This is fantastic, and was exactly the kind of project I wanted to start up with the free time that I don’t have. GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is a great organization that seeks to increase positive awareness of LGBT issues in the media. I’ve been thinking about the need to have something similar to this in virtual worlds, since anonymous interaction between humans is the fundamental driver of virtual communities and LGBT people are often on the receiving end of bashing in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. GLAAD is launching a project that addresses homophobia in virtual spaces.
GLAAD will also be convening a groundbreaking panel discussion in Silicon Valley on July 18, 2009, that will spotlight the issue of homophobia in virtual communities and include the perspectives of both gaming companies and LGBT gamers. Confirmed panelists include representatives from XBox Live, Electronic Arts, Inc., Linden Labs, the Electronic Software Association, and GayGamer.net. For more information on the panel event and to RSVP, please visit: www.glaad.org/digitalevent .
It’s great to see EA, XBL and Linden Lab participating in this. I’d love to be a part of a panel of this nature. You can RSVP for this free panel here, if you’re close enough to San Francisco to attend. Wish I was a bit closer…
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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GLAAD consulted me to be involved in their initial kick-off conference call so they could get the views of gamers and community members about LGBT issues, and I'm happy I could give them some ideas and perspectives they could use to help formulate their goals for the project. One of the things I pushed for was the need for GLAAD to drive this project not just with company executives, but with community management professionals in virtual spaces. Hopefully I will get to contribute more to the project. They've been quite open so far about soliciting views from gamers to help them on this.