GDC 2019: “How Do We Make People Feel Welcome?”

Calls for diversity, inclusivity, and workers’ rights point to changes in game development culture

March 21, 2019

“As we all gather here, I want to remind everyone how important the messages we send tonight are. These messages are spoken through the nominations, the winners, the games we make, the games we play, and the cultures that we celebrate. If we’re brave enough to share our hopes and fears in what we create, it will open the floodgates for others. None of us do this alone.”*

These were some of the opening words spoken (and signed) at last night’s Independent Games Festival Awards show, part of the 2019 Game Developers Conference. It’s a theme that appears to be present throughout GDC. This year, those calling for greater diversity, empathy, representation, and workers’ rights aren’t speaking in hushed tones outside the Moscone Center. They’re standing on stages and being met with uninhibited cheers.

Here are titles of just a few of the roughly 60 panels on the GDC schedule that overtly set out to address inclusivity in some form:

• Men are From Earth, Women are From Earth: Understanding Key Leadership Principles
• Women/Marginalized Genders in Game Audio Roundtable Day 1: Navigating the Workplace
• Now You See Me: Representation as Innovation
• Unionizing the Game Industry Roundtable: Next Steps and How Do We Get There?
• Discover Your Chutzpah Roundtable: A Discussion on Jewish Life in the Industry
• What to Do When “Toxic Gamer Culture” Enters the Classroom
• How to Represent Mental Illness in Games
• Black Developers Still Matter Roundtable: Black to the Future

While 60 might not sound like much relative to the convention’s 794 total panels, it’s clear that the world’s industry professionals are taking steps to make gender equity and cultural awareness as much a part of game creation as rendering techniques and the best practices for monetizing microtransactions.

According to a survey conducted by the Independent Game Developers Association, 78% of the industry is male. The percentage of male speakers at events like GDC is even higher. In response, the IGDA Foundation announced the Speaker Diversity Initiative last August. This initiative consists of the Speaker Diversity Network, which seeks to provide conferences with a diverse talent pool that might otherwise be overlooked, and the Speaker Diversity Grant, which makes it possible for economically limited speakers to attend these events. There are 28 panels presented by IGDA on topics of advocacy this year.

Even outside of panels, GDC organizers are offering childcare, optional pronoun tags, and gender-neutral bathrooms.

Social justice remained a hot issue at the IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards long past the opening remarks. IGF host Meg Jaynath pulled no punches. Taking the stage with a bold “UNION NOW” pin on her spaghetti strap, she immediately remarked that in 2015, while the game development community was celebrating her work on 80 Days, which she described as “anti-colonialist, anti-racist, unabashedly feminist, pointedly diverse, and, well, written by an Indian woman,” the world was embroiled in GamerGate. She then directly linked GamerGate to this weekend’s terrorist attack at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“If we don’t utterly and vocally and wholly reject these people — these Nazis and fascists and white supremacists — then we are inviting them in,” Jaynath said. “If we make room for them, then there is no room for anyone else. What we represent here tonight must stand in opposition to them.”

She also brought up health problems she developed as a result of overwork in game development. She implied that free healthcare is necessary for worker safety, and added that “the price of passion is exploitation.”

“How do we make people feel welcome?” she asked.

Although most of the award winners stuck to simple thank-yous in their acceptance speeches, the Johannesburg-based team behind after HOURS (winner of Best Student Game) spoke until the music drove them off the stage. Programmer Tim Flusk cheered for people of color and thanked the “struggle heroes” while proclaiming, “Apartheid was shit!”

Bahiyya Khan, the team’s designer/writer/actor/director, used the stage time to say, “I’ve never, ever seen an award show where a Muslim person won, and I always thought, as an act of rebellion, I’d say, ‘Allāhu Akbar!’”

Flusk also got in a quick, “Unionize! You deserve it!” before the group returned to their seats.

Like Jaynath, GDCA host Tim Schafer started his portion of the show with a condemnation of the Christchurch attack and a call for solidarity with all Muslims.

“I would like to say something that I hope — uh, I hope this isn’t controversial, but fuck white supremacists,” Schafer said to huge applause.

The Double Fine president and CEO made calls for unionization throughout the night, starting with a few stinging barbs directed squarely at Activision management, calling out the company’s president by name:

“…no matter how much you spent, you’re gonna feel like you overpaid,” Schafer joked about the quality of his hosting. “Speaking of overpaid, Bobby Kottick…is not here tonight. But you are all here. I’ve been told over 4,000 of you are here. It would take five years of record profits for Bobby to fire all of you.”

Later in the evening, Schafer remarked that while he’s not anti-union, he doesn’t think they’re necessary. “No one here is union,” he said as his spotlight, operated by members of the Local 16 IATSE, shut down. To complete the gag, Schafer’s Teleprompter began to loop the word, “UNION! UNION! UNION! UNION!”

Schafer ended the show decked out in an IATSE shirt and hat.

What does all of this mean for the broader business and culture of games? While most speakers at GDC still choose to avoid making overt political statements, it’s clear that social issues are a significant part of the culture surrounding game development.

When the diverse people who make games get together, they start to think about people and diversity.

Who’da guessed?

The speaker who opened the IGF Awards was not introduced by name. At the time of publication, IGF has not responded to a request for the speaker’s identity, probably because it’s the middle of the night. I’m working on it. This story will be updated with proper attribution of the quote as soon as possible.

Jake Spencer is another day older and deeper in debt. You can listen to him talk about the joy of sadness on Of Horse: A BoJack Horseman Fan Cast. He wishes he knew the way out of Twitter. His hobbies include buying the world a Coke and singing in perfect harmony.