David Gaider serves as the lead narrative designer for BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The games are well known among triple-A titles for their gender inclusivity, and in 2011's Dragon Age 2, Gaider and his team wrote all four of the main romance plotlines as being open to both male and female player characters -- which earned them a bit of backlash from certain fans who believed the game "neglected" to cater to their straight white male demographic.
More recently, Gaider showed up at GaymerX, an LGBT-focused games convention held in San Francisco. Appearing in a series of panels alongside several of his EA colleagues, Gaider spoke of the need for diversity in games development and the common sense of making all players feel included in one's games.
"There's a perception that the gaming industry is only made up of straight white men," Gaider tells Gamasutra. "And while they're certainly the majority that's not to say there aren't many other people comprising the industry as well."
Gaider, himself a gay man, is leery of leaning too heavily on identity politics to discuss diversity in the workplace. But he does agree visibility can send an important message.
"Perhaps it's a sign of the times that it's even a question, or one where the answer might be, 'yes, but it's important to speak up even so,'" he offers. "Someone who doesn't conform to the perceived norm might think they don't have a chance of getting into the industry -- a gay person might think, 'oh, there's no point in applying. I don't want to work in a frat house.'"
"It's important that more companies get broader viewpoints from within their own teams, and that first requires that people with different viewpoints apply for those positions."
