http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/eafullspectrum620x340pxhedimg.jpg At the Ford Foundation in upper Manhattan this morning, representatives from inside and outside the game industry spoke to the issues that LGBT gamers face and how best to fix them in the first ever “Full Spectrum” event. From online interactions filled with offensive language to games that don’t represent LGBT relationships, those issues are myriad and varied. It’s an unprecedented event, actually – despite the wide-ranging demographics of gaming in the modern world, no such event has been held before, nonetheless hosted by one of the the game industry’s largest publishers (Electronic Arts teamed with the Ford Foundation and the Human Rights Campaign for today’s event). As Entertainment Software Association VP of media and events Dan Hewitt reminded attendees during the first panel, the game industry is an (annual) $24 billion business that spans 50 percent of American homes, and the average gamer is 31-years-old. So why are we still seeing such an underrepresentation of diversity in gaming, despite a diversity of gamers?
“It’s a white, dudely industry,” Kixeye executive producer Caryl Shaw explained, referencing her developer colleagues. “In general it is a very hard place for women to get in. I think that that’s gonna change.” One initiative she cited was the White House’s recent support for teaching coding in American public schools, which she hopes will change the demographic makeup of so many game development studios.
EA’s senior director of government affairs, Craig Hagen, emceed the event, and kicked off things by addressing a flap that his company dealt with recently – EA’s BioWare Austin studio created what is essentially a ghettoized planet in its Star Wars MMO (The Old Republic) specifically for players who have characters that identify as LGBT. Understandably, despite EA intending this as a polite gesture to the community – the original release had no option for playing as an LGBT character – the idea backfired dramatically. Unsurprisingly, LGBT players in the Star Wars MMO didn’t like being forced to a single planet.Gallery: EA Full Spectrum LGBT Event
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