EA Hosting Panel on Homophobia in Gaming

[Keane Ng]

EA Hosting Panel on Homophobia in Gaming

Electronic Arts and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will host a panel discussion on homophobia in gaming this weekend with panelists from Maxis, Linden Labs, Microsoft and more.

Homophobia is something of a hot topic in the gaming community nowadays. Everybody knows that it's not easy to be game companies [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6alOnuN-wCY] as well.

Some of those companies, then, are coming together this weekend to discuss the issue of homophobia in gaming and the problems surrounding it. GLAAD [https://www.glaad.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=793]) that "brings together gaming industry insiders and LGBT gamers in a conversation about combating homophobia online."

Panelists include Stephen Toulouse of Microsoft, who was recently in the spotlight during this spring's "gay Gamertag" controversy, Flynn DeMarco, games journalist and founder of GayGamer.net [http://www.gaygamer.net/], and folks from the ESA, Maxis and Linden Labs. The panel will be moderated by Justin Cole, the Director of Digital & Online Media for GLAAD.

"Panelists will be addressing such issues as how to provide safe spaces for LGBT people online, how to ensure the best policies are in place to prevent virtual attacks against LGBT people and how to educate the users of online communities about the effects of homophobia," GLAAD wrote.

The panel is open to the public and will take place at EA's headquarters in Redwood City, CA, and take place from 11 AM to 1 PM. It should be an interesting discussion, so if you're in the area and interested in these issues, check it out. If you can't make it, GLAAD says the event will be recorded for distribution, so we'll probably hear what comes out of the panel sometime soon.

[Via GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/07/15/ea-host-panel-homophobia-gaming]]


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[DrunkWithPower]

I... really don't get it. Either I'm blind to blatant homophobia in games or it's so little it's pratically not there. The gamers themselves I can see because, well, every other word I hear is a gay slur.

 

[Radeonx]

EA, stop being so schizophrenic. One moment you're releasing sequel after sequel, the next you're actually doing something good for the gay community.

Agreed. Its just so confusing.

 

[El Poncho]

That sounds freaking gay (wink).

 

[HardRockSamurai]

EA is doing something GENUINELY GOOD???

I think hell just froze over.

[small]..........I saw a few pigs flying too..........[/small]

 

[number2301]

Unbelievable. This makes me sick! Why are we catering to certain groups of people? Just because they complain, then we have to make "special" rules for them? I'm not just talking about queers, I'm talking about anyone: Religions, nationalities, races, etc. No special treatment, and no conferences to discuss how we should cater to the needs of these groups who think that they are some-how more special than the rest of us.

I better end this rant before i get the moderators called on me, but it really pisses me off when ignorant stuff like this happens.

Yeah because why would you ever listen to people's concerns and try provide services/products which they can use?

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

EA, stop being so schizophrenic. One moment you're releasing sequel after sequel, the next you're actually doing something good for the gay community.

This makes no sense. How is that schizo? They aren't contradicting themselves or switching sides, so how is that schizo?

In other news, the gamers' alliance clamps down on the use of derogatory words implying mental illness: "retarded", "schizo", etc.

In the buggy-but-pretty-good RPG "Temple of Elemental Evil", you could actually marry a gay pirate called Bertram if you were playing a male character. Come to think of it, you can do this in a lot of RPGs.

Now if you were trying to make characters in games less needlessly misogynistic (one of the very many things that annoyed me about FPS crapfest F.E.A.R) then I'd agree.

 

[The Bandit]

It really doesn't seem that difficult to me. Allow people to say they're gay in their little profile things, and if gay people are attacked, they can report them through the proper means like everyone else. This isn't the real world we're talking about. Everyone is a jerk to everyone online, no matter what, so it's kind of stupid in my mind to cater to one specific group being attacked when EVERYONE is attacked.

 

[EnemyOfGeneric]

On every multiplayer game, there should be a little subtitle at the top of the screen which says:
"Be NICE! Honestly..."

 

[brabz]

It's don't have any objection to a frank discussion about concerns of hatred or discrimination in gaming towards a set group. There's a lot of inappropriate hate-speech and slander that occurs during many online gaming experiences.

My concern is where a line has to be drawn. I don't think game developers refuse to have gay protaganists because of some misguided notion that it's not an appropriate lifestyle choice. I believe they are trying to create a character and story that is as broadly appealing as possible to all audiences to maximize profit.

Also, the more important point, does anyone really get that worked up about it? From a personal standpoint, if there's a game that's well made with an engaging story and great gameplay, the sexual orientation of the player doesn't really matter. I've grown up playing games with female protagonists and don't suffer from any sort of gender confusion, why would I worry about suddenly being gay if the character controlled is?

 

[spoonish]

well either way, i think theres gotta be something else out there for EA to benefit from, such as publicity or something, or maybe they were about to get sued, so they had to pull this one outa their hat to say 'hey look we care *ahem*'

or maybe they are genuinely interested... time will tell, i guess

 

[Knonsense]

Now if you were trying to make characters in games less needlessly misogynistic (one of the very many things that annoyed me about FPS crapfest F.E.A.R) then I'd agree.

I dunno about this. I mean, misogynistic characters don't make a game misogynistic. Look at Duke 3D. The titular player character was extremely misogynistic, but given the satirical tone of the work, it was appropriate.

I haven't played F.E.A.R., so it's possible that something like that is inappropriate there, but it sounds like it would be more likely to be a minor issue in quality than something that you would discuss at a panel like this.