For the open-minded, non-topical internet user...

Monday 4 August 2014

The Sony "Gaystation" Scores $4,000 In Aid of LGBTQ

Gaystation Four

The everlasting insult from Xbox fans to their arch enemy, has become a real thing last month. The so called "Gaystation" is a custom rainbow painted Playstation 4.
Last month a Swedish retailer Webhallen placed the unique product on auction at Tradera to celebrate the Stockholm Pride Festival, which is also the biggest one in Scandinavia with 60,000 participants and 600,000 thousand spectators.

Webhallen commented on their peculiar auction with:

"For many young people, the world of games will become a refuge to escape the taunting or worse of real life. On Webhallen, we are gamers in heart and mind, and are keen that as many as possible have the opportunity to feel welcome and enjoy the world's largest and fastest growing interest: video games,"
"On Webhallen, we are gamers in heart and mind, keen that as many as possible have the opportunity to feel welcome and enjoy the world's largest and fastest growing interest: TV & computer games."

The post was accompanied with the #thisisforthegaymers hash tag, which became the campaigns slogan.

The auction closed two days ago with a final bid of 28,300 kr, or $4,118, after 183 bids have been places by the participants. The owner of the first Gaystation edition is called Pumpkaboo, but there is no official comment form the winner and why he chose to dish out so much money on the console.
On the bright side (pun intended), all the profit from the auction is going towards the LGBTQ Newcomers network. The Newcomers is a charity organization that works in aid of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer foreigners that seek shelter and refuge in Sweden due to prosecution in their homes for their sexual believes, choices and identity.

The organization also supports any other LGBTQ foreigners who live in Sweden for other reasons.

Via ColorWare you can get your own Gaystation or generally any kind of station that fits your aesthetic tastes for $660  - considerably less than the original turned out to cost.

Regardless, the custom paint job is limited only to a variety of flat colours on sections of the console plus a choice between matte and gloss finishes. If you truly want a custom device, it's better to ask an artist to do it for you. And, it might come out cheaper too.

Of course, this isn't the first public even in the gaming industry that's LGBTQ oriented.




Gaymer X2 logo




GaymerX2 as you've figured out already is a gaming convention themed and tailored towards the non-heterosexual.

The last edition was held in San Francisco last month from 11th to 13th of July and featured a lot of big names in the Internet and gaming culture like:
  • Alexis Ohanian - co-founder of Reddit 
  • David Gaider - lead writer of the "Dragon Age" series at BioWare 

Even though the organizers managed to pledge $24,298 of the $10,000 requested with more than 450 backers, they officially announced this would be the last even in the foreseeable future due to excessive strain on the volunteering team responsible making it all possible. That and general financial issues have turned the organizers off future editions.

No comments:

Post a Comment