Home Gaming GaymerX2 launches fundraiser for LGBTQ con

GaymerX2 launches fundraiser for LGBTQ con

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A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for GaymerX2 2014; a LGBTQ gamer friendly convention where issues within the community are discussed, while also having all the fun convention stuff.

Their goal is $10,000 (USD) which they are well on their way to achieving that goal with 32 days to go.

The convention will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco for three days, from July 11th to the 13th. The event will have panels and talks similar to the one linked below from last year’s GaymerX. GamerX2 has a similar goal of a LGBTQ friendly convention where diversity is celebrated.


Last year they had an interesting panel with EA reps and developers talking about LGBT inclusive games. It’s worth a listen as they all seem like level headed people who aren’t blinded by their own personal agendas, which is nice to see. They discuss a lot of the ideas and problems that comes with making a game LBGT inclusive, from not making sexually diverse or ambiguous characters token, to AAA developers making money off it: Not having a character defined entirely by their sexuality.

As someone who has people in my life that I care about affected by similar issues, I care a lot about this cause. Sometimes I am one to scoff at efforts like this, sometimes doubting the efficacy of such events or efforts. But there’s no harm in getting people together to discuss in an environment where they won’t be shot down for thinking either way.

Last Updated: February 20, 2014

39 Comments

  1. May I say something and I know it’s going to sound like I don’t care?

    I don’t care whether you are of preference X, Y or Klingon.

    A gamer is a gamer and I don’t think there needs to be a distinction or label on what kind of gamer you are.

    It’s not that I don’t care. I do. I find it wrong that those of different choices to my own or others often get shot down in many communities. I think it’s wrong to do that.

    But I sometimes wonder if drawing more attention to it by making conventions focused around a specific group doesn’t sometimes do more harm than good?

    Reply

    • RinceandLeSIGH

      February 20, 2014 at 10:27

      Sorry, as a Vulcan I DO care if you are a Klingon *runs

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 20, 2014 at 10:35

        That’s space racist!

        Reply

        • RinceandLeSIGH

          February 20, 2014 at 10:37

          Perhaps, but as I just Vulcan death gripped you no one minds…

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 20, 2014 at 10:39

            I mind. Don’t touch what you can’t excite 😛

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            February 20, 2014 at 10:44

            You can’t be Vulcan, you have no logic!

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 20, 2014 at 10:46

            Did you know Gingers are immune to Vulcan mind probes? A Vulcan who tries that on a ginger dies instantly

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            February 20, 2014 at 10:47

            Ahhh, the no soul thing methinks

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 20, 2014 at 11:25

            Dude of course gingers have souls! All those freckles are the souls of those they stole from others

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 10:39

        lol

        Reply

    • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

      February 20, 2014 at 10:29

      You said precisely what I wanted to say.

      This is just like the console VS PC thing. We all like games. Let’s just all be friends <3

      I don't care who you are, where you come from, what colour you are, what your mating preferences are or anything really. Just be a nice person and enjoy the games!

      Reply

      • Rags

        February 20, 2014 at 10:40

        Whatever peasant.

        Reply

        • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

          February 20, 2014 at 10:42

          lol! for the record I am a PC gamer more than a console gamer since I own PC, WiiU and PS3. I rarely touch my consoles =/

          Also work in linux. So I am at least middle class 😛

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 20, 2014 at 10:44

            That first sentence’s ending sounded so so so wrong…

          • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

            February 20, 2014 at 10:49

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 20, 2014 at 10:44

            Linux 🙁 Take a bath hippy!

          • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

            February 20, 2014 at 10:50

            lol! Yeah people who can’t do CLI linux normally tends to look down on the people that run all the major servers to make sure all the lower end stuff runs properly! OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! 😛

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 20, 2014 at 10:59

            Red Hat you say…

          • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

            February 20, 2014 at 11:00

            Hahahaha! Actually I have only rarely worked on RedHat. It is a pretty good place to get certs though. I mainly work on Ubuntu like most people really…

          • VampyreSquirrel

            February 20, 2014 at 11:07

            We work on CentOS, which is a RedHat, Debian hybrid… and has been further modified for our uses.

        • Admiral Chief in Vegas

          February 20, 2014 at 10:44

          LOOOL

          Reply

    • Rags

      February 20, 2014 at 10:33

      Yeah it sounds like that feminist KS debacle all over again. Making money from a political niche scene where good spirited folk from the community will throw money at anything to show they don’t discriminate against anyone.

      And its not great victory if a developer speaks about these issues at such an event. It’s preaching to the choir.

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      February 20, 2014 at 10:44

      Good thing you said Klingon, else I would have had your spleen P’Tok!

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 10:44

        Hahahahahahahaha

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      February 20, 2014 at 10:56

      I think it depends on the aims of the convention.

      If it’s about getting like-minded people together to discuss themes of common interest then why would it do any harm? It’s no different from any other convention for a particular topic.

      If it’s about having a pity party, then yes, harm.

      Reply

    • azure

      February 20, 2014 at 11:05

      It’s easy to think this way… Have you ever played games online? Most common phrases > FAG – THATS GEY? When that stops… Then people will stop with these events… You will never understand how these “little” things do affect gay peeps… 🙂 myself include…

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief in Vegas

        February 20, 2014 at 11:12

        I avoid playing online games like that where the insults are flying.

        Jam with mates, or jam Planetside 2, there is so many people playing that you barely notice any comments, and I think since I started jamming that I’ve only read the word gay (not even fag) once.

        I’ve been playing that for more than 6months

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          February 20, 2014 at 11:28

          I guess it depends on the game. I seen hardly anything while playing Loadout. There was the one Spanish guy mumbling about bitches & who knows what the Russian was saying, but otherwise the only complaining I’ve seen was one random guy moaning about poor matchmaking because he got owned. I’m fairly impressed, online isn’t so bad after all.

          Excluding L4D2 of course, those guys are a bunch of dicks.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            February 20, 2014 at 11:31

            Except Zoe, fun to lick her

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 11:27

        and when it’s said in the game one needs to take the appropriate steps of reporting said player.

        Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 12:04

        And yeah I’ve played online. I do often. The people I choose to associate myself with are those that don’t spew nonsense and hate. Stopping the hate is about having the players take action within the games.

        Not by separating themselves in to groups outside of the games

        Reply

    • Stephen Snook

      February 20, 2014 at 11:15

      I have the same issues, but I think that it’s harder than it seems to be outspoken and accepting about it when no one talks about it, even if it’s with good intention.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 11:46

        True. There are ways and means though. Create groups in games. On Steam. Whatever platform you are using.

        Create an all LGBT guild in your fav MMO. That kinda thing.

        Yes you are going to be ridiculed. Just like if I had to create an all Christian group.

        But the vast majority of gamers are good people and won’t tolerate that kinda behavior and those that make fun of these people will eventually be shunned and shut out from the community.

        Gamers generally stand together anyway. Making conventions just for a specific group is pretty much fencing those people off. Making them appear separate from the games because it’s physically separating them

        Reply

  2. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    February 20, 2014 at 10:47

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      February 20, 2014 at 10:48

      YES, I saw that the other day, and I totally agree!

      Reply

    • azure

      February 20, 2014 at 11:09

      Bullshit… Have you ever been picked on, attacked or criticised for what you are? Until you have then don’t judge others… 🙂

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        February 20, 2014 at 11:33

        Actually yes. So please don’t tell me bullshit. Instead try to understand that I speak from my own experiences. Yeah I may not be gay or bi. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have things that I get attacked for on a daily basis.

        Please don’t think I am attacking these people for trying to do this. You are way too quick to jump on the high horse here mate.

        I believe there are far better ways to deal with the way people of other preferences get treated. But raising money to throw a convention based around that specific group being the focus is not the way. That’s degrading and doesn’t help anyone because it enforces the view that the LGBT community should be separate from the rest. That is wrong and not at all what should be being done.

        I have no issues with the LGBT community. They are who they are and that’s that. End of story. It doesn’t make them freaks or different.

        They are gamers. I will jam games with them any time. Not only when there is a convention going on

        Reply

      • Rags

        February 20, 2014 at 11:36

        That picture undermines the very premise people use to judge others. That is by a misguided sense of pride in things people had had no hand in choosing.

        Reply

  3. Scratch17

    February 20, 2014 at 13:51

    I like what GaymerX is doing; raising awareness of alternate sexualities in the industry, making a safe space for people to talk about sexuality issues and norms without some asshole yelling “That’s gay!” or “Preachy!” from the back row. All that stuff is nice and I applaud the people and attendees for it.

    But I have to agree with @LlewellynCrossley:disqus . I had this discussion with my room mates the other day. The whole ‘Ellen Page coming out as gay, oh so brave’ thing is great, but should it really be such a shocking or rare thing in this day and age? I think all this drawing attention is more like a way to ‘desensitize’ people to the shocking reality that not every dude likes girls and vice versa. These kinds of parades and specialized shows will start to appear less frequently when they are no longer seen as strange or other. When, and only when, the average person reacts to someone mentioning that they’re gay with the same acceptance as someone telling you their natural hair colour is blonde, THEN these things will no longer be needed.

    We’re all people, in this case all gamers. You’re bi, white, gay, straight, black, ginger, lesbian, queer, Indian, that’s all cool. You play games, we have something to talk about. Shut up, get us some drinks and grab a controller.

    Reply

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