Matt Conn

Some clarification!

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Bonk! Just to clear up any confusion about Sunday’s announcement thing: This is not necessarily the end of GaymerX – it just means that we’re no longer going to be holding it as an annual event. This year, we went all out with the venue and going to three days – the costs skyrocketed and although attendance has been doing well, corporate sponsorship was just not at a level to sustain going this huge. We’re taking on a huge risk of debt, and even if we do end up selling out, we will barely just break even.

It’s a lot of work to put on this convention, and if we want it to succeed, in the future it needs to be planned in a way that is sustainable and doesn’t take on nearly the amount of risk and financial cost that we’re paying this year.

This is only the end of GaymerX as a yearly event and certainly not an end to the fight for equality in gaming. This year’s event is going to be even better in terms of content, events, fun, and especially venue space and decor – and we have a lot of really awesome events and panels we’re planning to announce soon!

This is only the beginning! Thank you so much for all the kind words and messages but if you’d like to help, just help spread the word about the rise of safe spaces for queer geeks (and also that tickets are for sale!)

Thank you Jen Legay Toni Rocca Zach Weiner Andrew Davis Noah Silas Aaron Joseph Fred Riding Philip Jones John James Soraya Een Hajji Cory L. Murphy-Helmkamp Mike Savoie Kitty Stryker Shams Shaikh Hunter Luthi Gordon Bellamy Ryan Paul Ted DiNola Luke McCampbell Matthew Hopkins and the entire midboss and friends crew for braving the storm of negative ignorance that came out of the announcement as we storm into an amazing, huge GaymerX2.

Hope to see you in July!

 

Queer Games & Gamers in the Mainstream this Week

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Heyo,

This week has been an exciting one in that gaymers and queer geeks were mentioned in numerous forms of media – bringing attention to the big question: We know that gaymers exist (and in droves) but where are the queer games – why are video games the last to the party when every other major form of media has made massive progressive strides?

I had some really interesting conversations this week some really cool folks in the press who wanted to learn more about what’s going on in the queer gaming world and what we can do to begin moving forward towards some tangable progress towards a world where queers, and those who feel currently left out by the current game culture, can feel like they’re welcome at the big round table.

If you’d like some reading material, please check out the below articles that we weighed in on some level, or were articles that I really enjoyed reading this week.

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GayGamer.Net

Is Ellie Gay? Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann Weighs In on The Last of Us: Left Behind by Sal Mattos

Polygon

Avoid stereotypes in gaming sexuality by writing a person first by Danielle Riendeau

Vice

Why The Game Industry Plans To Keep Gay Characters On The Sidelines

The Fight to Get Gay in Video Games both by Yannick Lejacq

Bloomberg 

Rise of the Gaymers by Kurt Soller

 

We’re very exciting that this topic is getting mainstream exposure and we feel strongly about fighting for queer rights in the gaming world, so please use this as an opportunity to educate a friend or loved one about why being a queer geek matters! :O

Updates From GaymerFront

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Hey everyone!

This is Matt and boy howdy have things been busy over here at GaymerX/MidBoss HQ. Since we launched GaymerX last year, things have been a whirlwind, as we’ve been working hard to cover the costs of putting on the first event, launching new projects like Read Only Memories, and making plans for more awesome stuff for queer geeks in the near future.

I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone on GaymerConnect, r/Gaymers, and the local Gaymer groups for banding together and sending such a strong message last year to the game companies of the world – we, as queer gamers, deserve to be treated better than we have: We deserve to feel safe in the places that we go and we deserve games that are made with us in mind. Due to the support that you’ve given us over the past year, we’ve been able to go to game companies and show them just how big this audience is, and gaming companies are listening.

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It has been a stressful year for us in that for nearly all of this, this is our part time job, and running a convention and a game are pretty intense stuff. That being said, we would not be able to keep doing this without all your support and love and desire to see more queer games, devs, and themes in the gaming world.

We hope that what we announce next will excite you, and we’re eager to continue working towards a better place for all queer geeks.

@MattConn

PS: I recently did an interview with Glenn Fleishman of NewDisruptors for BoingBoing where I talk about Read Only Memories, GaymerX1, GaymerX2, and some silly things like being America’s Worst Driver! :O

Wintersale!

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Yay wintersale – until end of the year get 15% all badges at gx2.eventbrite.com using “WINTERSALE” – also if you go to the GaymerX youtube you can see some of our awesome GaymerXtalks from this past con!

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we love you!

GaymerXTalks Starts Friday

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Hey everyone! If you couldn’t make it to GaymerX, starting this friday, and every friday until we run out of panels, we will be releasing two panels from GaymerX.

Please check out the video explaining GaymerXTalks and stay tuned – this week we’ll launch Pandora Boxx and EA’s panel, and have lots more in store. And the best part? All of them are free.

Also, we’re making a game: Read Only Memories. The success of this game is crucial – all the eyes of the gaming world are looking to this to see if LGBTQ themed games have an audience and can succeed, so if we can hit goal, then AAA publishers will be that less afraid to include queer characters because there is now a proven business case.

The game is only $6 – please consider backing it, or if you have, telling your friends!

Lastly, if you haven’t gotten a badge for GaymerX2 yet – there are still limited tickets available in the kickstarter, and for just $9 more than a regular badge, you can get two versions of R.O.M., a beanie, stickers and your name in the credits. Now is THE BEST TIME to get a badge for GX2 if you haven’t yet – and Ouya will double your money!!, so you’ll be helping us out even more.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING QUEERS IN GAMING!

Volunteers needed – free GaymerX badge included!

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Hey there! GaymerX is currently looking for volunteer positions for next year’s convention. We have a great group of supportive individuals helping us with many tasks that holding a convention requires. If you’re interested in joining the team, fill out our quick and easy survey here.

Even if you’re not sure you can attend every day of the con, or don’t know how you can help, we’d love to hear from you! You’ll get free attendance to the convention if selected!

We love our volunteers and we know there’s a ton of talented individuals who would be a perfect fit for our convention. We hope to hear from you soon!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GX2VolunteerApp

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BADGES

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Hey Backers!

What a fantastic day yesterday for human rights – we’re so excited over here at GaymerConnect and can not WAIT for GaymerX in just over 30 days now. Hoping to see lots of cool cosplays and potentially even a marriage proposal or two??

We have some big news and a couple of updates coming this week but first we wanted to clear up a common question that we got: Badges.

Badges will not be mailed out to attendees, but instead the badge code emailed to you is your badge, and you need to register your badge code on GaymerConnect. Think of it like inputting your name to start a game of Master Chen or Conversation Parade on your BMO. You can use any name you’d like on your badge and we’ll know what ID to match your badge to when you pick your badge up. (You don’t have to use your birthname on your badge!)

TO DO THIS >> Go to GaymerX.org and login (using Facebook, Twitter, or new account), you can register your badge code that you were sent earlier in the year. If you haven’t received an email, please let us know and we will resend your code to you 🙂 Once we have your code you’re all set and ready to play VIDEO GAMES!

Last day to register your badge/give your code to a friend to register their badge is July 25th, so that way we have a list of people attending and their badges.

If you know for sure that you can’t make it and would like to donate your badge (which will be donated via giveaways and local gaymer meetups), please email [email protected] with the subject “Donate” and the badge codes you’d like to donate. This will also help us open up tickets for other people that would like to attend. We’ll miss you though 🙁

Thank you for all your support and we can’t wait to show you what we have in store, we hope to exceed your expectations for an inaugural gaming convention and can’t wait to continue to good fight for LGBTQ rights in the gaming world.

– Team GaymerX

 

My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant removes mentions of Nintendo in wake of Tomodachi controversy

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Up Multimedia just updated My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant – Already one of the very few gay-oriented computer games currently available, version 1.5 adds a bunch of options aimed at enabling players with a disability to join in the fun. Woop woop!

 

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Up Multimedia has also responded to the recent Nintendo same-sex censorship controversy by withdrawing references to popular Nintendo titles from the game.

Specific improvements to My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant include introducing a unique high contrast mode for players with vision impairment and a subtitling system for sound effects for players with a hearing impairment.

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“Gay people with a disability can sometimes feel like they’re trapped in a second closet,” says developer Luke Miller. “Making our game accessible to people with different requirements has always been a goal of ours and we are pleased to take some steps towards it.”

“Even with the limited resources of an indie company, it was surprisingly easy to meet many of the suggestions provided by the Game Accessibility Guidelines at http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/. We’re hoping our efforts here will inspire other developers to include gamers with disabilities in the fun.”

Additionally, the new version of My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant removed references to Nintendo’s Zelda: Ocarina in Time that had been part of the pop-culture-laden game. This comes after reports last week that Nintendo have controversially patched their game Tomodachi Collection: New Life to remove a “bug” that allowed same-sex characters to get married (and also get pregnant). The glitch was a game breaking bug, but the way they handled it has left much to be desired in the gay community

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“What is particularly disheartening about Nintendo’s actions is that it shows that the near absence of gay and lesbian characters in video games is not always an oversight but often the result of deliberate decision-making by developers to exclude people like us from computer games. And we can, and we will, withdraw our support when we see that happening.”

My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant is available now for Windows/Mac/Linux for $22US(same price worldwide) at http://www.um.com.au/spaceout/ and will have a booth at GaymerX.