Allison Yang Jing
Senior Editor, Game Director/Initium Media
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“The virtual world is not only a reflection of existing power structures: It is a critical, creative, and connected space for humans to experiment and build a sustainable world. It is not an escape or financial investment but a part of our living experience that is socially and culturally responsive and responsible.”
Allison Yang Jing is a producer and storyteller dedicated to disrupting inequality through creative avenues such as game design, exhibitions, podcasts, and writing. Based in Hong Kong and Washington, D.C., she is also a senior editor at Initium, an investigative journalism platform in Chinese languages that focuses on countering misinformation and expanding reporting in Chinese American communities. For the past six years, she has also produced and organized game events, game communities, and game works across physical and imagined borders.
Allison believes that journalism needs to take new approaches to engaging and informing readers. She believes that games and new mediums can change how people think about issues of inequality and challenge stereotypes and biases. In addition to her journalism work, she teaches game theory, game design and narrative media at universities and focuses on empowering future generations with critical insights into the gaming landscape.
Allison believes strongly that the game industry needs a greater sense of social responsibility and that creating an ecosystem that nurtures one marginalized group must also avoid creating new systems of marginalization for others. By practicing radical empathy, understanding diverse perspectives and experiences, and maintaining integrity in the face of a skewed power system, we have the potential to create a more equal and free digital society.