A petition signed by more than 1,000 game developers is confronting the issues raised by this year’s Gamergate movement.
Game Developers: “We Will Never Accept Threats, Hate, Violence or Sexism”
“Hatred and all kinds of prejudice is nothing we as a collective industry support.”
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“Sometimes you have to state the obvious: We will never accept threats, hate, violence or sexism in the name of games,” reads the #gamediversity petition, which originated in Sweden but has begun to attract international attention. “We welcome more diversity. We oppose all discrimination. Games are for all!”
It’s a similar statement to another developer petition posted on the blogging platform Medium in September after Gamergate’s first attacks on developer Zoe Quinn and game critic Anita Sarkeesian. Industry groups like the Entertainment Software Association, meanwhile, have stopped shorter by only condemning threats and harassment and not mentioning the s-word.
It’s worth noting, though, that the emphasis is still placed on bad things being done “in the name of games” — not the institutional sexism that developers like Brianna Wu and Kongregate CEO Emily Greer report from behind closed doors.
Most of the developers who have signed the petition so far are from Sweden, which is home to EA-owned Battlefield developer Dice, Microsoft-owned Minecraft developer Mojang and hardcore PC gaming company Paradox Interactive. A handful of U.S. developers from Sony-owned Naughty Dog and Disney-owned Avalanche Software have signed more recently, as have dozens from other countries.
Here’s the text of the petition:
Support #gamediversity – for equality and diversity in games, gamers and game makers.
Sometimes you have to state the obvious: We will never accept threats, hate, violence or sexism in the name of games. We welcome more diversity. We oppose all discrimination. Games are for all!
Hatred and all kinds of prejudice is nothing we as a collective industry support. All those who claim to do so in the name of games are doing so with their own personal agenda. Not in the name of games!
Organizations can contact us to show support and add their logo below.
Sign below to denounce current destructive movements and all forms of prejudice within the games industry.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
