Meet the creator: Amira Virgil

Amira Virgil grew up brawling her big brother on the Super Nintendo. These days, she battles for unity with community. By building "The Black Simmer," a community for Sims fans to discuss and create, Virgil inspired the developers to provide more inclusive character customization. We spoke with Amira about her journey and the games she can’t stop playing.

Virgil: Yes and no. It’s a slow process – it takes years to develop games. But, representation in gaming is much more than just a character in a video game. It’s who you hire to host a show, appear in a commercial for a gaming headset, and promote developers’ projects. While it may take time for the games themselves to reflect the players, there are so many avenues that can be improved right now to represent the diverse gaming community.

My ambition is to bring more education, networking, and funding to marginalized spaces in gaming. I formed The Noir Network – a community of Black femme creators – to educate my peers and prepare them for the business side of content creation. Marginalized groups, particularly Black creators, aren’t provided with the tools and education required for longevity in the games industry. A healthy environment to learn and communicate can make a world of difference.

For me, Black History Month is a time to reflect; it’s a time to educate people on the impact that Africans and African Americans have on this country and this world. It’s a time to celebrate.

I wanted to choose games that were fun and exciting, games that keep my attention & games that I would gladly play at any given time. I wanted to find games that were made by Black developers and female developers. My attention span is horrible so I wanted to ensure that the games I chose could keep me captivated and keep me continuously coming back. I also wanted to choose games that were outside of the box.

I LOVE this concept. Kami 2 is such a fun, relaxing, and innovative game that I’m always super excited to play. It starts slow, but you’ll quickly get into the flow with increasingly harder puzzles each level. It’s an ideal game to both unwind and get your brain flowing!

80 Days is perfect if you want a jam-packed game with a fun storyline and interesting characters. If you’re looking for a game that forces you to think and strategize, I definitely recommend this one. It reminds me of the Oregon Trail games I played as a child. I’m especially excited to play this whilst traveling!

Tiny Bird Garden is a super cute, well-designed, wholesome game that always keeps you coming back to feed the birds. There are a few characters in the game you can talk to, and each conversation is sure to make you smile and think. The art style is super cute and I’m really excited to see what updates they have in store!