Join us this month as we explore Kentucky Route Zero.
A masterful American tragedy that avoids the cheapest tendencies of games like it, while leveraging distinct and unique techniques... Nine years after it was announced, the journey has been worth every day. I doubt I could be happier with it.”
Kentucky Route Zero is widely regarded as one of the best videogames of the last decade. ACMI Women and Non-binary games club host Jini Maxwell describes it as one of the best games of all time.
Put simply, it’s a visual novel that uses point and click mechanics to tell a story about Conway, a furniture delivery driver who stumbles onto a mythical highway that leads through the middle of America.
Rather than just a linear plot-driven game, Kentucky Route Zero encourages digression and conversation over forward momentum, as the player explores the sideroads, stop-offs and dead ends.
The result is a richly textured portrait of the foundational myths of America, explored through a magic realist lens. Kentucky Route Zero paints a painful, perfect portrait of the people who subscribed to these myths, and the way the myths, in turn, failed them.
Kentucky Route Zero is available on Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X,Nintendo Switch,PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
About our host
Jini Maxwell
Jini Maxwell is a writer, and creative producer based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. They are a staff writer for Screenhub and Artshub, where they report on local game development, as well as working as a creative producer at Freeplay Independent Games Festival. Jini regularly contributes games reviews to The Saturday Paper, and has contributed critical writing to Screen Education, ACCA online, Overland, and the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Soundescapes. Deeply interested in exploring the relationship between writing and videogames, they previously directed the National Young Writers Festival, and curated the Digital Intimacies exhibition of poetry and videogames in 2019. In 2018, Jini was also one of three Emerging Critics in Residence at the Melbourne Recital Centre, creating hypertext criticism in response to live performance. Follow them on Twitter.
Women & Non-Binary Gamers Club
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Community Code of Conduct
Everyone participating in an ACMI Women & Non-Binary Gamer Club event — including, but not limited to the meets, clubs and talks — is required to agree to the following code of conduct. This includes all attendees, speakers, performers, patrons, and volunteers.
ACMI Women & Non-Binary Gamer Club will enforce this code during its events and throughout the year. We expect cooperation from everyone to ensure a safe, diverse, and welcoming environment.
The condensed version
ACMI is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion (or lack thereof). We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.
Sexist, racist, discriminatory, or harassing language and imagery is not appropriate in the ACMI Women & Non-Binary Gamer Club community, in person or online. Participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event and premises, as well as all future events without a refund at the discretion of ACMI.
The less condensed version
Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Exception: discussion or images related to sex, pornography, discriminatory language, or similar is welcome if it meets all of the following criteria:
— It is necessary to the topic of discussion and no alternative exists
— It is presented in a respectful manner
— Attendees are respectfully given ample warning and opportunity to leave beforehand.
This exception specifically does not allow use of gratuitous sexual images as attention-getting devices or unnecessary examples.
Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are required to comply immediately.
If a participant engages in any of the aforementioned behaviour, ACMI may take any action they deem appropriate, from warning the offender to immediately expelling the offender with no refund.
Reporting and enforcement
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact an ACMI Women & Non-Binary Gamer Club team member immediately. If you can’t or don’t wish to speak in person, or prefer to talk privately or electronically, contact us via gamerclub@acmi.net.au.
All reports will be handled in the strictest confidence.
With thanks
This document was based on the work of XOXO Festival, JSConf, Geek Feminism, confcodeofconduct.com, and inspired by resources provided by Ashe Dryden.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.