EA (arguably) engages in some questionable business practices – enough to have the mega-publisher voted worst company in America. However, those sick of online passes might be surprised to hear that EA is officially throwing in support for GaymerCon.
Running from August 3rd-4th, 2013 in San Francisco, California, GaymerCon is the first gaming convention for the LGBTQ geek crowd. Essentially, it’s a safe place where gamers of all orientations can come together and enjoy their hobby – and yes, that includes straight gamers as well.
Electronic Arts has pledged its support for the convention, and will be bringing a smattering of titles to the show floor. We have yet to hear which games will be included, given that August 2013 is still very far away – and many of the games that EA will bring probably have yet to be announced.
EA’s Ginger Maseda had this to say about their support of GaymerCon (as well as the LGBTQ gaming community):
“EA believes that to be truly innovative, you must be inclusive. We are proud to be a part of this event.”
This isn’t the first time EA has shown its support for gay rights. Earlier this year, the publisher received thousands of anti-gay letters threatening to boycott the company. Outrage stemmed from optional same-sex relationships in games like Mass Effect 3 and The Old Republic. EA addressed these letters, refusing to back down and/or censor its games.
EA will also be joined by other industry leaders in support of GaymerCon, most notably the Xbox Live team – and Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade fame. With just under a year left until GaymerCon kicks off, we’re interested to see what other industry members will show their support for the convention. The games industry is often criticized for catering solely to the straight male demographic – and by supporting conventions like GaymerCon publishers and developers definitely open the door to a much larger community of gamers (of all sexual orientations or genders).
GaymerCon recently tripled its Kickstarter goal of $25,000 – collecting $91,389 in funding. Stretch goals included a live concert and special celebrity guest – both of which were reached before donations had closed.
GaymerCon runs August 3-4, 2013.
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wow. i have been starting to dislike EA greatly these past two years…..but hey they support me ill support them too.
Sorry, I find this STUPID.
Is not everyone invited to gaming events.
I do not recall current gaming events telling folks they cannot participate.
This only treats a group of people differently, which I don’t understand as I thought they wanted to be treated inclusively.
Thats the homosexual community for you. Try sooo hard to be included but they try their hardest ti make sure we know their different.
So they should just shut up and get back in line? Everyone has a right to individuality.
I mean it’s totally harmless, they just support each other. It’s not an exclusive community that is intolerant to others or something.
Did you not notice that the article said heterosexual people can attend too? It’s the last sentence of the second paragraph.
Wow! After all these years thinking EA was g@#, the company has finally come out and admitted it themselves.
That’s just a bit much… Next straight ppl will want their own convention.
I dont get this. Sense when are people of sexual orientation ever excluded from A regular comic con? Honestly. A Gay comic con is uneeded and plain out stupid. i know companys accept gay rights to win over people but EA wins nothing from me because I am confused on why a gaymer con is even needed in the first place.
Exactly, I have no problem at all with homosexuality but why do they need a special organization? It shows that we ourselves discriminate them. This is like The regular food section and the Natural food section, or like how some races of people think that they need to treat other races with more chivalry implying that they are inferior. It is ridiculous.
*cough*
What?
Oh yay. :/ I really have nothing to say about this. I could care less. I’m a gamer, why does my sexual orientation matter?
This is called the “please God, for once can we have good PR” move.
Probably.
Cowboys.com is now a gay dating site…GreenBayPackers.com is something that should never be talked about.
Now what did EA do? Oh that…ok I’m cool with that.
I’m with others, why need a gay convention?
They scream for equal rights and marriage but then want to segregate themselves and cry when they don’t get their way. Contradiction? I think yes! Bunch of whiny, entitled nut cases! Just like gamers….. wait…
Lol I’m kidding
As a general reply to everyone:
I understand where you’re all coming from in regards to “why do they need their own convention,” however, I think there is a distinct reason for it.
In North America, while gay rights have improved tremendously over the past few years, they are still a group that is quite marginalized. To my knowledge, gay marriage is not legal in every American state and there is still a prominent anti-gay mentality (just look at all of those letters EA got!). Gaymercon isn’t mean to segregate homosexuals and heterosexuals (straight people are allowed to attend), rather it’s to give gay gamers a safe space and place where they can feel welcome, not just within the gaming community but in society as a whole.
For those of you that have ever been called nerds, isn’t it nice to go to conventions and know that there are others just like you out there? That’s how I understand Gaymercon to be. Note however, that I am a straight, white male and that I by no means am trying to speak for the gay community (or Gaymercon for that matter).
But this is a con! Have you ever heard of a convention where gay people where discriminated at or weren’t allowed to join? No? Yea me neither.
I’m quite sure most of these people attend “regular” conventions as well. It’s not about discrimination. It’s about going to a place where there are people like you.
I don’t see why people are opposed to the idea, it’s not like they are going to radicalize each other, founding the “pink panters”-organization and chanting “rainbow power!” or something.
-Though that would be hilarious
If it was a black only convention, would we say that we’re trying to be inclusive of the group and trying to make them equal?
It seems like it has good intent but I’m not sure how this actually benefits anyone except EA’s PR. Gays are more than welcome into all conventions. It’s not the job of nerds to advance the rest of society into accepting a group that we already have. If it did work that way I’d be all for it, but I don’t think it does.
I never understand these things where a minority group thinks they are promoting equality by having events that exclude people who are not part of their minority group… I’m a minority, but I’m just as critical of my race if they do anything like that, like an Asian-only club, I think it’s stupid… I’m all for EQUALITY, which means I support equal-OPPORTUNITY, which means I don’t want’t GIVE anything to anyone for free, they still need to earn it like the rest of us. Things like Affirmative Action is just as racist as what they’re pretending to be fighting against…
I won’t repeat my previous comments but as far as I understand they don’t exclude anybody, you could go there yourself. Noone is going to gaydar-check you, just like with like yaoicon, ROFLcon, anthrocon and the other weird conventions out there.
Seriously what is it with people always thinking it is about exclusion when a minority/interest-group comes together?
Gays are probably the most harmless minority group ever, what the heck are you afraid of? Fanatic, militant, gay terrorism?
@Doc
Sure, any one can attend. But the fact this is an event for them is ridiculous. People would be angry if it was a white-only convention or an event for whites. Just the fact that they get their own event is ridiculous in my opinion.
I’m with Ken. And this is why I hate programs like BET or MTV Tres, or racially divided churches. Society will never move forward if we continue to segregate ourselves.
I’m mixed by the way, black chinese and Indian.
The difference between E3 and this GaymerCon is that one is for electronics, the other is for a minority. And it’s not about being afraid of them or homophobic.
It’s not a religion, it’s a convention, a place where people of similar interests come together there is no segregation or dogmatism. Gay people are everywhere, in every society and culture. If you call this segregation you could just as well start complaining about gender-specific restrooms, at least gaymercon lets heterosexuals attend as well.
Of course a white-people convention would be racist in 99% of cases, but mainly because it would be useless for propagating anything else but racism. There is no common ground or general interest that all white people in the world agree upon, an asian-convention would be equally pointless. If you called it a western-culture convention, it would have at least some meaning and its orientation would possibly be much less intolerant.
The general subject of a convention and the social open-mindedness of its attendees are two completely seaparate attributes and have to be regarded separately.
There is nothing wrong with people of similar orientations and dispositions coming together in one place, as long as they respect the law and the rights of other orientations. They are just making use of their right of assembly. Or would you like to ban gatherings of political parties as well?
Uniformity is boring. Would you prefer if we all exclusively ate at McDonalds, listened dubstep and drove Toyota? If everyone is the same culture and society as a whole come to a halt.
Individuality is awesome provided people assure a maximum of tolerance toward any other minority or interest group. (All within the limits of human rights of course)
But it is segregation. Not hard segregation like separate bathrooms, but soft social segregation. Sure, straight people CAN come but by the very nature of labeling and promoting it in this way, you introduce a base level of alienation. I’m fine with our dividing line being nerds and non-nerds, because unlike most other labels in the world, literally ANYONE can become and instantly be embraced by other nerds. Again, if this was a convention that was called the White People Game Con, but everyone was allowed, what do you think people would say about it?
@doc
Why have a gaming convention for homosexuals that allows heterosexuals to attend when EVERYONE is already welcome to attend the original gaming convention?
Makes no sense lol
@TaboriHK
“the very nature of labeling and promoting it” How else are they supposed to promote it? GNSSOC? “gamers with non-standard sexual orientation …-convention”?
It’s a convention for gay gamers. There is no other way to promote it.
@ATG
You talk about it like it is an exclusive thing. I’m sure most of these guys go to standard gaming conventions as well. This convention is more than legitimate since it has an additional subject. And even if it didn’t it’s not a thing of segregation, it’s preference.
Why don’t I listen to college-rock and s***** pop music like everyone else? Because I prefer listening something else! Deal with it.
Actually that’s not a great example. Homosexuals have it easier in this case, I’m sure they can still attend regular conventions without feeling like their brain is melting.
@doc
Your examples are no good. Still not convinced, try harder.
Might as well have a Mentally Challenged Gamers Convention and an Emotional Scarred Gaming Getaway.
@ATG
This is the internet, thinking I could change anyone’s mind would be the path to certain madness. Having to bridge the language barrier doesn’t make it easier either.
At the end of the day my examples don’t really matter. I just think complaining about a gathering of gay people is pure hysteria. Gays are non violent and utterly harmless in every way. They don’t even have a common culture, unless you consider sexual practices culture, they ultimately are part of the culture they grew up in.
Unless you can name any negative consequences to society as a whole due to gatherings of gay gamers or gays in general, then your objections are unfounded.
And as I said, diversity in itself is not a bad thing, intolerance, lack of respect and unwillingness to compromise are.
The point isn’t that they’re gay, I have nothing against homosexuals. It just doesn’t make sense to me because they, as a people, always argue they should be treated equal and have human rights, equal and fair, and I agree! But something like this goes against the whole fight to be treated fairly.
You think Martin Luther King wanted equal rights and a seperate bathroom for blacks and whites?
To me, this whole convention is a contradiction.
Don’t get me wrong, doc, I see where you are coming from. If they want to have a gay gaming convention then hey, more power to them. Who am I to say otherwise?
@doc
Ah, so a white convention is racist and an Asian convention is pointless, but a gay convention and black convention is exactly what we all need. I get it, it all makes so much sense now… /sarcasm
@ATG
He called an Asian-Convention pointless, but a gay convention that allows heterosexuals not pointless when a normal convention also has gay and heterosexuals attending… Hm… I love logic, it’s so logical because it’s not illogical…
@Ken J
I really don’t see what you people are complaining about.
I mean can any of you tell me how a gay convention of any sort is supposed to be a bad thing in any way?
An asian convention and a white-people-convention would be equally pointless but that wouldn’t be the problem, the problem would be that they might be racist.
Pointlessness isn’t an inherently bad thing, life would be horrible if no one was able to waste some time every now and then. I mean we spend a lot of time every day playing games that don’t have any effect on our real lifes. Then we spend some more time in front of the tv watching a bunch of guys running after a ball in a stadium full of people screaming at them.
If there is demand and no negative side-effects (like giving racism a stage) there is no reason to oppose it.
And if it is segregation you are afraid of, I don’t see that one either. No gay-rights militias or gay ghettos popping up anywhere so far.
If you’re afraid of a bunch of people sitting together somewhere doing what they like, pointless or not, you better repeal the right of assembly altogether and demand everyone to spend their free time in public places. Oh yeah and if you’re at it say good bye to democracy as well.
Call a gay gamer convention pointless or redundant if you will, I don’t know what the general focus of the convention will be either, exept for them feeling comfortable among themselves.
I just think those guys need the publicity in hope that the whole subject will lose it’s social stigma and be considered trivial at some point.
And that’s pretty much what it is. Let them have their fun dammit!
@doc
Seriously, you don’t see how erroneous your statements are? How would a white convention and asian convention be racist, and a black convention not be so? How would a straight convention be prejudice and a gay convention not? How do you decide which group specific meeting is racist/prejudice and which is not? Why is there a different standard being put one some groups over others?? Equal rights is exactly that, EQUAL rights. If it’s ok to have a channel only for black movies and a month only for black history, then it should also be ok to have a channel only for white people and a month only for white history. And if you want to make the argument about what is “pointless” and what isn’t, and you say that a gay convention that includes straight people is not pointless when that’s pretty much exactly the same as a normal convention since it’s for gay and straight people as well, I mean, you’re picking and choosing what you think it seems cool to support instead of just erasing any double-standard from your brain and applying the SAME STANDARD to all groups EQUALLY… You can’t say it’s ok to have a gay convention and then go on to say it’s not ok to have a white or asian convention, you can’t pick and choose, either it’s equal or it’s not. Racism is just prejudice based on race, it’s no different than being prejudice based on sexual orientation or prejudice based on religion, height, gender, etc… I mean, seriously, you keep contradicting yourself, like your earlier comment about how boring uniformity is… Well, if they have a convention that’s mainly just for gay people, I mean, isn’t that uniformity in sexual orientation??? While a normal convention does’t focus on either, so technically that is more diverse??
@Ken J
A black convention has the potential to be equally racist, that doesn’t mean that a black-history-convention couldn’t be completely unprejudiced.
But that wasn’t my point, I’m not aiming to define the racist character of race-centered conventions.
You can have a black, white, brown or green-blue chequered convention if you like, it being pointless from someone’s point of view is not an adequate argument.
It being racist however is, but that is an entirely different attribute that has to be evaluated separately. As I said, it can still be open-minded and unprejudiced.
I don’t pick and chose right here righ now, that’s something that has to be done on a case by case basis.
Intolerance or actual malice are the only things I myself find unacceptable, anything else is none of my business.
But this whole argument is OFF TOPIC and that’s why I didn’t follow it further.
Should have known better than bringing up racism, never a good idea in a discussion, just like hitler or communism.
My only real point is this:
If there is no actual negative side-effect to people coming together in one place, if there is no perceivable “threat” whatsoever, there is no reason to criticise the gathering, no matter how pointless you or me deem it to be. These people invest their money and their time, as it is their right to do. And if EA feels like backing them for whatever reasons, so be it, it’s teir money.
The “point” of gaymercon and major differentiating factor compared to other game conventions would most likely be that the percentage of homosexual participants is higher.
Some of them seem to like the idea, so there is demand. And as long as the whole meeting doesn’t preach intolerance and hatred towards people of different orientation, you have absolutely no legitimate grounds for criticism.
@doc
I don’t think you fully understand the point of all of my comments. I never said to NOT ALLOW them to do this or that everyone should just stop trying to set these things up. I’m merely expressing that I don’t personally understand why some groups would want to segregate themselves from everyone else. That’s all I’m saying, I am a very open-minded person and for me it would be annoying if something was way too limited in any way…
Well it seems like you had an encounter with mankind’s most troublesome phenomenon.
Sometimes, some things don’t appear to you like they appear to others.
That’s why maximum tolerance (in the framework of law and human rights) is the only way to go about these things.
Unless you prefer to follow human instinct to destroy what you don’t understand of course.
Seems to come back into style these days…
I give up lol
@doc
Wow, there’s really no way of making you understand anything is there? I’m not saying anything against any group, the thing I don’t understand is why they want segregation, not why they are the way they are, I don’t want to “destroy” anything, you think you’re being some “champion” of equality, but actually, compared to me, you have it completely backward…
You know what doc, this is getting tiresome, I explain it, you misunderstand it and respond as if I’m being a bigot and you’re the champion of human rights stepping in to “correct” me, I explain it again, in simpler terms, you misunderstand it again, etc. etc. Just forget about it, this isn’t worth my time. Go ahead and get the last word, I honestly don’t care anymore, lol.
@Ken J
Welcome to the internet buddy.
By the rules of the internet I am thereby the winner.
…or something.
Wow, lots of good responses.
And to one post, this has nothing, nothing to do with gay marriage or gay rights or anything.
One all-inclusive event not trying to draw attention national and often personal debates is preferable. at least imo.
I’d like to think we could all show up, just as I do at work every day and we respectively get along. We’re not promoting an agenda.
Within the event they can have all of the special teams they want.
We can have gay, christian, white, black, asian, govt. workers, NY people, and all kinds of sub-groups… just like high school.. In the end, we’re not there for any of that, but for the game.
I think it’s more of a community building foray than anything else. A place for gay people to meet other (probably) gay people who are interested in games, not a place for gamers to meet other gamers who may or may not be gay.
And by attaching inclusiveness and the atmosphere of a recreational convention to the gay community, no doubt the organizers are hoping to break down or help undermine some of the stigmas attributed to gay people in society; particularly characterizations such as flamboyance, effeminacy, and “butch-ness”.
Overall, I’m happy to see this outreach happen.
Even if EA has pledged to support it.