You can’t keep a good glitch down . . .
For the past two years, gaymers, queer gamers, joystick enthusiasts and general queer, trans and allied nerds have been gathering in the San Francisco area for GaymerX, a convention that focuses on LGBT issues in video games and nerd culture.
Many in the gaming and LGBT communities were saddened earlier this year when organizers of the convention announced that the second year of GaymerX would be the last, due to the financial difficulty of organizing a convention and business-related issues.
Despite difficulties, convention organizers, including one of the founders, Matt Conn, have announced a business-savvy revival of GaymerX, though rebranded as the more inclusive GX: Everyone Games. In the Kickstarter campaign video, which hopes to raise money to partially fund GX, Conn explains:
“The point of this Kickstarter is to continue our work creating a convention that is different and an awesome, weird but diverse space in the gaming community,” Conn says in the video.
I’m super thrilled to hear this, since my big, gay dream over the past few years is to have an epic journey to San Francisco to be part of the convention. Some of their perks are really amazing, too, like access to the amazing documentary Gaming in Color or a “Gaming’s Gay Mafia” shirt. As someone who is part of . . .
. . . I covet that shirt as much as my epic journey to SF.
On the campaign page, organizers explain that the first year of GamerX suffered from inexperience with organizing conventions and the second from overestimated attendance and related costs. “By doing this Kickstarter first before we sign any contracts, we can make sure we produce GX3 within our means on a sustainable level,” they explain. “We’re also doing the event in the late part of the year, when it’s off peak for the Bay Area and room rates are far lower.”
With a little less than two weeks left, the GX campaign team has already raised more than 85 percent of their goal, so if you’re a queer nerd, a trans gamer or just a fan of better LGBT representation in gaming culture, consider helping to make the world a nerdier, queerer place!
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