Zoë Tiberius Quinn (born 1987) is an American
video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...
,
programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming.
The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...
, and writer. Quinn developed the
interactive fiction
Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...
game ''
Depression Quest'', which was released in 2013. In 2014, a blog post by their ex-boyfriend sparked the online harassment campaign known as
Gamergate
Gamergate or GamerGate (GG) was a loosely organized online misogyny, misogynistic online harassment campaign motivated by a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the ...
, during which Quinn was subjected to extensive harassment including
doxing
Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information
Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person.
The ...
,
rape threats, and
death threats. The following year, Quinn co-founded
Crash Override, a crisis hotline and resource center for victims of online harassment.
Early life
Zoë Tiberius Quinn was born in 1987 and was reared in a small town near the
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in Ne ...
in New York. Growing up, Quinn's favorite
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
was ''
Commander Keen
''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and ...
'', an
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
game featuring an eight-year-old
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
who builds a spaceship with items found around his house and then travels the galaxy defending the Earth. Quinn suffered from depression as a teenager, having been diagnosed with the condition at age 14. They described receiving little sympathy or assistance from
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...
officials who were "less than understanding about teens with depression and suicide issues".
Career
At the age of 24, Quinn moved to Canada and made their first foray into video game programming. Quinn's first game was the result of a six-week course on video game creation that they attended after seeing an advertisement in a newspaper. In a later interview for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', Quinn said, "I felt like I'd found my calling."
''Depression Quest''
One of Quinn's earliest creative works, ''
Depression Quest'', was conceived as a "choose-your-own path" adventure detailing the troubled life of a person suffering from depression, with many of the "correct" paths blocked due to the protagonist's struggle with mental self-care. Quinn thought this sort of game narrative would be a good way to depict depression, imposing a set of rules on players that might not experience such problems in their day-to-day lives. ''Depression Quest'' was released in February 2013.
Quinn attempted to publish the game on
Steam Greenlight service twice in December 2013 and later in August 2014, when it was accepted and released by Steam. ''Depression Quest'' was featured in a ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' article as one of several video games dealing with the subjective experience of
depression.
Other projects
Quinn created the Game Developer Help List, designed to bring experienced game developers and novice developers into contact with one another. In 2014, Quinn intended to be part of the canceled
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
reality television show codenamed "Game_Jam", which was meant to bring together a number of prominent indie game developers.
In 2015, Quinn served as a
narrative design consultant for Loveshack Entertainment's
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
game ''Framed''. As of 2014, Quinn was also working on a
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, vector graphics, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games featur ...
game starring
Greg Sestero
Greg Sestero (born July 15, 1978) is an American actor, filmmaker, model and author. He is best known for his role as Mark in the 2003 cult film ''The Room'', as well as for his well-received memoir '' The Disaster Artist'', detailing his experie ...
.
In 2015, Quinn wrote a chapter for ''Videogames for Humans'', a book about games made using the
Twine
Twine is a strong Thread (yarn), thread, light String (structure), string or cord composed of string in which two or more thinner strands are twisted, and then twisted together (Plying, plied). The strands are plied in the opposite direction to ...
tool. Quinn also contributed a chapter to the book ''The State of Play: Sixteen Voices on Video Games,'' detailing their experiences making ''Depression Quest'' and the subsequent harassment they faced. In 2015, Quinn appeared in the documentary ''
GTFO''. They also wrote a scenario for "Widow's Walk", an expansion for ''
Betrayal at House on the Hill'', released in 2016.
In September 2016, Quinn was reported to be working with erotica author
Chuck Tingle on a full motion
dating sim
Dating sims, also known as dating simulation games, are a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While resembling the visual novel genre in presentation, true dating sims utilize an additional statistical and time manage ...
under the working title "Project Tingler". The game was finally named "Kickstarted in the Butt: A Chuck Tingle Digital Adventure" and a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign was started in October 2016 asking for $69,420 to fund the project. The game raised over $85,000 from 2,450 backers weeks later. In January 2018, Quinn's role as Narrative Designer at
Heart Machine's upcoming game ''
Solar Ash'' was also announced.
In June 2018, Quinn's career as a
comics writer started with the announcement of their work with illustrator Robbi Rodriguez on
DC Vertigo's ''Goddess Mode'', which became one of the last comics released under the Vertigo label. In July 2019, their participation in the upcoming issues of
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...
's ''
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
: The Bodies Issue'' and
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
's ''Fearless'' was announced.
Quinn has additionally worked on ''
Fez'', ''
Jazzpunk'',
[Jazzpunk Credits]
. Giant Bomb
''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time (maga ...
. and ''
They Bleed Pixels''.
Quinn is interested in
human enhancement
Human enhancement is the natural, artificial, or technological alteration of the human body in order to enhance physical or mental capabilities.
Technologies Existing technologies
Three forms of human enhancement currently exist: reproductive ...
and has
implanted an NTAG216
NFC chip in the back of their hand that can be programmed to perform various functions. Their first use of the chip was to load it with the download code for the game ''
Deus Ex.''
Quinn also has a magnetic implant in their left
ring finger
The ring finger, third finger, fourth finger, leech finger, or annulary is the fourth digit of the human hand, located between the middle finger and the little finger.
Sometimes the term ring finger only refers to the fourth digit of a left-ha ...
.
Harassment and Gamergate
Quinn has faced harassment in response to ''Depression Quest'' since the game's initial release. This intensified with the additional publicity the game received on Steam.
Quinn initially withdrew the game from Steam's Greenlight service, after having a detailed rape threat mailed to their home address. When they brought ''Depression Quest'' back to Greenlight, Quinn began receiving threatening phone calls.
In August 2014, Eron Gjoni, a former boyfriend of Quinn, posted a lengthy blog post detailing his relationship with them. Based on the contents of the post, Quinn was falsely accused of receiving positive coverage from a journalist with whom they were in a relationship. It was later shown that the journalist,
Nathan Grayson, had only written about Quinn once, before they started a relationship. These accusations sparked the harassment campaign known as
Gamergate
Gamergate or GamerGate (GG) was a loosely organized online misogyny, misogynistic online harassment campaign motivated by a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the ...
. Quinn suffered extensive harassment including doxing, rape threats, and death threats. Media coverage of Gamergate resulted in widespread recognition of
sexism in gaming.
According to ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', the harassment escalated to the point where Quinn left their home and began working with the authorities to identify those responsible for the harassment.
Quinn detailed the experience in an interview on
MSNBC
MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
's ''
Ronan Farrow Daily,'' saying that Gamergate represented a rapidly shrinking fringe among an increasingly diverse gaming community, and that those attacking Quinn and women in gaming needed "to just grow up". Speaking with
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, Quinn said the harassment had consumed their life, leading them to feel as if "surrounded by nothing but hate it's virulent, it's everywhere" and that they were "just trying to survive". The attacks boiled down to "the same accusation everybody makes toward every successful woman: she got to where she is because she had sex with someone", and Quinn also pointed out that Gamergate had targeted "the people with the least power in the industry". "
used to go to games events and feel like I was going home... Now it's just like... are any of the people I'm currently in the room with, the ones that said they wanted to beat me to death?" Quinn said that their therapist remarked of the harassment, "I don't even know what to tell you, this is so far outside anything I'm aware of."
In January 2015, Quinn co-founded
Crash Override, a private network of experts to assist victims of online harassment which in March 2015 joined forces with Randi Harper's
Online Abuse Prevention Initiative.
On September 24, 2015, Quinn spoke at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
along with
Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of ''#Feminist Frequency, Feminist Frequency'', a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. Her v ...
about online harassment. In their speech, Quinn spoke about the need for technology companies to provide proper moderation and terms of service which protect marginalized groups. Quinn also raised concerns about providing better protections for transgender women and victims of domestic violence on the Internet. Quinn came out as non-
cisgender
The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...
in January 2017;
they use
they/them pronouns.
In September 2017, Quinn published the memoir ''
Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate''. The book has received generally positive reviews, with critics praising what they described as Quinn's thoughtful, nuanced portrayal of Quinn's harassers, but lamenting the book's "scattered" narrative flow. The book was nominated for the 2018
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...
for
Best Related Work (''i.e.'', non-fiction work related to
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
or
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
).
Bibliography
*
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Zoe
1987 births
21st-century American LGBTQ people
American expatriates in Canada
American LGBTQ artists
American non-binary writers
American video game designers
American video game programmers
DC Comics people
Indie game developers
Interactive fiction writers
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
Living people
People from New York (state)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Victims of cyberbullying
American video game artists
American electronic literature writers
Gamergate (harassment campaign)
American founders
LGBTQ video game developers