Note: This information is based on the Japanese gaming industry.

I’m sure most people who play games have contemplated at one point or another what it would be like to be one of the people making the game instead of just playing it. But for those serious about breaking into the industry, it’s a long step between “I want to make games!” and actually doing so. Before anything else, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with what kinds of jobs are available.

Here is a simple breakdown of the basic jobs you can get at a gaming company:

The most widely-known jobs are the programming and graphic design ones, but what about a “game designer”? There isn’t actually a “game designer” position; the term usually refers to the job of a game planner, but can also cover that of a director or producer.

Programmer, graphic designer, and sound engineer are all entry level jobs. Planning is on the cusp; it’s possible to get a planning job without any prior work experience in the industry, but it’s less likely. Director and producer jobs are usually earned through promotion.

For those interested in producing and directing, planning seems like the obvious track for promotion, but the reality is that programmers and graphic designers are just as likely to be promoted to those jobs. For example, the basic promotion track for a programmer looks something like this:

Ultimately, for those serious about getting into the industry it’s a good idea to do as much research as possible into the industry and to then work towards getting the job that seems to fit you the best.

“Although preventing harassment is an admirable goal, a requirement that LGBT people remain invisible and silent is not an acceptable means of reaching that goal.”

- Lambda Legal¹

It wasn’t so long ago that games, especially console games, were primarily offline forms of entertainment. Over the years, however, that has changed and these days online communities — from MMOs to official chat services offered by gaming companies — are a booming industry. With the change in the way players interact has come a need for game companies to define what is, and is not, acceptable behavior. While all companies that deal with online communities will have various policies in place to help them police their players, the truth is that most of these policies do little to curb the harassment that many players face. In addition to the usual problems with harassment, there have been a few notable cases where the policy has reinforced discrimination against an already discriminated-against group.

In this post I will be examining two of the most well-known cases of this problem. The first is a case from 2006 involving Blizzard regarding a woman named Sara Andrews being threatened with expulsion from WoW for advertising her gay-friendly guild; the second is a recent and ongoing case involving Microsoft regarding the suspension of an Xbox Live account of a woman known as Teresa because she identified herself as a lesbian in her profile². Both these incidents involved gay women — who, I would like to point out, are parts of groups targeted for harassment not only because of their sexual orientation but their gender identification as well — and both of them involved policy wording that appeared to be equal opportunity but in reality only negatively impacts non-heterosexuals. (more…)