ajandmagnus

Q&A: Is the Current Storyline Based on Real Life?

Added 2019-11-12 18:12:44 +0000 UTC

I read you base some of your story arcs on real life experiences and I was wondering if the current story of John losing a job because he's gay is based on any actual experience. Did you guys experience discrimination?

It's true we do base some storlines on real events, but the current storyline is a mixed bag. While I was not ever actually denied a job for the explicit reason for being gay, the character Joe is based on an old boss of mine. When I worked for him, he didn't know I was gay so he felt very open about sharing his bigotry and racism with me. He passed on a talented transgender woman for a programming position because he "didn't want the bathroom issue to make the team uncomfortable" and openly criticized the main character of a game I was working on referring to her as the n-word.

Unfortunately in the games industry, where I spent about 17 years, there's a lot more bigotry and discrimination you'd ever expect from a bunch of people who create for a living, but it happens, just subtly. It wasn't until after I left the company did word get around that I was gay but knowing what I know now, despite him giving me a 5 star yearly performance review, he wouldn't have given me the job had he known I was gay. So while the storyline as a whole is fiction, that character is based on a real person.