Erin List (* 1995 [AD] in Graz, Styria, Austria) is a polymath, a versatile “professional” with expertise in video game development, informatics and computer programming, media arts & design, music (she plays drums & percussions), history, mythology, literature, photography, science, philosophy, feminist and queer theory, and education.
She has been serving as Art & Design Director at the Game Lab Graz (starting out as a project assistant) from September 2019 to June 2025, within the Institute of Human-Centred Computing (HCC) at Graz University of Technology, where she has been involved in developing educational video games that extend beyond entertainment.
She currently resides in her home city of Graz, Austria, in the district of Eggenberg.
In addition, she is committed to promoting a more ethical, equitable, diverse, inclusive, accessible, and sustainable world for all its inhabitants.
A short (auto-)biography
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken
— Oscar Wilde
Erin was born in Graz, Austria, and mostly grew up there, as well as in other parts of Styria, specifically Bad Radkersburg, Weiz, and Hartberg.
“Education”
- Volksschule Algersdorf
- Got home tutored on various topics, from math and astrology, to history and paleontology
- BRG Körösi
- Was bullied by classmates and certain teachers
- BORG Dreierschützengasse (Informatics branch)
- “Dropped out of school” because of mental health problems
- Attempt to get back into various schools in Graz, but was rejected again and again.
- Attempt to get admitted to the Sir Karl Popper Schule in Vienna
- Didn’t make the cut, despite allegedly passing their acceptance test
- Wanted to do various apprenticeships in Graz. Wasn’t taken.
- Hobby Projects, Video Game Modding, small video games
- Schulungszentrum Graz
- Autodidactic learning by trial and error, watching lots of documentaries, CrashCourse series, using Wikipedia and freely available educational videos and online tutorials, local libraries, etc.
On January 29, AD 2014, she posted an announcement for an event called “Indie Game Community Meetup Graz” on the social media platform Twitter (now called X), aimed at attracting independent game developers and enthusiasts, to build up the local community.
In 2015, she co-founded Game Development Graz, a non-profit association dedicated to supporting game developers and promoting play and gaming culture, and currently serves as its vice president (2025). She co-organizes the annual Game Dev Days, Austria’s leading game developer conference.
In 2016, Erin was diagnosed with Asperger-Syndrome (aka. Asperger-Autism).
In September 2019, Erin started to work as a project assistant at the Game Lab Graz, within the then so-called Institute of Interactive Systems and Data Science (now the Institute of Human-Centred Computing) at Graz University of Technology.
She designed the Game Lab Graz logo, its marmot mascot, as well as the new logo of the Institute of Human-Centred Computing. Amongst other things she designed (or helped design) are project posters, logos, 3D-Models, various graphics and art assets for projects, and educational video games. She co-wrote a few scientific papers and held lectures on visual art & design principles as part of the Game Development & Design course there.
