Devin Dixon's take on GDC 2018

Post date: Apr 06, 2018 3:55:52 AM

To preface, sure I can lie and say there’s no way of experiencing something “wrong.” But I’m here to tell you, if you focused on the Triple A floor or even the Indie floor at GDC, you missed out. My group came in a day late to GDC because of our flight delay, this added to my already on-fire, yet quiet, anxiety about GDC. That anxiety was quickly eased Thursday morning when Niara and I participated in a Black People in Games panel. Going in to GDC, I was pretty unsure of how people would receive me. I’m a biracial kid with curly hair that’s had 20-some years of experience living this life. It’s not been easy, but by the time GDC rolled around, it threw a whole new curveball at me. It caused me to question if it would be difficult getting a job, not being a white person. It is difficult, and it’s not a thing easily discussed with an all white male faculty, let’s be real. But the roundtable discussions I visited during GDC really opened my eyes and helped me realize that I was not alone in the fight to diversify the industry.

The first event of Thursday was a roundtable discussion involving black people in the industry. Niara and I walk in and the panel is doing an interactive discussion where they write about common issues we face in the industry, and how to solve them. There were a lot of people in that room, some of them were white allies, and it was extremely encouraging. I immediately felt welcome and my anxiety for the entire rest of GDC melted away. That was the perfect first event to go to. I quickly learned that there were people like me, in the industry, and many who had been in the industry for more than 15 years. I went to many other inclusivity panels such as this, and that’s where the networking really started. I didn’t go into GDC looking to get my portfolio looked at or have ingenuine conversations, I just wanted to talk to people and see what it was like. And I feel I achieved that. Meeting people at the roundtable discussions ensured that I had at least one thing in common with them: the concern for diversity in the industry. This made the rest of my conversation easy and this is how I obtained most of the connections I have.

I spoke to a lot of people in my similar position, as black students, and I spoke to one woman who had been in the industry for 15 years. She gave Niara and I advice on how to present ourselves online: admittedly it’s still a minefield in 2018. Should I post a picture of myself showing who I am and perhaps not get jobs by being immediately transparent about my skin color? But if I don’t have a picture of myself on Linkedin, it’s considered a bit weird. Seemingly simple questions like this, I could never get the answer to if I never went to GDC. The roundtable discussions were really uplifting and I’m glad I went, if not just for those.

A smaller realization I had was that there were a lot of Technical Artists. I don’t sell myself as one, but it seemed easier to get a job as a tech artist while speaking to Triple A companies on the floor. The majority of the cards I got, were from tech artists. Made me feel a little inadequate, because you’re here in a sea of “regular” environment artists selling yourself to people that don’t care for you. Tech and VFX artists are where it’s at. And it made me realize that I don’t consider myself an environment artist. Towards the end of the trip, I started calling myself an “artist that does UI stuff.” I go to school for environment art, but that title started to feel forced while at GDC. I’m still wrestling with it today, but overall I’m just an artist that has 3D skills.  

In general, the floors were pretty underwhelming. I felt no anxiety walking around, so I know it wasn’t me. But most of the booths I went to, felt very ingenuine and the people were only trying to sell me something. A word about the “underlings” at the booths that Nick mentioned in his post: he’s right. When I would ask most of the people at the booth about their product/game/analytical program, they’d look at me completely stumped. They were either confused I’d care about such a thing, or didn’t even know what they were selling themselves. I felt like the idiot, but most of these people couldn’t entertain a simple conversation about their product! Wild! So I jumped on over to the indie floor, hoping I could ask questions that would get answers. Instead I just wondered around completely overwhelmed by all the art. I wish I would have asked someone about their UI or how they programmed something, but I didn’t oddly enough. I just sat and stared in awe at what the indie developers made.

For next GDC, I’m definitely sticking to the roundtable discussions. I really feel at home there and I’m lucky to have found this out so quickly. A lot of people run around with their portfolios, confused, on the big floor. You can’t do that, even if you’re trying to sell yourself; you have to come at stuff organically! Don’t act like you don’t have social skills, holy hell! And besides, it is not that easy getting an internship on the floor. So many people presented it that way before we went, but man, it's nonsensical to even expect an internship just by going to GDC. The floor is a mess of people and recruiters who are tired and have seen it all. Some of my friends waited in lines all day just to get a recruiter to tell them to "specialize their portfolio!" I would not advise that route!

            I got what I wanted out of GDC: to talk to people in the industry and see how I measured up. I feel I was successful in learning that and it was a great experience. Additionally, I’ll be more courageous next year, concerning the indie floor. There’s a lot of great stuff there. (And as a side note, the outskirts of the Triple A floor are actually pretty good too. The developers of Limbo and the Perforce people hang out there.) I will do it again next year and hopefully have at least 3 days there (if my flight doesn't get delayed.)