Acid for Blood

Dragon Age: The Calling

Dragon Age: The Calling, by David Gaider, is the second prequel novel set before the events that take place in the game, Dragon Age: Origins. Like the first novel, The Calling again follows Maric Theirin, this time years after the events of Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne. Maric is now King of Ferelden. One day he receives a visit from the Grey Wardens, who return to the country after the order was exiled for two hundred years. They come seeking his help in navigating The Deep Roads, which Maric traversed all those years ago. They want to recover one of their number who has been corrupted and has allied with the enemy they were formed to destroy. This man holds a secret that the Darkspawn want, and it could start a new Blight. Dun dun dun!

This novel is particularly interesting because it introduces a young Duncan, a newly drafted Grey Warden. In Dragon Age: Origins, Duncan is the highest ranking Grey Warden in Ferelden, and the person who recruits your player character into the order. A bulk of the novel is told from his perspective. Young Duncan is quite different from the older, wiser, battle-hardened warrior in Dragon Age: Origins, so it was a treat to learn about his background and how he became a Grey Warden.

One of the things I really liked about this novel is that there are a few women who play major roles. In The Stolen Throne, there were two women who had major roles, and one of them didn't come in until the second half. In The Calling, there are more women present from the get-go, and they are part of the main adventuring group. One is a front-line warrior, another a badass hand-to-hand combat fighter, and the last, a mage—and in the Dragon Age world, mages do both high damage offensive spells and healing spells. Having said that, men still outnumbered women in the party: three women, five men. I would have liked it to have been less imbalanced.

Another thing I liked about The Calling is that it features an established, loving, romantic relationship between two men, portrayed in a positive light. The relationship is presented naturally, respectfully, and they are fully accepted by the other characters.

The Calling is focused more on other characters besides Maric, as there's a larger cast and we now have Duncan's perspective. As with a lot of stories with big casts, I'm left wanting to find out more about the secondary characters, and I got a bit of what I wanted in the second half of the book. Still, I would have liked to have learned more about the secondary characters.

Again, like the other novel, the material is quite dark. It's filled with more bitterness, sadness, and depressing shit than the previous one. All of the characters in the Dragon Age world are deeply flawed in some way, and sometimes those flaws have more impact on the world around them than others, and this story is no exception. Like Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, Dragon Age: The Calling would be appreciated most by avid Dragon Age fans. As this novel features the Grey Wardens, it's a bit more relevant to the Dragon Age games, and if you're interested in finding out more about the order, The Calling is one to check out.

Ada Lovelace Day: Women in the Games Industry

Ada Lovelace Day is a day set aside to recognise women in technology and in the sciences. Earlier, I posted interviews with two women who I wanted to give a small shout-out to today, Tracey John and Nicholle Young. The former already works in technology and games journalism and the latter seeks to enter the videogame development industry. I'd like to do another post, this time about all the women in game development I know of or have met, and the women who want to get into the industry. I know it seems like a bit of an easy out to write a post recognising many unspecific women, however my personal experience as both a member of the games industry and as a longtime observer of the industry, have led me to think about this for Ada Lovelace Day.

I have the good fortune of working at a company that, comparatively, has a large number of women filling its ranks. Nearly every single department—from design, to production, to web, to community, to business and administration, to writing, to quality assurance, to art—has at least one woman (if not more) working there. We have a number of women who are quite influential on the design side of our games. One of the clearest recent examples of that influence is in the design of the female charr (on the right), a feline-like playabe species in Guild Wars 2. Many women in the company (including me) felt quite strongly that female charr should not be vaguely cat-like humans that you attach breasts to. The result is the female of the charr species looking every bit as powerful and deadly as the male, but with a more feminine appearance (at least, feminine according to human standards). And thus, in this instance, we have avoided the "if it's female, just put breasts on it" approach to species design, an approach that is so personally aggravating in a great number of games. Fan reaction? Almost universally positive, with most fans using every superlative under the sun to describe the female charr design. Notably, many women have approached me personally, asking me to thank our developers for the way they designed the female charr.

Would the same thing happen in another company where there were fewer women? I'm not sure. I know that more diversity and more perspectives are better in game design. Game developers need to understand the perspectives of people who don't have the same lived experience as them, because not everyone who buys a game will be a straight, white male.

The fact that we have as many women as we do in game development is unusual amongst game companies, where women tend to be highly represented in business development, marketing, public relations, and administration, rather than in game development. Having said that, we as a company and as an industry are nowhere near as close to the proportionate number of women out there who actually play videogames in general, which is about 40% of gamers. There is still a very long way to go in terms of the percentage of women working in game development at large, in roles in which they're able to shape and influence game design.

This year, I attended the Game Developers Conference. I met many women game developers over the course of my week in San Francisco. Again, male game developers vastly outnumbered the number of women attending the conference. I had so many conversations with women game developers that week, and many of those conversations were discussions about sexism, inequality, discrimination, and hope. While many shared observations (and sometimes firsthand experiences) of sexism in the industry and rightfully griped about sexism in games and games marketing, all of the women I encountered were optimistic and hopeful for the future. There's no other field they'd rather be in, and all of them were passionate about their work and ambitions.

As I ruminate on the goals of Ada Lovelace Day, I realise that I am fortunate to have met a many women in game development and to have a number of women to look up to, both within the industry and aspiring to get into the industry, as colleagues, as friends, and as people I only know of from afar, but admire nonetheless. I respect them for their friendship, professional and personal, for their advice, for their opinions, for their constructive criticism, for their intelligence, for their senses of humour, and for their examples of excellence. So, this post is for all of the awesome women in the games industry. May you continue to inspire by being your fantastic selves!

This post is part of Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science. You can read more about Ada Lovelace Day at the website.

[This entry was cross-posted at The Border House]

Ada Lovelace Day: Interview with Tracey John

I've been reading Tracey John's work since her days at MTV Multiplayer. I recently met Tracey at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Tracey agreed to participate, despite her very busy post-GDC and pre-PAX East workload. So, a huge thank you to Tracey for setting aside some time for this interview!

Tracey John is a writer and journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. She has written feature articles about video games, technology, toys and geek culture at large for MTV News, The New York Post, NYLON Guys, ToyFare and Wizard. Her writing on the web can be found at Techland.com, Wired.com, Massively.com and many other sites. She currently is an editor at UGO.com covering tech, gaming, comics and toys.

Tell us a little about yourself. What is your personal background? 

I was born in New York City, raised near Tampa, Florida and am of Chinese descent. My parents were born in Beira, Mozambique where they grew up in a Cantonese- and Portuguese-speaking community before coming to the United States in the '70s. I have an identical twin sister, who is a talented and hard-working web and video producer for Logo Online.

What is your background in journalism?

I have a degree in Mass Media & Communication Studies from NYU. I wrote for my school paper and interned at CMJ New Music Monthly magazine and MTV News before becoming an online assistant producer at MTV.com. I later became an assistant music editor at MTV.com, where I once interviewed Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional) and made him walk out of an interview after I called him "emo."

Have you always wanted to be a tech and gaming journalist? How did you arrive at where you are right now?

Ever since college, I thought for sure I would work in the music industry or be a music writer. Though I was a gamer since childhood (mostly NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, Dreamcast and PC) writing about video games for a living had never ever occurred to me until one day, in 2006, the then-games editor of MTV.com heard I played World of Warcraft and brought me onto his team as an associate editor for the now-defunct games.mtv.com website.

Even then, I didn't really write about video games as much as produce packaged online video content. It wasn't until 2007, when Stephen Totilo was getting his MTV Multiplayer blog (at the time, a single-person affair) into full swing that I was welcomed to join and write about video games full-time. And from 2007 to 2009, I wrote and reported for MTV Multiplayer.com, learning as much as I could from Stephen and our then-San Francisco reporter Patrick Klepek. I am very proud of the work we did there together, and it was the most formative time in my learning the ins and outs of video game reporting.

After I left MTV last year, I became a freelance contributor to Wired's GameLife, AOL's Massively and Time Inc.'s Techland, and was fortunate enough to write a few pieces for the New York Post, Time Out New York and Discover magazine.

Finally, I started a full-time gig at the Hearst-owned UGO.com in January as the editor of "The Goods" section, which covers technology, video games, toys, and comics. I'm also a contributor to 1UP.com.

The tech and gaming fields are quite male-dominated. What are your experiences of writing about technology, gadgets, and games? Do you think you receive any special attention, positive or negative, because you're a woman?

Sure, I have certainly received attention—positive and negative—based on my gender. As a female in this industry, I stick out, for better or for worse. But because of it, I've gotten to meet and speak with my readers, my peers and some of my heroes as a result. I can't complain about that.

I don't think I've had any negative experiences outright. I get the feeling from reading comments that some may be quicker to dismiss my opinions on certain topics because of my gender—like whenever I'm offended at the gratuitous nudity of females or the lack of a female character option in video games, for instance. I'll admit that I can't remove my gender from what I write, and as a female gamer, I'll let that pervade my writing when it makes sense or when there's a point to be made.

I think there's also a misconception that there are so few women out there as well. Though I do stand out, probably through the fortune of being able to work for a few big media outlets, there are plenty of women who are working in the industry. I am just one of many (if you even consider journalism part of the industry), and more and more women are playing games, writing about games and making games. We are not one-eyed unicorns!

And I like to think that the work I do makes me memorable too. :P

Is there anyone you haven't interviewed yet who you would like to? Who is it, and why?

Ha, my list is endless. I want to interview everyone. I am generally curious about the developers and their craft, as well as about the opinions, emotions and reactions of the gamers who consume their work. I do have a current wishlist of people I want to interview, but I'll surprise you in the next few months.

On one of the posts you wrote at MTV Multiplayer, you mentioned that you are a feminist. There is an undercurrent of anti-feminism in society, especially in a male-dominated culture like gaming. It was refreshing and inspiring that a games journalist would announce openly that she is a feminist, given the potential reactions from less enlightened readers. Many feminists talk about their "click" moment, the point at which they realise why feminism makes sense and informed their world view. Do you have a "click" moment? How did you come to come to the conclusion that feminism made sense to you?

Oh, thanks for saying so! I wish I could pin it down to one moment, but I think it's something I realized more over time (thanks, college). I don't adhere strictly to a certain set of theories, but I do call myself a feminist in the broad sense. Obviously, I think women should have equal rights and opportunities, and are capable of doing anything men can do.

As far as video games are concerned, it's certainly still a male-dominated culture, but as I said before, more and more women are playing games, all kinds of games. I, as well as many of my female friends, enjoy many games that our male counterparts do. While I like playing male protagonists, I really would prefer not to see things like hyper-sexualized female characters or needlessly topless women, especially when there's no ostensible point.

Great gameplay is great gameplay, but I can't help but notice when certain elements of some games make it clearly known that it was not made with a female audience in mind. Granted, not all games can and should be made with everyone in mind. But it seems surprising that many big-budget games, whose goal is to sell as many copies as possible to the mass market, don't always consider those outside the average 18-34 year-old straight male gamer demographic. Do heterosexual men just naturally play more video games, or do heterosexual men play more video games because they're encouraged to, and the industry caters to their view of the world?

And it's not just the content of the games either; the marketing of games is still aimed at this idea of the uber-heterosexual, girl-oogling male. "Booth babes," while still prevalent, seem to be less frequent or less of an issue, but sexy women are still being used to publicize games (like Dante's Inferno and True Crime to name some recent examples where I felt uncomfortable). At this point, publishers clearly have to know that such tactics can be offensive to people, male and female alike, but bad publicity is still publicity, I guess?

I think both male and female gamers deserve more credit than that though, and nothing can change unless we open it all up for discussion and examine ideas that are considered "the norm."

Name one of your all-time favourite games. Why do you like it so much and has it had any sort of personal impact on you?

This one's tough! I have a lot of favorite games spanning the years -- World of Warcraft, Diablo II, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2 (can you tell I like RPGs?) as well as Portal, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Crackdown, The Curse of Monkey Island...

But one particular game that is near and dear to my heart—Sam & Max Hit the Road by LucasArts from back in the day. I have fond memories of my dad making me a boot disk to run the game on MS-DOS, playing that game for hours with my sister, loving the fact that I could point and click on anything and see something new. I also expanded my vocabulary and learned phrases such as, "Gratuitous violence is my forte!" I had played games before that, but that was the first one that really captured my attention for hours at a time and really made me want to play more games. Then World of Warcraft came much later, but that's a whole nother story...

Is there any advice that you have for women who are aspiring journalists, that you would have liked to have heard when you were starting out?

This can apply to anyone I think, but I'd say... Be confident. Don't be afraid to speak up. Ask questions. Write constantly. Read the type of things you want to write. Volunteer for assignments. Pitch ideas. Talk to people in the field who inspire you. Learn their methods. While this seems like really generic advice, I don't think I knew any of this when I started, and I am still learning from my peers everyday.

Anything else to add?

Thanks to everyone at  Border House for doing what they do and inviting me here for an interview. If any readers have any questions or comments about anything, they can DM me on Twitter @TraceyJohn or contact me at my website (which badly needs an update) at www.traceyjohn.com.

Thank you so much, Tracey, for taking the time out of your no doubt busy day to participate in this interview!

This post is part of Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science. You can read more about Ada Lovelace Day at the website.

[This entry was cross-posted at The Border House]

Ada Lovelace Day: Interview with Nicholle Young

I have been watching The Tester, the Sony PlayStation Network reality show, since the series first started. In the show, cast members compete for a position as a Sony PlayStation Quality Assurance Tester. Nicholle Young is one of the cast members of The Tester, and she graciously agreed to take time out of her busy day and participate in this interview on extremely short notice. In this interview, Nicholle shares her thoughts on what inspires her in games, a career in the industry, and diversity issues in games. Read on for the interview! 

Could you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from, and what's your background?

I'm 23, I work now as a daycare Counselor and a part time student at my local community college. My hobbies consist of reading novels, listening to various genres of music and watching Japanese animation. I love movies. Sci-fi is my favorite genre, so anything Star Wars is a 'must' in my collection. I grew up on military bases, so I like meeting and learning about people and their cultures.

What sort of games do you like to play? Is there a particular genre you're drawn to?

I love to play role playing games, first person shooters, survival horror, and adventure games with an open world theme to it. I dedicate most of my gaming to role-playing games because not only do I love level grinding, but it's really the story that draws me in. I love being a part of it by making decisions—that have consequences—with various characters, and I like exploring new worlds.

Are you currently playing a game, and if you are, how are you liking it?

I am replaying Final Fantasy VIII. It's just as good as I when I first played it. I received it as my Christmas present the year it was released. I'm not playing it to grind all my characters to max status. I'm just taking the time to admire the detail that has been placed into the game—not to mention, test out a theory a friend of mine presented. You can learn more about it at www.squallsdead.com.

One of the things that many people, particularly those in the games industry, said when they heard about The Tester is that the participants had no idea what they were getting into in terms of what QA Testers do. How did you respond to those statements?

I do understand what QA testing is, I have no problem in working minimum wage in an entry level position that may be temporary for some, but for others like myself, [it's] a stepping stone into the career path that one might take into the game industry. I'm not saying I'm going to make the jump from being a Game Tester straight to Creative Director, but at least it's a start—especially if the jobs in between them such as Game Designer and Producer are already filled up. Game testing may not be as high as being Game Designer or Programmer to some, but it's a vital part of any game project. After testing phase, it's all about wrapping things up in order to meet the deadline for the game's release.

Something that really impressed me about the selection for The Tester cast was the fact that women and people of colour were well-represented. In an industry that is dominated by white men, this is noteworthy. Do you have any thoughts on diversity in the games industry and in the content of videogames themselves? 

I believe that we have come a long way in terms of diversity in the industry, but that doesn't mean we should stop. I think it's awesome that women who are looking to get into the gaming industry can have examples such as Amy Hennig (Creative Director of UNCHARTED 2) to look up to, as well as the growing number of people of color that are now moving into producing games, such as Felice Standifer (Producer at Sony Computer Entertainment America). Many minorities are not encouraged to think about the gaming industry as a career option, so I can see how it has lead to a lack of visibility. 

As far as games go—a wholly different story. Situational stereotyping is the norm in the gaming world. Take any first person shooter about being a soldier. It's all about being the tough guy, or the one guy who has the most experience, or the rookie with ideals that are constantly challenged. Now apply a racial heritage to the tough guy such as Rico from KillZone. He's now turned from the Average Joe tough guy to another hot blooded Latino that has a philosophy of "Shoot first and shoot some more"—[a character] who even has an intended racist view of [the] enemy, referring to the Helghast as "Higgers." Now what could that possibly evolved from, hmm? Whereas, the white guy, Sev, is the one who is balanced, fair, and generally the stereotypical "real White Knight hero" of the series, even to the point of sacrificing himself in KillZone 2.

In a couple of comments you've made on games blogs, you've touched upon your financial resources. Do you feel as if people ignore economic class as a factor in access to games? Could you discuss your feelings and perspectives about this issue?

I think people tend to ignore economic class. After all, here we are playing nearly $65-$70 for games. On top of that, DLC ranges from $1.99 to $15.99. Despite the fact that I am a consumer, I am well aware that this is still a business. Yes, it is about fun and games but in order to exist, you need cash flowing freely all around.

As for my status, being laid off two years ago, and now working minimum wage to support myself, paying for bills and college, has sharply impacted my gaming. At first, it was just about not buying every title that I want  on the release date. Now it is debating whether or not to pawn or sell my games or consoles just to pay bills. The last major game purchase I made was Modern Warfare 2 in November of last year. Since then, I've sold it for gas, as well as few others. I'm holding onto my PS3 mainly because I know I can play PS3 demos and PSOne games I've downloaded, but also because I know how much it is worth used—I may need it to pay for bills if I can't afford to do so with my pay check. There have been many titles that I would like to purchase, but right now I have priorities—to pay bills, have enough money for food, and go to college. 

I'm pretty sure the game publishers are not missing my dollars that much. I think it's rather interesting to note that games may not even been worth as much as the $65-$70, we pay for them brand new. Considering how many times I've seen GameStop advertise that you can trade two games in to equal the price of that not-yet-released title, which you can put on reserve for only $20... I mean what is that about? I guess that's the business aspect of the gaming industry when it comes to consumers. I'll probably understand more as I learn about the industry.

Why do you want to get into the games industry? What sort of profession would you like to get into? 

I want to be able to contribute what I can to the industry that has been a crucial part of my life. I've been inspired by it, and I think it's time for me to give back in any way I can. I would like to become a game Creative Director. I've already mentioned that it's the story that draws me into a game. For me, it has always been about how the story can be different things—an escapist fantasy, a social commentary on today's world, or a learning experience. It's like something one would experience if they read a good book or watched an amazing movie. It's an experience that I want to learn how to create for others to enjoy. I want to start in game design and work my way up.

Is there a game that had a strong influence on you in terms of inspiring your desire to pursue a career in the games industry?

There are two games, or should I say series, that had a solid influence on me, one is Metal Gear Solid and the other is Final Fantasy. They really broke the mold as far as showing how far can they take what would really be an ordinary game, and turning it into an experience that one has to play for themselves in order to understand. For example, in Final Fantasy VII I  thought I knew everything. I expected the twist in the main plot not just being about taking down a corporate government. What I wasn't expecting were character twists, especially learning that Cloud wasn't really who he said he was. Since that revealation, Square gone to many depths and (sequels) to show how Cloud has evolved from his initial hero character persona. You could apply the same thing to Raiden in the Metal Gear Solid series. By the middle of the story, you think you already know who he is: a naive grunt sent on some hostage-freeing mission. Then, you later find out he's an ex- child soldier trying to block out the memories of his past, and is caught up in the conspiracy that has been developing for the past 50 years.

Are there any well-known industry figures you look up to for inspiration? If so, who are they, and why do you look up to them?

I mentioned two of them earlier, Amy Hennig and Felice Standifer. I also look to Hideo Kojima, Hironobu Sakaguchi, David Jaffe, and Katherine De Leon for proving that, through dedication and standing tall in the face of all obstacles, you can make an excellent game if you are passionate about it. Their ability to be honest and think outside the box have really made an impact on how I would like to approach a career in the gaming industry.

What's the next step for you? Do you have any plans regarding your career aspirations that you'd like to share?

Right now, I am finishing up taking some introduction classes at my community college. Luckily for me, my college is starting a new program for an Associate in Applied Science degree. I, along with other students, requested this new program. The new degree is called Simulation and Game Development. I plan on choosing that as my major next year, and my electives will focus on game design. As I start my way into the gaming industry, as a Game Designer and ultimately a Creative Director, I'll also continue going to college. I will be majoring in English, so I can gain more experience in writing stories. I'm also applying for game testing jobs to some studios in Raleigh for the summer as a way to gain some experience as well. 

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

In regards to diversity and gender I personally believe it's all in a matter of perception and what people are exposed to seeing and experiencing. Even within specific racial groups, gender rules are influenced and experienced in a profoundly different way. Hopefully we can continue to have more honest dialog in the industry to address this, and not just simply outright deny that inequality happens or throw it under the rug as a "small issue". I would like to thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts. 

Thank you again, Nicholle, for spending some time to talk about what inspires you, and your ambition to get into the games industry. Readers can follow Nicholle on her Twitter: @ChicagoFameGirl.

This post is part of Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science. You can read more about Ada Lovelace Day at the website.

[This entry was cross-posted at The Border House]

Dragon Age: Origins, Sexual Orientation, and Player Choice

I started playing Dragon Age: Origins a few weeks ago. I chose to play a female elf mage, Thurkear. I have heard a lot about the relationship and romance aspect of Dragon Age from friends who are playing it and a few bits and pieces in the media. Having heard about their enjoyment and engagement with this aspect of the game, I was looking forward to playing through it myself.

There are mild spoilers about non-player-character sexual orientation in this post.

At this point in the story, there are three NPCs in my party who I know Thurkear can try to romance. However, Thurkear is attracted to the only person she can't have: Morrigan. This is frustrating, as Morrigan represents the most natural and ideal NPC my character would be attracted to, given the background I've thought up for Thurkear. As a player, I really like Morrigan. I was gutted when I discovered that Thurkear's affections would go unrequited.

There are four NPCs available as romantic partners for your player-character: Morrigan, Leliana, Zevran, and Alistair. Both Leliana and Zevran are bisexual. Both Morrigan and Alistair are heterosexual.

• If you have a heterosexual female player-character, you have two romantic options: Alistair and Zevran.
• If you have a heterosexual male player-character, you have two romantic options: Morrigan and Leliana.
• If you have a bisexual female player-character, you have three romantic options: Alistair, Leliana, and Zevran. Morrigan will never return romantic affection to a female player-character.
• If you have a bisexual male player-character, you have three romantic options: Morrigan, Leliana, and Zevran. Alistair will never return romantic affection to a male player-character.
• If you have a homosexual female player-character, you have one romantic option: Leliana. Morrigan will never return romantic affection to a female player-character.
• If you have a homosexual male player-character, you have one romantic option: Zevran. Alistair will never return romantic affection to a male player-character.

It's worthwhile to note that the heterosexual player-character is the only one that has unlimited potential romantic options, within the scope of heterosexual attraction. What does this mean? Let's first re-state the obvious: a heterosexual player-character will always go for a romance with an NPC of the opposite sex. If you have a male player-character, your two options, Morrigan and Leliana, are always available to you as choices. If you have a female player-character, your two options, Alistair and Zevran, are always available to you as choices. In both of these cases, provided your player-character does the right things to win over the NPC, they will always be able to do so. Heterosexual player-characters are never denied a choice because all of the romantic options they would choose are always available.

The bisexual or homosexual player-character will always be denied choice in at least one instance. In those instances, no matter how highly the NPC of the same sex approves of them, that NPC will never engage in a romantic relationship with that player-character. Thurkear could give loads of presents to Morrigan (and she has), but Morrigan will never, ever return her feelings, no matter how much Morrigan likes Thurkear.

As we outlined before, a heterosexual player-character has all options available to them. Despite being denied a romance in at least one instance, the bisexual player-character has the most potential romantic options in absolute numbers terms. A homosexual player-character is the most constrained, with only one romantic option available to them.

This brings us to another point. There are no homosexual NPCs that your player-character can romance. What about Leliana and Zevran? Well, no. They're bisexual. They aren't gay. Bisexuality and homosexuality are separate and distinct sexual orientations, just as heterosexuality is distinct from the former two. One cannot equate two bisexual romance options with having homosexual romance options.

I am a supporter of more bisexual visibility in the media. I often feel as if bisexuality is portrayed and regarded negatively in entertainment media, in mainstream society, and frustratingly, even within the queer community. Biphobia is common. Whether it's the ridiculous assertion that bisexual people can't decide on which sex to be attracted to, that bisexual people are confused about their sexual orientation, that bisexual people will sleep with "anything that moves", or whether it's the mythical stereotype that bisexual people are untrustworthy or more likely to cheat on partners than heterosexual people or homosexual people. Having more three-dimensional bisexual characters in whatever media is a positive thing. Even though so many of those representations of bisexuality are likely to be flawed, negative, or stereotyped, there's more of a chance that positive and non-stereotypical portrayals of bisexuality will emerge. Having said that, Zevran may not, at least on the surface, be the most non-stereotypical portrayal of bisexuality in the media.

I think it's great that BioWare has two bisexual characters as romantic options in Dragon Age. I applaud BioWare for providing players with more choices. However, I feel that BioWare's decision to have two bisexual romance options has far less to do with BioWare being advocates for bisexual visibility and more to do with the fact that the two bisexual romantic options provide more choices for heterosexual player-characters, while throwing a bone to queer player-characters. I think they wanted to provide at least one same-sex option for player-characters of both sexes and more romantic options for heterosexual player-characters.

Perhaps they felt that having a homosexual romance option would be a "waste" because it would deny heterosexual player-characters of the opposite sex from romancing a homosexual NPC. This, however, begs the following question: Why was it okay to deny choice to queer player-characters by making Morrigan and Alistair heterosexual, yet not create a homosexual NPC as a romantic option, which would deny choice to straight player-characters? If BioWare were truly advocates of player choice, then why the decision to make Morrigan and Alistair heterosexual? Surely the same standards hold for Morrigan and Alistair. Surely, by making Morrigan and Alistair heterosexual, it is a developmental "waste" because it limits player choice.

One of the most common defenses of the lack of diversity in videogames and the denial of player choice (a common example: not providing female playable characters), is raising the issue of the creative process. Morrigan and Alistair are heterosexual because that's just the way those characters are are. Let's not forget that this is a videogame we're talking about. Every single detail and every single aspect of the game and its characters were designed and created, right down to the sexual orientation of NPCs a player-character can romance. If it wasn't an arbitrary decision to make Morrigan and Alistair straight, if the creative process dictated Morrigan's and Alistair's sexual orientations, and by extension the denial of player choice, then why wouldn't it make sense to create a homosexual NPC that only a player-character of the same sex can romance? Having homosexual NPCs as romance options would deny players romantic choices to the same degree that heterosexual NPC romance options do.

If BioWare wanted to provide the maximum amount of player choice in terms of romantic options for a player-character, making the maximum number of players happy, every single NPC that player-characters could romance would be bisexual. However, even if BioWare had done this, it would render homosexuality invisible. Heterosexuality already permeates every single aspect of society, so it's highly unlikely that heterosexuality could ever be rendered invisible.

Given the existing romantic options in the game and the respective sexual orientations of the NPCs one is able to romance, it appears that it's okay to provide more choices for straight player-characters than for queer player-characters. And it's this disappointing situation that gamers find themselves in if they play a character that is not straight.

The Border House: Breaking Down Borders in Gaming

I joined forces with a group of cool people to start a feminist-friendly and inclusive group gaming and virtual worlds blog. After weeks of planning, setup, and flurries of emails all around, The Border House is now up and running.

The majority of group gaming blogs tend to be exclusively run by, written by, and implicitly written for straight, white males. Whether those barriers are erected by design, or (more insidiously) by coincidence stemming from the warm, comfortable blinders of privilege, this situation marginalises those who don't fit in those categories and doesn't speak to the diversity of gamers (or games bloggers).

The Border House, created from the ground-up to be inclusive, aims to be a platform for marginalised voices to talk about their experiences and perspectives of games and virtual worlds—all through a feminist lens. Our contributors are: female, male, people of colour, white, multi-national, multi-cultural, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, heterosexual, trans gender, gender queer, cis gender, disabled, temporarily able-bodied (TAB)—the list goes on and on.

There should be a lot of discussions ensuing from the exploration of sex, race, gender, sexuality, and other social issues within the sphere of gaming and virtual worlds. It's shaping up to to be an exciting and awesome project. If you'd like to read about the experiences of gamers who don't fit into the SWM box, you're invited to check out the blog and join in the discussion.

[Read]

Convention Sexual Harassment and #EAFail

I haven't spoken up about the failness that is #EAfail, partly because I've been doing detective work, collecting many of the links you see in this post, keeping tabs on what's going on in the Twitter stream, and just gathering my thoughts on it after several days of perspective. 

If you haven't heard about it, this post gives a good overview of the Dante's Inferno "Sin to Win" contest, which EA Games ran at San Diego Comic-Con this year.

I think there are several interconnected issues at play here, and a broader context that many of the articles I've read about this incident that I feel people have not discussed enough, which I will cover towards the end of this post.

First is the misogynistic, sexist, and heteronormative bent of the contest itself. It appears targeted to males of a certain mindset (immature) and social aptitude/ability (incompetent) and/or Males Who Don't Give a Shit About Women. It presupposes that straight women and gay men are not interested in buying this game, therefore part of the prize EA and the Dante's Inferno development team offered up were just"two hot girls", no equivalent prize for straight women or gay men. This is setting aside the fact that awarding people as prizes is gross objectfication. I feel it's safe to assume they didn't consider that lesbian and bisexual women play games, either, because the language and imagery used by EA were quite sexist and disrespectful of women, in my opinion. The graphics for the contest, a woman's chest and cleavage, and the tattooed silhouettes of two women, on their hands and knees, with their asses in the air in a provocative position that presents themselves as sexually available and subservient was just gross.

Further, labeling women 'girls' is, to many women, sexist as well, because it infantilses them. A girl is a prepubescent human female. Do adult males get called 'boys' all the time? No, they're usually called 'guys'. But it's different for women. Women are taken a notch down, they're 'girls'—they aren't adults, they are children. "You throw like a girl!" is a common insult—just one tiny, tiny facet of society's partiarchal power structures in which men are raised up and women are devalued. I know many women who don't mind being called 'girls'. I'm cool with that. It's their choice. I don't look down upon them for it, because it is a woman's own personal choice in how she identifies. Personally, I won't rip your head off if you call me a girl, but it gets on my nerves because I haven't been a child for a very long time. In the specific context of this contest, however, the terminology, combined with all of the other sexist content, further stresses the disappointing lack of respect for women.

The second issue is treating women as objects (that men are entitled to). They were being given away as prizes. Booth workers/models/"babes" are there to do a job. Whether people approve of booth babes or not, they are human beings and deserve to be treated with the same respect and dignity afforded to any other human being. Dangling a couple of booth babes as prizes in this contest is not respectful in my opinion. I don't feel the need to elaborate further on this point, because it seems pretty obvious why this aspect of the competition was problematic.

Thirdly, there is the objectification of women. Just because EA or any other company hires attractive women to work at their booth does not mean the women are "asking" to be objectified or harassed. Supporters of this contest argued that "booth babes know what they are getting into" and that the possibility of being groped (in other words, assaulted) is "part of the job", which is a dumb argument. Why? Because employers have a responsibility to ensure their employees' safety. Sexual harassment or assault should never be "part of the job". To put this into a little perspective, so that people of the dude persuasion can perhaps understand better:

As to the guys saying "if your job is to look pretty and pose for pics in a bikini, you're asking to be harassed," well gee, your "package" is out on front of your body---I think you're asking for it to be smacked. I have the right to decide that, don't I? IMO, if you aren't wearing a cup, you're asking for it and it's fair game. If you don't like it, then either wear a cup, cut it off, or get used to it---because you've asked for it.

Both the above statements are ridiculous---but that's my point: assuming that a woman's clothing (or lack thereof) is an invitation to harass her makes just as much sense as a woman assuming a guy not covered by a cup is asking to be hit in the package with a 2x4. Since when does *she* have the right to assume you're asking for it, get into your personal space and flatten your package, based on her own ideas about how a man should properly hide his goodies?

These above two points—the fact that people objectify women, and the fact that women are being treated like objects—are different, but related. As Eleniel said, "Just because people objectify models doesn't mean models become objects when they do their job!"

Fourthly, there is the ignorance of convention fan culture on the part of EA, which fans  who have some awareness or critical thought know, is rife with misogyny—sexual harassment, incidents of stalking, assault, and just general badness towards women. Geek conventions can be a safe, accepting haven for many who have been derided or shunned because of their hobbies in other social environments, but geek fandom is a very male space, where women, unfortunately, get treated poorly with disturbing regularity. I'm going to elaborate on this point by discussing one of my own personal experiences with creepiness at an anime convention. Before I begin, I'd like to note that this incident happened when I was much younger; I would probably behave differently these days (hindsight is 20/20):

I was hanging out in the Video Game room, watching people play a fighting game, and I wasn’t really bothered to play it. This guy walked up and stood beside me to watch the others play the game, as one does. This fellow was a very large man, in terms of height, and in terms of girth. He had thick glasses, unkempt clothing, and dark, messy, curly hair—in short, a typical geek. However, he was standing so close to me that I felt a little on my guard.

Like many people at anime conventions, my badge name was different from my real name. In this case, my badge name was 'Samus Aran', because I like Metroid so much. He started the conversation with me by looking down at my badge—keep in mind he was already standing very close to me—and saying, "So you're a Metroid fan, huh?" We started talking about Metroid and fighting games. That was okay. He started talking about his online girlfriend in Taiwan, who he was going to visit very soon. That was fine, too. But then he started bragging about how he spent over £100 on anime porn at a previous convention. He kept going on and on about his girlfriend, their long distance relationship, and his porn collection. The fact that he discussed his porn collection and his girlfriend at the same time disturbed me and creeped me out, because he was just so keen on bragging about both. He wasn't talking about her like she was an actual person, but a trophy, another part of his collection. I also felt undertones of Asian fetishisation/exotification in the way he talked about his girlfriend, and this racial dynamic also made me uncomfortable, as someone who identifies as Asian.

At this point, I really wanted to leave, I didn't want to hear about his porn or his girlfriend anymore, and I was thinking of how to extract myself from the conversation without making a scene. Luckily I spotted a friend of mine, and excused myself.

In hindsight, I consider what happened to me to be sexual harassment. Uninvited, a total stranger launched into a discussion of a sexual nature completely out of the blue. This dude had no sense or understanding of social boundaries, and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I've experienced a few other incidents of general creepiness from men at conventions (and outside of conventions), and they were uncomfortable experiences as well.

My experiences were tame in comparison to what many women experience at fandom conventions. Sexual harassment, stalking, and even physical and sexual assault, are not recent problems at cons, either. The incident I described above happened to me nearly a decade ago.

I don't live in fear of going to cons. I've been going to and working at cons for a long time. If I didn't enjoy them, I wouldn't go. My good experiences of conventions outweighs these few negative experiences, so I hope people don't get the impression that I am against fandom or conventions. I'm against people getting hurt at conventions.

I have insight on this issue from another point of view. I've been on Otakon Staff for ten years* now. Otakon is the second largest anime convention in the United States. Every year, about 23 000 people attend. When you work behind the scenes in running a convention you know that there are incidents where convention staffers have to help out a member who is having problems with another member, and sometimes those incidents involve sexual harassment. That is reality. I won't get into details, but there are definitely a lot of disgusting and creepy people out there.

SDCC has continuing problems with sexual harassment. Last year, people called for a no-tolerance sexual harassment policy to be instituted. The convention administration has remained silent and not addressed the concerns of women and members who complained. I looked through the SDCC website and found no policies on sexual harassment or any type of behavioural policy**. The pleas of fans last year seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. This year, there were yet again incidents of sexual harassment at SDCC.

For EA to run a contest like this in complete ignorance of the problems that fan conventions have with stalking, sexual harassment, and other problem behaviours, was not a good move, in my opinion. Many men at fandom cons already have problems recognising social boundaries and the personal space of women who are fellow attendees, without any external prompting or encouragement. Contests like the Dante's Inferno "Sin to Win" promotion invites contestants to go beyond social boundaries by committing "acts of lust" with any booth babe. It puts not only EA employees workers at risk but also the employees of other companies. Furthermore, it leaves the door open for this type of inappropriate behaviour towards regular attendees, who may not have the same protection or power as those with exhibitor badges.  As the link round-up post concludes, "It encourages behaviour that makes cons unsafe for women."

EA's response? A not-real apology (saved here, in case they try to take it down again), the kind that blames you for being offended and "confused". It didn't actually address people's concerns.

While EA may learn from this, I wonder whether this even registered on the radar of SDCC convention staff.

* At the moment I'm not active because living on the West Coast makes travel to Baltimore to staff a con impractical.

** Full disclosure: Shortly, after reading the blog posts about what happened SDCC last year, as well as the ridiculousness of the Open Source Boob Project, and after the establishment of the Con Anti-Harassment Project, I proposed to other Otakon Staffers that Otakon institute a sexual harassment policy. Convention leadership felt that the very broad existing disruptive behaviour policy already included sexual harassment and was adequate for the con.

GLAAD's Project to Combat Homophobia in Virtual Communities

A few weeks ago, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced a new project to fight homophobia in virtual communities, including gaming communities. Three months ago, I was invited to participate in a conference call with GLAAD so they could gather views and opinions about homophobia in gaming from regular gamers to prepare for an outreach initiative to major videogame companies. On 18th July, GLAAD will hold a panel to discuss with members of the games industry the issues that LGBT people face in virtual communities and seek some possible solutions to encourage more inclusive, welcoming, and accepting behaviour towards LGBT people in virtual spaces. In the lead-up to this panel, Justin Cole, GLAAD's Director of Digital Media, wrote an excellent Op-Ed outlining the problem.

Homophobia in virtual communities is a huge problem*. In a world where simply showing support for LGBT rights online, regardless of your sexual orientation, is met with bigotry, and where identifying as LGBT may be greeted with far worse, it's important that these discussions happen. GLAAD faces a bit of an uphill battle explaining these issues to people of privilege who don't have the lived experience of being LGBT, and thefore don't have to worry about any of these issues on a daily basis. The fact that those people are on the panel shows that they're receptive, so I hope that some good emerges.

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, consider attending (RSVP via Facebook).

* Though I am not ignorant of the fact that racism, misogyny, and other forms of oppression are equally important and massive problems in their own right as well.

Four RE5 Articles at Crispy Gamer

I'd like to highlight four articles related to Resident Evil 5 that I read recently at Crispy Gamer.

The first is an interview with Resident Evil 5's Director, Jun Takeuchi, in which the interviewers discussed the cultural and racial issues raised by the game's content and asked Takeuchi what his goals were for the game.

The second is a really excellent follow-up to the interview, written by Evan Narcisse, which talks about the importance of discussing social and cultural issues in videogames:

Resident Evil 5 is so close to the edge that it's fair to read it both ways -- so dismissing any concerns about racism on the basis of the game's interactive nature feels shallow. Every game stands as a cultural artifact filled with meaning by the people who make them and play them.

That's worth discussing.

Narcisse further states:

Videogames strive to make you feel something, but the things you feel aren't always what they intend. The outright dismissals and non-debates surrounding RE5 don't help defend this form of entertainment against people who would demonize and scapegoat it. They don't make other people's responses go away

Videogames aren't just about technology and game play. Videogames are cultural products that convey meaning, whether intended or not, and to dismiss and suppress these kinds of discussions, will stunt the development of the medium. The full article is a good read.

The last two articles are in-depth reviews of Resident Evil 5, the first of which discusses the race issue, and the second of which focuses on game play (also worth noting is that the second writer, Tom Chick, has touched upon the race issues in RE5 before). In the case of the first review, by Scott Jones, I'm glad that some games journalists are actually discussing their thoughts on the themes and imagery in RE5 rather than ignoring it outright. I'm sure that Jones faced a lot of criticism and backlash from some readers, who may not feel it's important to mention anything about the race issue, so to have an opinion that deviates from the majority of gamers and to discuss it in an upfront, mature, and serious manner is notable. In the case of the second review, Chick writes that regardless of how you feel about RE5 and race, the game is fun if you're down with certain aspects of its game design.

Together with the previous two articles, I think that Crispy Gamer has done a decently well-rounded and thoughtful job of covering Resident Evil 5 and the surrounding controversy thus far. I'd like to see more of this kind of coverage from gaming news outlets.

N'Gai Croal's RE5 Follow-Up

Last week, N'Gai Croal was on 1UP's Listen UP podcast on 20th March, and during part of the podcast he discussed race, racism, and Resident Evil 5 with the other guests. A transcript of this part of the podcast was posted over on the Iris Gaming Network. Below are some quotes from N'Gai Croal.

N'Gai Croal (emphasis mine):

I interviewed Takeguchi, Jun Takeguchi the producer of the game, he said that the team went to, uh, north Africa, in ... you know, three years ago, to do research for the game. I asked him what country he went to and he couldn't tell me. I don't--and again, let me be clear, I'm not saying he's not telling the truth, I'm just saying it's interesting he couldn't remember which countries they went to visit.

...

...I get that, it's going to be in Africa, it's set in Africa and you're going to have African characters or whatever, but Africa is a continent, it's not a country.

...

That's the assumption. But, again, you know, so to put on tribal garb, which consists of tribal masks, tribal shields, spears, and grass skirts. And so, to me, again, for people who sort of defend it, "Well, of course there are people who dress like that in Africa!" Well, yes, but WHERE in Africa? WHERE is the game set? All these things, and on top of it, are we saying that anything in the game can be excused by a fig leaf of "there's an infection that causes them to do this", I don't have the answer to that, but the people that are defending it on those grounds, don't seem to be asking those questions at all.

...

Takeuchi pulled from all of these influences, some, you know, mostly modern, some, you know, less modern, but without a full understanding of what--when you put all of that in the brew, what all of that is going to turn into, and that's what's unfortunate, is that there was no one in the studio, and there was no one at Capcom in the United States, to sort of say "Wait a second, what is it that we've actually created? Have we lost control of the message?" And I think that's what happened.

...

And I think you're right, I think it's mostly inadvertent, I think it wasn't deliberate, but I think that's one of the things that need to be challenged, and what I'm not saying--to me, it is in some ways almost immaterial, whether or not--what does it mean to say that the game is "racist"? That's not what I'm saying, but I think the idea that what's required is intent, something malicious on the part of the creators, I mean you can create something that turns into something else.

The rest of the transcript is well worth reading. For people who listen to podcasts, the racism discussion starts at 1 hour, 10 minutes in and there is more discussion after a break.

Thank you to Eleniel for taking the time to transcribe all of that!

[Transcript Part 1 and Part 2 via Gamers of Color]