Xavier Ho (he/him)

Dr Xavier Ho
Email: xavier@jtg.design
Monash: Researcher Profile
Twitter: @xavier_ho

Hi! I'm a queer games researcher and interaction designer working with queer videogames and tabletop games!

I'm an award-winning design researcher focusing on the queer independent games community, Lecturer in Interaction Design at Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), and Visiting Fellow to the inaugural Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies at the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre. I also run a creative videography studio, Jump to Glide ↗.

Professional accolades include the initiation and curation of the Good Design Award in Social Impact winner, Pride at Play, and designing and implementing front-end of the Victoria Premier's Design Award Finalist, Early Algal Warning System. I received the inaugural CSIRO Medal for Diversity and Inclusion for raising awareness of LGBTQIA+ communities in the organisation. My work led me to undertake the Australian Broadcast Corporation TOP 5 Arts media residency program, and I regularly contribute research in public settings.

I have exhibited at the Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney Footbridge Gallery, Queen Victoria Market, Carlisle Street Arts Space, Victorian Pride Centre, Library at the Dock Gallery, and Tin Sheds Gallery. Published essays in Public Books titled "Queer Lives Are Not Side Quests" with Dr Cody Mejeur, The Conversation AU, and Bloomsbury Handbook on Games and Sex/Sexuality (in press). Media coverage includes ABC Arts, ABC Radio National, Kotaku Australia, GamesHub, Checkpoint Gaming, Triple J Hack, Triple R, What Happens Next, Monash Lens, and Concrete Playground.

The wide-range gamut of public art, games research, and written essays in the portfolio and researcher profile demonstrates an ongoing desire for making queer games visible and accessible to the public. I am specifically interested in examining how videogames and tabletop games are becoming means of individual expression in the Asia Pacific region. In my free time, I train with a musical theatre vocalist, bake delicious sourdoughs, and practise barebow archery with my boyfriend.

Research

I am a firm believer in making research open and accessible to everyone, and so I provide as many links as I can below.

Visualising Queer Indie Games. Pride at Play, FDG 2022, GCAP 2022.
My research aims to make indie games more accessible to the public, and tell their stories. I am the lead curator for Pride at Play (2023) that aims to put queer indie games on the map for games made in Oceania and the Asia Pacific. The Arcade (2014) is a University of Sydney Union initiative where I curated Australian games for them. My research has been wonderful spending time doing this work. Publications and talks include Public Books, The Conversation AU, MSU Digital Humanities 2021, and interviews (Monash 2022, Monash 2023, Critical Distance: Keywords in Play).
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Inspiration Networks in Game Design. PhD Thesis, DiGRA Journal, Roguelike Universe.
‍I studied game jams both big and small to understand how ideas were remixed, linked, and manifested in videogames, and then applied what I call an "inspiration network" to map roguelike games. Publications, demos, and talks include Global Game Jam, ANSAC 2018, ICGJ 2017, Meaningful Play 2016, DiGRA Australia 2016, DiGRA Queensland 2016, DiGRA 2015, DiGRA Australia 2014, and Meaningful Play 2014.

I have given over 70 public talks since 2013 in both academic and industry events, and have organised 7 conferences including DiGRA 2017, SIGGRAPH Asia 2019, ICGJ 2020, FDG 2021, VIS4DH 2022, VIS Arts Program 2023, and Games Symposium for Oceania and the Asia Pacific. I also ran 'Computer Graphics on the Web' meetup in Melbourne in 2016-2018.

Other notable publications include 'Passionately resilient beyond disciplines' (in press, Edited Book on Asian Design Education), chartjunk for visualisation (led by Dr Phil Gough), and remote sensing (led by Dr Tim Malthus). For a complete list of my publications, activities, and scholarly profile, see my Monash page or Google Scholar.