Jonaya Kemper
@violetriotgames.bsky.social
Assistant Teaching Professor of Playable and Participatory Media in Creative Technologies and Performance, Play & Design:Games @ UCSC. Award winning Game Designer/Artist. Afrofuturist. Opinions are my own.
jonayakemper.com
jonayakemper.com
Pinned
I'm Jonaya, and introductions are not my jam, but you know what is? This weird list of attributes:
-award winning game designer
-chaotic academic
-Interdisciplinary Artist.
-pioneered the theory of emancipatory bleed
-exceptional writer of theater and all game types
-Play is my business
-award winning game designer
-chaotic academic
-Interdisciplinary Artist.
-pioneered the theory of emancipatory bleed
-exceptional writer of theater and all game types
-Play is my business
It should also be pointed out that WGA representation can't be just for Video Games. People who make ttrpgs are literally creating games that studios want for IP. SFWA values us, if WGA takes us in, the Union only gets stronger. 🤷🏾
I may delete this because it’s a bit spicy but it shouldn’t be lost on us that games being turned into TV is essentially harvesting the stories written by those who don’t have union representation or healthcare with WGA by those that do. Our stories are good enough for TV but the writers aren’t?
February 6, 2026 at 6:14 AM
It should also be pointed out that WGA representation can't be just for Video Games. People who make ttrpgs are literally creating games that studios want for IP. SFWA values us, if WGA takes us in, the Union only gets stronger. 🤷🏾
Every once in a while I have to use Tumblr for fandom research and I always come away with the feeling that maybe some of their thoughts should be inside thoughts not post it on the internet thoughts.
February 4, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Every once in a while I have to use Tumblr for fandom research and I always come away with the feeling that maybe some of their thoughts should be inside thoughts not post it on the internet thoughts.
I don't know who needs to hear this, but teachers (ECE- graduate school) are fucking exhausted right now and have to keep teaching during *points to world*. It's rough normally, it's been extra rough for years, and right now it's basically boss levels rough. Don't beat yourself up, fellow educators.
February 2, 2026 at 7:16 PM
I don't know who needs to hear this, but teachers (ECE- graduate school) are fucking exhausted right now and have to keep teaching during *points to world*. It's rough normally, it's been extra rough for years, and right now it's basically boss levels rough. Don't beat yourself up, fellow educators.
Ash is correct! Consider learning how to be a street medic, you can also do childcare, conflict de-escalation, food distribution. There's a wide variety of ways to be useful to your neighbors.
Okey dokey, so in about five different discord servers, i've seen threads on how to arm yourself.
As you resident neighborhood theydie with a long history of suicidality (it's been years, but I'm intimately familiar with the statistics and how brains work), I SHOULD NOT OWN FIREARMS. Periodt. 1/7
As you resident neighborhood theydie with a long history of suicidality (it's been years, but I'm intimately familiar with the statistics and how brains work), I SHOULD NOT OWN FIREARMS. Periodt. 1/7
January 25, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Ash is correct! Consider learning how to be a street medic, you can also do childcare, conflict de-escalation, food distribution. There's a wide variety of ways to be useful to your neighbors.
Many many moons ago I specialized in photojournalism and often brought my camera everywhere. It's extremely important to get tools and training (or at least have advice) to keep you safe and secure as you report.
January 25, 2026 at 2:13 AM
Many many moons ago I specialized in photojournalism and often brought my camera everywhere. It's extremely important to get tools and training (or at least have advice) to keep you safe and secure as you report.
Are you doing a journalism in this time? Consider talking to Freedom of the Press. Especially if you are not a trained journalist. ✨ freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Defending press freedom for the next generation
freedom.press
January 25, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Are you doing a journalism in this time? Consider talking to Freedom of the Press. Especially if you are not a trained journalist. ✨ freedom.press
And if you're interested in Indigenous Futurisms and Nicole's work...
escholarship.org/uc/item/8dc0...
escholarship.org/uc/item/8dc0...
Galaxies Like Islands, Islands Like Galaxies: Envisioning Futurity In Seascape Technologies
Author(s): Furtado, Nicole | Advisor(s): Raheja, Michelle; Minch-de Leon, Mark | Abstract: Galaxies like Islands, Islands like Galaxies: Envisioning Futurity in Seascape Technologies examines Indigeno...
escholarship.org
January 23, 2026 at 7:44 PM
And if you're interested in Indigenous Futurisms and Nicole's work...
escholarship.org/uc/item/8dc0...
escholarship.org/uc/item/8dc0...
Not me weeping into a burrito after reading this.
January 23, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Not me weeping into a burrito after reading this.
Example: Palantir is a company actively invested in fucking up the world. Palantir is also the name of that weird crystal ball from Lord of the Rings. It's important for us to dream better futures so that someone behind us can go, "This dystopia will not come to pass."
January 23, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Example: Palantir is a company actively invested in fucking up the world. Palantir is also the name of that weird crystal ball from Lord of the Rings. It's important for us to dream better futures so that someone behind us can go, "This dystopia will not come to pass."
Indigenous futurism and Afrofuturism are seeds for hope. They are writing about resistance in the future and actively work against colonialism to broaden our imagination. Cyberpunk is uniquely dystopian. The corpos have won. But why? We discussed that what we create impacts the real world.
January 23, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Indigenous futurism and Afrofuturism are seeds for hope. They are writing about resistance in the future and actively work against colonialism to broaden our imagination. Cyberpunk is uniquely dystopian. The corpos have won. But why? We discussed that what we create impacts the real world.
Thanks to the work of Nicole Furtado, I taught my students about Indigenous Futurism and its connection to Afrofuturism, the fetishistic treatment of Asian cultures in cyberpunk, and the connection between California missions, oppression in Oceania, Japanese internment, Slavery and the Holocaust. ✨
January 23, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Thanks to the work of Nicole Furtado, I taught my students about Indigenous Futurism and its connection to Afrofuturism, the fetishistic treatment of Asian cultures in cyberpunk, and the connection between California missions, oppression in Oceania, Japanese internment, Slavery and the Holocaust. ✨
Oh I'll pitch with lights in mind. ✨
January 23, 2026 at 2:50 AM
Oh I'll pitch with lights in mind. ✨
Guess it's time to write that Goth Club larp.
2026 THEME & CALL FOR LARP PITCHES
The scenarios at Make A Scene: TEMPO explore new realms of time and pace, harmony and discord, synchronicity and stasis.
They’re flooding the zone – we’re dreaming futures worth living in.
Time to make a scene!
The scenarios at Make A Scene: TEMPO explore new realms of time and pace, harmony and discord, synchronicity and stasis.
They’re flooding the zone – we’re dreaming futures worth living in.
Time to make a scene!
January 23, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Guess it's time to write that Goth Club larp.
Frankly this is the type of shit I wanna see in AP. Give me some fucking improv musicals. PUT IT IN MY VEINS.
I’m really not over the fact that we made a whole ass improv musical actual play on One Shot so I’m sorry but I’m not remotely done yelling about it
January 15, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Frankly this is the type of shit I wanna see in AP. Give me some fucking improv musicals. PUT IT IN MY VEINS.
This is excellent, thank you! I'm a bit spoiled having a theater department behind me, so I can call colleagues to NPC/play as well. But yes, all of these can be folded into the first few weeks of class to also teach basic ideas around larp in general. Mechanics, social theory, magic circle, etc.
January 14, 2026 at 9:45 PM
This is excellent, thank you! I'm a bit spoiled having a theater department behind me, so I can call colleagues to NPC/play as well. But yes, all of these can be folded into the first few weeks of class to also teach basic ideas around larp in general. Mechanics, social theory, magic circle, etc.
This is exactly what I'm thinking of! We have an amazing outdoor focused campus so this is a super viable idea.
January 14, 2026 at 9:39 PM
This is exactly what I'm thinking of! We have an amazing outdoor focused campus so this is a super viable idea.
Guess who's adding, "Create an hour long boffer larp as a teaching tool" to their research fund requests. 🙂↕️ The children crave the foam.
January 14, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Guess who's adding, "Create an hour long boffer larp as a teaching tool" to their research fund requests. 🙂↕️ The children crave the foam.
Okay that's hella cool. I wonder if there's like a 200 word rpg style boffer dungeon that can be made this way.
January 14, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Okay that's hella cool. I wonder if there's like a 200 word rpg style boffer dungeon that can be made this way.
A lot of my students are interested in the form, but I realize since they're so long normally we may not have one shots? But now you've given me an idea about creating an entire class that has a one hour at a time continual boffer larp attached. ✨
January 14, 2026 at 9:30 PM
A lot of my students are interested in the form, but I realize since they're so long normally we may not have one shots? But now you've given me an idea about creating an entire class that has a one hour at a time continual boffer larp attached. ✨
Are there hour long boffer larp examples? If not I think my spring class is going to get a custom bespoke boffer larp I have to make. 😅
January 14, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Are there hour long boffer larp examples? If not I think my spring class is going to get a custom bespoke boffer larp I have to make. 😅
My first ever KP changed my life in such a radical way that I'm sitting here and wondering if I'd even be interested in academia or able to withstand it without having gone. Being accepted as a peer and a play maker was extremely important to me, and I'm always a little misty thinking about Norway.
January 12, 2026 at 10:58 PM
My first ever KP changed my life in such a radical way that I'm sitting here and wondering if I'd even be interested in academia or able to withstand it without having gone. Being accepted as a peer and a play maker was extremely important to me, and I'm always a little misty thinking about Norway.
I can't explain how grateful I am for the open kindness and collaboration I experienced in the KP scene. I'm assigning my students work that I literally hand carried to the US. Finances, world interruptions and burnout, has made it near impossible to go "home" but at least I can share it.
January 12, 2026 at 10:54 PM
I can't explain how grateful I am for the open kindness and collaboration I experienced in the KP scene. I'm assigning my students work that I literally hand carried to the US. Finances, world interruptions and burnout, has made it near impossible to go "home" but at least I can share it.
I got a set of Dispel dice and I have to be honest there is a certain ✨ to them.
January 10, 2026 at 7:46 PM
I got a set of Dispel dice and I have to be honest there is a certain ✨ to them.
I taught two classes today with brilliant students that deserve a future overflowing with goodness. I think about what happened today and what continues to happen and know that I'll protect them in any way I can. I can't fix everything, but I can try and create a just future with and for them.
January 8, 2026 at 2:05 AM
I taught two classes today with brilliant students that deserve a future overflowing with goodness. I think about what happened today and what continues to happen and know that I'll protect them in any way I can. I can't fix everything, but I can try and create a just future with and for them.
Sweet! It's so fun, next time I'm going to have them try Liz Gorinsky's Goth Court version. 🦇
January 8, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Sweet! It's so fun, next time I'm going to have them try Liz Gorinsky's Goth Court version. 🦇