Happy Monday Gamers, I think I've just about recovered from Guildford.Games fest on Friday. What a day!! Being able to catch-up (even if briefly) with the likes of Andy Coley, Holly Blockley (CertIHR), Tim Browning, Oli Lavender, Pascal Gane and Alex Camm was a pleasure. Meeting Jon Torrens, John Stopforth, CertEd and Nicola Head in the flesh for the first time too. I was present at a number of the panels that were set up through the day and I want to speak about one of them specifically. Lauren Kaye hosted a #diversityandinclusion / #EDI panel with Dom Shaw, Naveen Yadav and Elizabeth P., it was FANTASTIC!! 😍 Each of the speakers stories were equally inspiring and filled with challenges. It was quite emotional how each of them overcome their individual barriers, and I took a lot away from the almost 60 minutes back and forth. Including....... How the room was half empty 😪 In comparison to the panel about #AI where it was standing room only, it got me thinking 🤔 With so many members of the #gamescommunity in some way shape or form also a marginalised person, why was that room not filled with industry leaders, prepared to listen and understand how they can change their studios for the better? We already know that an inclusive team, with diverse set of people and backgrounds, make better more commercially viable games, it's a fact. Players want accessibility, players want options when it comes to characters and narratives, players want EDI friendly games. In 2024, it should not still be the case that a brave few, with their heads above the parapet, are asking nicely to be included, nor should they have to break down doors or shatter glass ceilings, the door should be left wide open with a welcome mat. Let's use the comment section for debate/solutions, and hope that next year, an EDI panel can tell their stories to an auditorium!!
Daisy-may Hutton
6mo
I believe we had the AI talk straight after the Transferable skills one that I did and the room was becoming flooded even before we finished! It's a shame to hear though that the Diversity and Inclusion panel didn't have as much footfall, I would have definitely gone to that talk! I'm not sure what could happen to change that, is it because people feel it's not as relevant as AI ? Is it perhaps a hard subject for people to understand because it can be difficult to implement change? Well the more we talk about it the better! Let's get that room filled to the brim next year!
Alex Camm
6mo
Great to meet you Darren Butler. Beers pending! 🍻
Community Manager | Voice Actor | Writer
6moThank you so much for coming by the panel! For my two cents, taking strides to uplift diverse and/or underrepresented folks has been a fraught battle for so long, and one so many can perceive as a threat (see certain audiences and sub-demographics blanching at 'woke' games daring to have a female character, much less anything actually subversive or new, so studios play it increasingly safe and give us more of the same they've always published) that it's losing some of its impact in the development sphere. So much is so loud, all the time, about AI - if studios will use it, if it will replace level designers, voice actors, writers, everything - that there's no room in anyone's heads (willingly or not) to consider things like fair equity in hiring or dev processes or even content. If even the most represented communities are fearful of their job being taken, then "what is the point" in the same discussion being made around minority peoples, who may or may not even stand a chance. It's deeply disheartening, but if making noise around elevating Disability, Gender, Sexuality, Race leads to a good deal of abuse from certain audiences, it seems much easier for large portions of the industry to latch onto the 'safer' topics of AI.