Gamasutra Tackles Being 'Out' In The Industry
Gay gaming writer-at-large Bryan Ochalla has hit another home run over at Gamasutra, where he follows up on his previous gay content coverage with a new piece that digs the good dig about being gay and out and working in the video game industry. Picking the ear of gay game dev notables such as Jeb Havens, Midway's Brian Sharp, Ubisoft's Anne Gibeault, Vincent Gauthier and Aline Schleger, and some posthumous words from transsexual game designer Dani Bunten Berry via the indomitable Brenda Brathwaite. Quite a list.
Jeb brought up the oft-aimless liminal space in which many gays and lesbians find themselves, not only in the game world, but in the working world in general:
“A lot of people are kind of half-closeted,” he says. “When they’re at work, they don’t really lie about their sexuality, but they don’t bring it up either—probably because it just doesn’t seem to mesh with the culture at a lot of places.”
It’s likely their discreetness also has something to do with feeling like they’re “the only ones,” something Havens says he hopes to rectify. “I really want to let these people know they’re not alone.”
Others have found the courage to face that challenge by uncovering something worth fighting for, or against, such as Gauthier:
One project Gauthier worked on in the past contained what he considered “homophobic elements.” At a meeting about the game, “I made a clear statement about of what I thought had to be changed—and at the same time that became my official coming out to the entire team.”
The response surprised him. “My producer named me the official guard dog against homophobia” for that game, Gauthier says. “It proved useful to the project and very educational for my co-workers.”
But some face a far more difficult road, and in the case of Dani Berry, do so with aplomb. In 1996 Berry told Brathwaite:
“In this industry, I don't feel any discrimination for being either transgendered or for being female,” she said. “I find that very gratifying and think that's a really positive statement about this industry. When I went to the conference as Danielle instead of Dan, people were just warm and supportive and happy for me. I've gotten zero negative reaction. I had no one come up to me and say, ‘Yuck. What is that?’ or ‘Who are you?’
That's just a snippet. Head over to Gamasutra and read the whole she-bang for yourselves!
'Out' in the Industry [Gamasutra]
[Thanks, Bryan!]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 5 April 2007
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: brenda brathwaite, dani beri, gamasutra, gay game designers, jeb havens, out in the industry
Very well done.
I suppose it depends on what part of the industry you are in. It can get a bit more daunting if you are the lower ranks like QA (where you get an astonishing assortment of co-workers).
I've never had much trouble, but like the article says, I don't really bring it up either.
I read this earlier today and was waiting for it to be posted! I found the article to be well written and honest. Much like any other job, I think "outness comfortability" varies from place to place, person to person.
What's most impressive are places, like 1st Playable, that exist outside of major urban areas associated with the industry and able to create an open environment for GLBT people. Not all of us want to live in LA! :) (no offense to those that do, of course)
While the company I work for is located in a state with less than tolerant laws, they've strived to make it as an attractive place as possible to any talented individual. This includes a comfortable work environment, domestic partnership benefits, BF/GF participation in company parties/gatherings, etc. At no point in time should a company worth working for ask you to be anything but proud...and for a semi-flamey game nerd, I couldn't ask for anything more.
Beautiful story Tiny. Thanks for that.
Great article. As a not out game developer I can attest to a lot of the stuff in this article myself. I work at a fairly prominent FPS game developer and much of the 'frat-boy-esk' behavior discussed in the article is about spot on. Most of the guys make gay jokes from time to time, but only jokingly. On the other hand, when the only other gay person in the office quit the week I was picked up full time, a lot of behind the scenes jokes were made at his expense. I wish I'd have the balls to speak up about that stuff when I hear it, but I just keep my mouth shut and grin along as best I can.
I'm pretty sure that if/when I come out, I'd get a lot of support and no one would really care, but I just don't want to be that token gay guy and ruin the team dynamic. Game development requires an immense amount of teamwork, and disrupting that flow would take some time to over come. Regardless, the article's like this are great to read. It's given me a bit more courage, and that's saying a lot.
I was one of those poor gay schleps in Q&A who can attest for the inconduciveness to ehem... gayety... that can breed in those circles. I tried to test the coming-out waters by simply stating my disapproval of words like Fag, Gay, etc (Racial epithets included) and it was not met with much kindness, to say the least.
wow, what a great article. as an older gamer, i'm glad to see that the GLBT history is finally being told in the gaming world. thank you thank you!