GDC 09: LGBT Round Table Round-Up

One of my favorite parts of GDC is the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi and Transgender) Round Tables that take place, run in part by Jab Havens, which you may remember as the winner of LoGo's Upcoming Gay Gaming Industry Professional Award. Well each year, Jeb, as part of IGDA, puts on a few sessions in which members of the LGBT community can get together and talk about issues in the game industry that they feel are affecting them and/or the community. This year there were three sessions in total, with each having a variety of people showing up to discuss the state of games and the diversity of people that work with them.

We had a variety of companies and organizations represented at the round tables, including people from Zynga, n-Space, Gaymer Revolution, Cryptic Studios, Maxis, and DigiPen. Job roles ranged from students just starting at college all the way to longtime industry veterans, along with plenty of artists, producers, programmers, and public relations personnel in the mix as well.

One of the major recurring issues that we discussed was the level of discrimination that can exist in the normal workplace environment. As is well known in the gaming community at large, oftentimes it there is a "Boy's Club" puesdo-macho mentality that exists in the gaming industry which is part of the reason many girls find it difficult to break into the gaming industry; moreover, this mentality also leaks over into the LGBT territory too as terms like 'gay' and 'fag' crop up as substitutes for 'lame' or 'stupid'. We discussed using humor and tact when dealing with these issues in a casual work environment, and that if prejudice ever gets too out of hand, Human Resources is there to help lend a hand. Others pointed out that being a friend and not isolating yourself from coworkers also allows people to become more comfortable and acclimated to the idea that negative gay stereotypes shouldn't be believed or propagated.

One particular issue that was brought up that involves GayGamer, is that there is a lack of information out on the internet as to which game industry companies have non-discrimination policies on the books, and which ones actually try to foster a positive work environment for their LGBT workers. There was discussion of possibly collecting this info and rating companies in a wiki or other venue (possibly done by GayGamer) that current and future employees could use to help see what companies are doing to attract a diverse workforce. At the same time it would actively encourage said companies to put these types of policies into place. I think it sounds like a great idea, so stay tuned to GayGamer for more info on the subject and feel free to post your own two cents on the idea in the comments.

Overall, the roundtables really allowed the attendees to both share and learn from each others experiences and let everyone speak their minds on just how well the game industry is doing at retaining and encouraging their LGBT workforce, and while we all could agree that there is plenty of room for improvement in the industry, the round tables also provided that pat on the back that helps you know that you're not the only one at the conference who isn't "straight". Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your A\S\L. . .