video games

GaymerX: Where Games Go to Become Fabulous

October 3, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

This week, GaymerX announced the launch of GaymerX2, their second annual event. GaymerX is an LGBT focused gaming convention that emphasizes inclusivity in the gaming community. Their motto is, “Everyone Games.”

(Image via GaymerConnect)

They lived up to their motto this year at their inaugural event in August. All types of people were there to play games, talk about games, have their voices heard and….party. There were people of all genders, sexual orientations (it’s for straight people too!), and cultures in attendance. GaymerX was the first convention of it’s kind, and all I can say is: It’s about time.

For their first year, they did an amazing job of holding things together. The venue (the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco’s Japantown), was rather small. Which can be expected, since they expected a much smaller number of people to attend. Apparently, the need for a safe space to be yourself (as a gamer, and as a member of the LGBT community) was greater than expected.

Even with the small venue and a few technical difficulties here and there, the convention was definitely a success (and a triumph, as Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS in the Portal games, sang at the closing of the con). There were no complaints from the hotel, and security only reported one minor incident over the course of the event. This was no surprise for those who spent time talking to the exhibitors, panelists, attendees and staff. Everyone was polite, happy, helpful, and excited to be there; the convention oozed positivity. So much so that one man proposed to his boyfriend with the help of Ellen McLain singing in the voice of GLaDOS.

(Image via Have a Gay Day)

Next year, the event will be even better. It will be held July 11-13 at the Intercontinental San Francisco. They’ve upgraded from 2 days to 3, and the hotel is much larger with more room for games, panels, and exhibitors. Oh, and for the drinking and the concert. Can’t forget those!

(Image via GaymerConnect)

Another upgrade provided for next year will be that each attendee’s badge will include their preferred gender pronoun on it. This year, many people brought up the fact that this was the first time they were at a con where people asked them what their preferred pronouns were. Next year, it’ll be right on the badge.

Why is this important? In the mainstream world, we all are fit into these male and female boxes. In reality, it sometimes doesn’t work that way. Even in the LGBT community, we forget that sometimes, people don’t fit into those boxes. We see someone who looks female and assume they are, but when you ask them…they may go by male pronouns or something you’ve never even heard of. By giving others the choice to identify the way they’d like to, it helps create a safe space where people are empowered to be who they are.

That brings me to why I’m even talking about this. People who are different from the norm, whether it be that they’re gay, black, Latino, handicapped, female, or mentally ill (that list is not all inclusive, there are many more), need to feel represented and accepted in society. I cannot stress how important it is for them to have a safe space to be who they are and enjoy what they love.

(Image via Kegan Marling)

Safe spaces provide us the capacity to be authentic and thrive. It’s important in the therapeutic process, as well as in life. It is a place to feel normal, to connect with others, and to heal. This is exactly what GaymerX does.

The other thing that makes a convention like this so empowering is the ability to find others who you can relate to. It creates a community where you can feel normal and feel like you’re not weird. GaymerX created GaymerConnect for that reason, before the first con even started. It’s an online community to talk to others about games and other geeky things, as well as to find those who like the same games as you so you can play together! You can even level up and build your stats. It’s awesome.

GaymerX is also where I found out about Extra-Life, which is only a month away! (I will always make a shameless plug to help the kids, donations are always welcome!)

Basically, GaymerX was awesome, and I was blown away at how amazing the people were, and the vibe I got from the convention. Next year looks to be even better, and I can’t wait. Who knows, maybe even we can get a mental health panel going?

Oh, and remember the couple who got engaged this year? Yeah…they’re getting married at GaymerX2, and everyone’s invited!

(Image via GaymerConnect on Facebook)

Born This Way: The Social History of Video Games

September 30, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Games have long been a way of socializing. Playing tag or hide and go seek as children, spin the bottle or truth or dare as teenagers, and games of charades or poker as adults are all ways we have come together as people to play. They’re also many of the ways we’ve learned to co-exist and interact with others.

Games in general bring people together for a common cause or goal. We feel safe to be ourselves within the rules of the game, and become more open to making friends by working towards the game objective. Games help us learn to work together with others as well as to discern what others are thinking, which are the building blocks to empathy.

(Image via WebMD)

A natural progression of games as a socialization tool leads us to video games.

When doing some research on the web for this post, I found many articles about video games and socialization. Almost all of them covered the stereotypical image of a gamer locked alone in their room with a controller in hand, and how that image has changed due to games becoming more social. I have a different take on this topic: Video games were meant to be social from the beginning.

Anyone remember when consoles came with two controllers?

(Image via All Gen Gamers)

Yeah, those were the days. When systems like the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis came with two controllers, it was like we were expected to play with other people. It seems like the games from that era were also made to be simple to play with others. Just hit start to jump in and off you go!

Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Toejam and Earl, the list goes on. All of these games were so simple to play with your friends and family, because it was easy to join in and the majority of games had multiplayer options.

Some of my fondest memories are of coming home after school with my best friend and playing Mario Kart until my mom came home and said it was time for dinner. Others include playing Jeopardy Junior on the NES with my mom (…and the whole family, who always jumped in when I took too long to type in the answer).

Even single player games like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time became social, because my entire group of friends would come over to play. When one of us couldn’t figure out a puzzle or had a hard time with a platforming piece, we would all jump in to help.

(Image via Pop Give)

Ocarina of Time came out on one of the first systems to only have one controller included. While my friends and I made it a social experience, it seems as though around this time many more games were made to be for a single player. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of multiplayer games at the time too, but in order to play with others, you had to spend more money on another controller, and there were so many appealing single player games. The big games for me around that time were Legend of Zelda for Nintendo 64 and Final Fantasy VII for Playstation, for example.

This is where I believe the loner stereotype started to take shape. Graphics became better, games could be longer, and story could have more depth. RPGs like the Final Fantasy series would be compared in reviews by the number of hours of gameplay. With the price of games going up, I also think people wanted to make sure they were getting their money’s worth when they purchased a title.

With longer single player games that were high quality, it’s no wonder more people were sitting in their rooms alone with a controller to keep them company. They had to in order to get through the stories.

(Image via PsyPost)

When Xbox and Playstation 2 were coming out, everyone was looking at the internet as the way of socialization. Those consoles were the first to have internet as a way of playing with others, although for PS2, you needed to purchase their broadband device (which had very few games that were compatible with it) and Xbox required a paid Xbox Live membership (which is still required to this day).

The next generation, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, shows the current evolution of how playing with others works.

Sony decided that because it was behind the times with internet play, they would make it free for their gamers. This cut the barrier that Xbox had created with the pay for online play service, Xbox Live. They also made it possible to connect up to 7 controllers to the system (although who is gonna buy 6 more controllers?).

For Xbox 360 Microsoft kept things pretty much the same with their Xbox Live service, but it seems as though because of the pay for play service, a lot of people play online on Xbox. Most of those I’ve talked to with a PS3 don’t play online, but the Xbox players do. Many because they want to get their money’s worth.

For both of these systems (but in my honest opinion, more so with the Xbox) it can be difficult to figure out how to play together. I bought my fiance an Xbox for her birthday, and she doesn’t want to buy an Xbox Live membership. We tried to figure out how to play Halo 4 with each other…and it took forever. It seems as though the days of hanging out with friends at home and playing together are gone. Almost everything has been made easy to do online, but offline….good luck.

She and my roommate were looking for a game to play together yesterday…and they spent 15 minutes looking for something and gave up. You guys…it is ridiculous the number of games we have in our apartment, and they could not find a single one to play together. The days of picking up 2 controllers and hitting start to play together are gone.

Nintendo went a whole different direction with the Wii. You can play online with friends, but the best part is the ability to play and be active with friends in your own living room. Granted, you have to buy a bunch of controllers for many games, but some games let you take turns with your friends using just one controller. Nintendo decided that in person socialization was the way to go. Many game developers have created party games for the Wii to make it central to any gathering.

(Image via The Sun)

I’m not saying that Microsoft and Sony have ruined games as a means of socializing. Xbox and PS3 have some awesome social games, like Rock Band and Buzz, both designed for a larger group of people to play together and enjoy, even if they aren’t the ones playing the game.

What I’m saying is that console gaming has evolved. From a very social activity, to a less social activity, to a more social activity that is difficult to do in home, but awesome for over the net.

Some of the changes in gaming over the years have led to the image of the geeky guy locked in his dark bedroom, but we’re moving back toward a social way of being as gamers.

Giving geeky loner guy a headset gives him the capability of meeting others with his interests, and making new friends. Anonymity gives us more confidence because no one can see our face and we can always change our name (which can have negative results as well, a topic for another day).

As someone who plays games with friends online on her laptop, I get how the interconnectedness of being online feels awesome. It’s easy to keep track of friends, what they’re playing, and talk to people you otherwise might lose contact with.

I just wish it was easier to play with my friends in my own living room.

(Or at least easier to play capture the flag co-op with my fiance…competitive play could ruin my relationship…)

(Image via Wired)

Countdown to Identity Crisis

September 12, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

As I listened to my professor lecture on human development, I had flashes back to different panels and discussions I’d heard at conventions. Everything seemed to click, and I had an “aha!” moment.

She was lecturing on Erikson’s stages of development, and came to the stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion. Essentially, during adolescence we all come to a place where we are figuring out who we are and how we fit into the world. If we don’t figure it out, or at least have some grasp on who we want to become, role confusion (also called an identity crisis) can arise and cause problems throughout life (if they are never resolved).

So how do I get from listening to teenage issues to thinking about the conventions I went to?

What my professor said that really got my mind going was that role confusion can happen without anything being wrong with the individual. Finding your identity also has to do with how you fit into society and who society expects you to be. So if you don’t find yourself represented in society somehow, you have a hard time figuring out how you fit into the world and then end up with an identity crisis on your hands!

That brought me back to the Gays in Comics panel at San Diego Comic Con. During the panel, many of the panelists mentioned that gays (and people of color…and women…) were underrepresented in comics. That they felt like there was no one they could look up to in comic books and say “They’re like me!”

During the Q&A session, a guy came up and said that he was new to comics, and said that he thought that there was more diversity in comics today. The panelists’ responses? “We can tell you’re new to comics!” It was lighthearted though, and they admitted things were changing, but that they needed to continue to change.

(Image via Comics Beat)

After that panel, I remember thinking “Okay, I get that there aren’t enough gay/women/people of color in comics (or in media in general), but to say that you can’t see yourself in any of the characters out there is a bit much.” I find ways to relate to characters I love whether they are male or female, gay or straight, young or old, blond or redhead, good or evil. There is something to relate to in their experience of the world. This being said, it does make it easier to relate to a character when they look like you or have a similar culture or background as you. It also feels good to feel acknowledged and seen.

Then I remembered how at GaymerX, everyone was talking about how safe and inclusive it felt to be in a hotel conference area filled with people like them who had the same interests. One of the big topics was how the video game industry tends to ignore gays and focus on their “straight white male” demographic. It came up at multiple panels, and the discussion usually led to how women are also ignored, or if they are represented, they are overly sexualized to appeal to men. Women are rarely given a lead role, and queer characters are even more rarely written into games at all.

While I was browsing the interwebs, I found out that Assassin’s Creed is launching a new game for consoles with a woman of color as the lead role! This is amazing. From what I’ve read, originally it was just going to be a side piece of DLC (downloadable content), but the audience spoke and now they are creating a full game coming out next year.

(Image via Giant Bomb)

When the people (and their wallets) speak, the companies will listen.

Bringing it all back to the development concept: I wonder, if any given minority were represented more in comics, games and other media (much of which adolescents are glued to) would they be less likely to have issues later on in life? Would it give them more confidence in who they are? Make them feel more secure and valued? Help them find their role in society? It’s something to consider.

Something else to consider is an important topic brought up at both conventions. Things have been moving forward. It is exciting that there is a female lead (who is also bi-racial and not scantily clad!) in Assassin’s Creed. It’s exciting that Assassin’s Creed III had a Native American lead. It’s exciting that Batwoman (who is a lesbian) has her own comic book. It’s exciting that Kevin Keller (who is gay) went into the military and got married. While all these things are true, they’re very rare (and it took me a while to think of a few of them).

(Image via Geek Style Guide)

While these things are exciting, they shouldn’t be. In geek culture, a culture that traditionally has been looked down on by others in society, these milestones should just be another day in the life. When things like this aren’t exciting anymore, that’s when we know things have changed.

Media is often how we explore societal themes in the world around us. When there is a diverse population represented across a variety of roles, it will be much easier for us to identify with the characters in our media of choice. When it’s easier for people to identify with a greater diversity of roles in society as represented in media, it’s easier for to understand how society views us in relation to how we view ourselves. Identity crisis averted!

(Being a teenager will probably still suck…just less so!)