Matt Conn
| Matt Conn | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 30, 1987 San Francisco, California |
Matt Conn (born 1987) is a geek personality based in San Francisco best known for being the founder and CEO of MidBoss, the company that also puts on the GaymerX game convention that seeks to create a safe space for LGBTQ identified gamers. He is also the producer for the MidBoss-produced cyberpunk story adventure game Read Only Memories, as well as the LGBTQ video game documentary Gaming In Color.[1] He is commonly called upon to give opinions on LGBTQ issues in the gaming sphere for publications like TIME[2] and Polygon.[3]
He also is well known for his role as a founding member at BandPage[4] and for winning the Travel Channel television program "America's Worst Driver".[5]
GaymerX
GaymerX (initially named GaymerCon) was founded in February 2012 and launched its Kickstarter on August 2, 2012[6] with a goal of $25,000. It hit its goal within 5 days [7] and ended up raising just over $91,000. The first convention happened on August 3 & 4th, 2013 in San Francisco, California.[8]
GaymerX - Year 1
GaymerX began with a Kickstarter project launched on August 1, 2012, which was covered by sites such as Examiner and GamePolitics.com.[9] The convention raised over $14,000 in its first two days,[10] exceeded its goal of $25,000 as early as August 6,[11][12] and ended with over $90,000.[12] Throughout the fundraising campaign, organizers added new support levels, in addition to existing support levels that include admission to the event and voice acting from Ellen McLain.[13] At a session during the convention, McLain took part as assistant on a marriage proposal to help an attendee propose to his boyfriend by voicing a version of the song Still Alive with reworked lyrics.
GaymerX2
GaymerX2 was held at the InterContinental Hotel from July 11–13, 2014 in downtown San Francisco. It is notable in that in its sophomore year, it featured celebrities like WWE's Darren Young as well as larger sponsors like Indiecade, Ubisoft, Riot Games, and 2K Games.
Read Only Memories
Read Only Memories is an upcoming cyberpunk adventure game for the PC, Ouya, Mac, iOS and Android, executive produced by Matt Conn. It was successfully funded for $64,378 on December 12, 2013.[14][15]
America's Worst Driver
On this series, which aired in mid 2010, Matt was penalized for being the worst driver in San Francisco by having his car destroyed by construction equipment.[16][17] In the finale, Matt was named the winner of the program, and had a car representing him destroyed by Robosaurus.[18]
AWD Finale Winner/Loser Breakdown
| Contestant | Challenge 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt and Eli | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | AMERICA'S WORST DRIVER |
| Andrea and Telea | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | WON A CAR |
| James and Cristin | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | WON A CAR | |
| Michael and Safiya | IN | IN | IN | IN | WON A CAR | ||
| Stephanie and Kelly | IN | IN | IN | WON A CAR | |||
| Parker and Alyssa | IN | IN | WON A CAR | ||||
| Alex and Nadine | IN | WON A CAR | |||||
| Brian and Janett | WON A CAR |
Source: [18]
- (OUT) The driver has won a new car, and is out of the running for America's Worst Driver.
References
- ↑ "'Gaming in Color, Full Cast & Crew'". imdb.com.
- ↑ "'Atari Unveils Pridefest, an LGBT-Themed Social Sim Game'". time.com.
- ↑ "'GaymerX is necessary, but it may not be here next year'". polygon.com.
- ↑ "'RootMusic/BandPage on AngelList'". angel.co.
- ↑ Travel Channel. "'Contestant Bios for Finale'". travelchannel.com.
- ↑ "'GaymerCon Kickstarter Funding Drive Launches'". gamepolitics.com.
- ↑ "'GaymerCon Surpasses Funding Goal in Less Than Five Days'". gamepolitics.com.
- ↑ "'Gay Gamers to Hold Their Own 'Gaymer' Convention'". forbes.com.
- ↑ "GaymerCon Raises over $14,000 in Two Days". GamePolitics.
- ↑ "GaymerCon is about uniting gay gamers, not separation". VentureBeat.
- ↑ "LGBT convention GaymerCon secures Kickstarter funding". ShackNews.
- 1 2 "GaymerCon: Everybody Games". Kickstarter.
- ↑ Lana Polansky. "Ellen McLain Summons GLaDOS to Voice Support for GaymerCon". GameRanx.
- ↑ "ROM: Read Only Memories". Kickstarter.
- ↑ Sarkar, Samit (December 13, 2013). "Cyberpunk adventure Read Only Memories funded on Kickstarter". Polygon.
- ↑ AWD Blog. "'AWD Blog: San Francisco'". americas-worst-driver-blog.travelchanel.com.
- ↑ "'Season 1, Episode 1: San Francisco'". amazon.com VOD.
- 1 2 Laurie Peterson. "'America's Worst Driver' Season Finale". aaatravelviews.com.