Tanya DePass facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tanya Colleen DePass
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| Born | 1973 (age 52–53) |
| Years active | 2014–present |
Tanya DePass (born 1973), also known by her online name Cypheroftyr, is an American writer, activist, and streamer. She is the founder of a non-profit group called I Need Diverse Games, which she started in 2016.
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Tanya DePass's Early Life
DePass grew up in Chicago in a family that didn't have much money. She loved tabletop games and video games from a young age. She has said that games helped her imagination grow. She felt like games were an escape and a way to visit other worlds.
However, she noticed that characters who looked like her, especially Black and queer characters, were rarely main heroes. They were often just small parts of the story. She wanted to see more diverse characters who could save the world.
Tanya DePass's Career
Tanya DePass writes articles about important topics like diversity, feminism, and race. Her work has appeared in popular online publications such as Polygon and Vice. She also helps game companies and groups understand how to make their games and workplaces more welcoming for everyone.
She helps organize events like OrcaCon and GaymerX, focusing on programming and diversity. DePass was the editor of a book called Game Devs & Others: Tales from the Margins (2018). This book shares stories from people in the gaming world who felt left out. In 2020, she was also a special fellow at USC.
DePass helped create the Fifth Season RPG, a role-playing game based on the popular Broken Earth book series by N. K. Jemisin. Her work has even been shown in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Design/Play/Disrupt exhibit.
Online, Tanya DePass is known as Cypheroftyr. She streams games on Twitch, where she has sometimes faced online harassment. In 2020, during the George Floyd protests, DePass hosted a special charity stream. She raised over $140,000 USD in just one day for The Bail Project, which helps people afford bail.
Her work has been recognized with several awards. Fireside Magazine, where DePass was an editor, was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2019. In 2020, the Diana Jones Award honored "Black Excellence in Gaming," and DePass was one of many Black professionals recognized. Kotaku also named her one of their four "Gamers of the Year" for 2020. She was also part of the first "Future Class" at The Game Awards 2020.
A film called Game Changer, directed by basketball player Tina Charles, highlights DePass's efforts to make the gaming industry more inclusive. This short documentary first showed at the Tribeca 2021.
I Need Diverse Games
In 2014, Tanya DePass started using the hashtag #INeedDiverseGames. She did this after a game company, Ubisoft, said it was too hard to create female characters for their Assassin's Creed game. DePass often said she was "sick of games where I don't get to be the hero." The hashtag became very popular, especially during the Gamergate harassment campaign. People used it to share positive messages about wanting more different types of characters and stories in video games.
DePass officially started the non-profit organization I Need Diverse Games in August 2016. This group, based in Chicago, worked to help underrepresented people in the video game industry be seen and have more opportunities. They raised money through Patreon and other fundraising efforts.
One of their main programs offered financial help and free passes to big video game events, like the Game Developers Conference. This scholarship program stopped in 2020 because of the pandemic. The organization also held workshops about diversity at gaming events and highlighted the work of people who are often overlooked. The foundation lost its charity status, and its website and donations stopped in 2024.
Web Series and Tabletop Games
Tanya DePass was a cast member of Rivals of Waterdeep, a live-streamed Dungeons & Dragons show. This show featured a cast of people of color. It began in 2018 in Chicago and was an official Wizards of the Coast production, streamed on the official Dungeons & Dragons Twitch channel. The show finished in 2023.
In 2021, DePass also played in The Black Dice Society. This was another Dungeons & Dragons live show with a Ravenloft theme, also on official Wizards of the Coast channels. She was also the creative director for Into the Mother Lands, a live-play series using the Cortex game rules.
Based on this series, DePass funded Into the Mother Lands - An Original Afrofuturist TTRPG through Kickstarter in 2021. It raised over $360,000. As of January 2025, the game is still being developed.
