Next year’s Gaymercon has gotten support from one of the the gaming world’s business behemoths: Microsoft. The proposed first queer gaming convention is making it rain all over its Kickstarter page, amassing over $80,000 — well past its $25,000 goal — with a few more hours to go. XBOX Live developers were among the project’s many supporters and they got together to film a video explaining their excitement and anticipation.
And it’s precious. Can we talk about the queen at 3:16 who “would like to meet more, uh, gay gamers that play…fighting games. Actually.” Honestly, gay nerds are the best. We can’t wait for them to invade San Francisco next August 3rd and 4th, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with each other while falling hopelessly in love over a game of whatever the kids are playing these days. Is Ms. Pac Man still happening?
Anyway, Microsoft has a checkered history with the queer gaming community. In 2009, a player was banned from XBOX Live for self-identifying as a lesbian because other players apparently found her lesbianism offensive. Microsoft later apologized, calling its policy “inelegant.”
Three years on, however, and Microsoft is singing a much more inclusive tune. A company spokesperson told Gamespot:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“At Microsoft we value the ideas and leadership of all of our employees and believe an inclusive and diverse community is important to a thriving Xbox Live. This video was an employee-driven effort to show support of GaymerCon’s Kickstarter campaign and had the full support of Xbox Live leadership.”
