Feature: ''Out' in the Industry'

For today's exclusive main feature, we speak with a handful of industry figures, including 1st Playable's Jeb Havens, Midway's Brian Sharp, and Ubisoft's Anne Gibeault, on the topic of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender representation within the game development community. In this excerpt, Ubisoft's Gibeault, who has worked on several prominent titles for the company including the latest entry in the Splinter Cell franchise, comments that while indifference to gayness in the workplace is acceptable, she finds curiosity and interest in her lifestyle to be a welcome treat: “The 36-year-old animator (she’s worked on such titles as Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, King Kong and Splinter Cell: Double Agent) says, in her experience, her game-development peers have been a pretty welcoming bunch. “I’ve never heard anything homophobic,” she says, adding “I’ve always been out, everywhere I’ve worked. Everyone reacts fine with it.” That’s especially true of Gibeault’s family situation. “I have a baby,” she shares, “and it seems everyone is pretty curious how we managed this, me and my girlfriend.”” This attitude of not only tolerance, but open acceptance seems to be prevalent, at least at Ubisoft, with a colleague of Gibeault’s, Vincent Gauthier, noting a positive reaction from his team following his 'coming out': “One project Gauthier worked on in the past contained what he considered “homophobic elements.” At a meeting about the game, “I made a clear statement about of what I thought had to be changed—and at the same time that became my official coming out to the entire team.” The response surprised him. “My producer named me the official guard dog against homophobia” for that game, Gauthier says. “It proved useful to the project and very educational for my co-workers.”” You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, with more thoughtful insights and observations from industry members who also count themselves as part of the LGBT community (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).