GDC 07: Speaking Out - Connecting The LGBT Development Community
While the Game Developers Conference was absolute pandemonium for a first-time attendee trying to see everything, one thing I managed to attend diligently was the Independent Game Developer's Association's LGBT roundtable and group gatherings, which served as a platform for the development community to discuss a staggeringly wide range of relevant topics for what was essentially the first time. (While the initiative began at last year's GDC, it seemed that most agreed the ball really began to roll this year.) Led by game designer Jeb Havens, the "Speaking Out" sessions invited developers, HR professionals, students, managers, press and academics to begin sussing out the ways and means of connecting the LGBT development community.
As the description implies, these sessions were largely developer-oriented and included some non-industry-specific questions and advice for establishing and maintaining safe space for LGBT people in the workplace, as well as diving into issues of gay content in games. On that front, expect more specific interviews and insights in the coming weeks and months - we met more gay and gay-friendly industry folk than I'd ever have imagined, and we can't wait to share their stories with you as the spring unfolds!
Make the jump to read more.
Regarding gay issues in the office, the discussion revolved around two thrusts: a "top-down" mandate against discrimination in the workplace that comes from as high a rung on the corporate ladder as possible, and a Human Resources department that's both open to and capable of dealing with LGBT issues. Assertive stances like coming out at work and refusing to tolerate intolerance were reinforced, while others suggested more passive means such as securing corporate equality index ratings from the HRC for as many game companies as possible.
The desire to build a special interest group within the IGDA came up so many times it became almost a rallying cry for those of us assembled. For an idea of what this might mean, take a look at Brenda Brathwaite's Sex & Games SIG; imagine a similar vehicle for the LGBT developer community informed by industry leaders, designers, artists, the press and IGDA members of all stripes.
When the discussion turned to generating gay content in games, there was a surprising amount of hidden or covert gay content out there, ranging from well-known examples like The Sims and Fable (and of course the Bully kisses, which Jeb dubbed a "non-troversy") to less well-known examples of "stealth" gay content such as a magazine on a rack in Rainbow Six Vegas that bears the same title as a gay porn rag, as well as characters designed as gay but not necessarily labeled that way. (I shouldn't spill all the beans just yet...stay tuned!) There were even some independently-designed full-out gay games in the mix! Hopefully we'll have more to say about all of that very soon.
The surprising results of the gay gamer survey were mentioned repeatedly, as was the cautious inference that our desire to be represented in games is not so much about "gay games" as it is about visibility and choice: we want to see ourselves represented in art and entertainment media as fully as we are in the real world - another color in a diverse rainbow. Similarly, the overwhelming request for gay opportunities in RPGs points to a desire not so much for specifically gay content (although that would be fantastic) as a yen for the freedom to make your own choices. Play as a man, a woman; play as gay, or straight - it's these options that molds the game experience to fit the gamer...and, ideally, the gay gamer.
When someone asked how effective some of these existing options and gay easter eggs have been in effecting the gaming community at large, and if future efforts in that direction would be able to reach the gay gaming population, Fruit Brute declared: "If we have anything to say about it, they will!"
It was great to be there at the start of what could be an important movement within the game development community, and while many of the ideas discussed were still in their formative stages, the passion and integrity behind the people involved gave me genuine hope for what we may well be seeing in the upcoming seasons and years.
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 12 March 2007
· Comments (7)
Other stuff like this: corporate equality index, gay development community, gdc 2007, hrc, igda, sig
Keep up the good work Tiny, this is the kind of stuff I love coming to the site for.
This news is honey for my eyes. It's great to see this topic being actually on the table, discussed between people of varying sexualities and all that.
I can only dream of all the gay-specific content in games that the future could hold, wishing that one day that dream could come true.
thank you very much for this...
i enjoy knowing that homosexuals are not so ignorable anymore in mainstream narratives and RPG concepts...
the fact that developers actually attended this gathering and seemed to have been supportive of it makes me glad...
i do want to develop games one day, and i am relieved that if that day does come...my ideas of including homosexual relationship stories in games won't be rejected simply because they include such intimacies...
i don't want to make one that is gay specific...but one that would tell of a companionship worth hearing about...
again thank you...
Great stuff and great reporting. Keep it up!
Awesome news, Tiny! This reminds me of when Jon Stewart ripped into Bill Bennett with "I think it's a debate about whether you think gay people are part of the human condition or just a random fetish." It's great that more people are starting to understand that "gay content" in games can fit seamlessly within the greater story arc.
I'm with everybody else here. I enjoy coming here for general gaming news, but posts like this make me happy in a way I can't even explain.
Looking forward to more.
Hey Tiny, IGDA is International Game Developers Association. Holy crap it was nice to have the meetings and round(square)-tables.
-"academic" Audguy