The power in granting access to the gaming industry | Black Voices Progress Report

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This interview is part of GamesIndustry.biz's Black Voices Progress Report, offering insight into the different experiences Black professionals have in the games sector. You can read more about the project and check out the other entries on this page .

Many game developers love data, whether it comes as a spreadsheet, a pie chart or a feedback box – so in some ways, Adanna Nedd's move from academic research to game development isn't all that surprising.

During her time as student at Penn State University in California in 2021, Nedd worked as a research fellow for the iSchool Inclusion Institute (i3), which prepares students from underrepresented backgrounds for postgraduate study in computer sciences. Two research projects she worked on focused on purchasable skins in games, leading Nedd to consider the intersection between representation and games, which is still important to her.

"My research was focused on looking how and why players of colour would buy the in-game skins they buy in online games like Overwatch or Fortnite," Nedd tells GamesIndustry.biz. "We were looking into this because in these games, you don't see a lot of diverse skins. You don't see a lot of skins of characters who look like me.

"I find it amazing that you can just start making games, so all people have to know is where to find the information"

"So when you have all of these players trying to represent themselves, how can they represent themselves if the options aren't available? We found out that the majority of players, whenever they pick their in-game skins [for] aesthetic purposes instead of actually looking like themselves in real life, they do note the lack of diversity."

After these projects, Nedd found she "didn't like to write research papers all that much," and decided to look for something else. The inspiration for what that something else would be came from POC in Play's presence on X the years before; the