of Arts, she credits Arts for helping her grow as a person and academic.

“When I started my degree, I didn’t have much ability to think critically through public discourses, social problems, or media objects. And now I can't turn it off! So much of my world view, including my commitment to feminism and anti-racism, has come out of things I've learned and experienced through my Arts education.”