Q&A: Respawn's Mohammad Alavi works for greater diversity in game dev
Ahead of his GDC 2020 talk on character diversity in Apex Legends, Respawn's Mohammad Alivi sits down to chat about how he got into games, and why it's so vital for game dev to be inclusive & diverse.
November 12, 2019
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Next year, Respawn's Mohammad Alavi will be coming to GDC 2020 in San Francisco to present a promising Advocacy track talk on "'Apex Legends': Fighting for Character Representation and Diversity" in which he'll discuss the specific roadblocks Respawn faces as it expands Apex Legends' diverse cast of characters.
It's shaping up to be an interesting talk, given that the Apex Legends team has to navigate the hurdles of supporting and updating a live game played by tens of millions of people around the world.
Alavi's own background is equally interesting; a pre-med student who turned down medical school to turn his passion for modding into a full-fledged games career, he recently sat down to chat with us (via email) about his work and what you can look forward to from his talk.
Hey Mohammad, tell us a bit about who you are and your path through the game industry!
I was born in Iran and fled with my family during the revolution in the early '80s. We were refugees seeking asylum when we immigrated to the US. While I would describe my childhood as happy, my formative years were certainly difficult living in southern Virginia with a name like Mohammad.
I grew up on a steady diet of Atari and Nintendo, and first started making games when I was introduced to Magic. I couldn’t afford the cards, so I just created my own version of the game with art and rules I drew on index cards. I eventually started making my first digital creations with the Duke Nukem 3D level editor.
I went off to college and studied pre-med, but making video game levels was always my hobby. With the advent of the internet and the explosion of Half-Life