Anyone who works in the video game industry is familiar with the annualGame Developers Conferencein San Francisco, California.
Even before Trump, your recourse if you get grabbed at the border is effectively none, he explains.
You dont have your legal rights yet because youre not in the country yet.
A visitor tries an interactive gaming device during the 2025 Game Developers Conference Expo GDC Expo in San Francisco, the United States, March 19, 2025. The 2025 GDC Expo kicked off in San Francisco on Wednesday.Andrea Chen/Xinhua via Getty Images
So there are no lawyers, no phone calls.
You just disappear into the system until you get spit out on the other side.
Ismails offer to help one developersoon turned into a spreadsheet of dozens of foreign industry members.
I cried many times before coming, afraid of not being able to go back home, Moon continues.
Its demoralizing every time, as I already have a residency visa.
Im already allowed to live there.
Yet he was still worried.
But he understands how important the conference is for up-and-coming industry folks.
It just feels like something you worked hard towards for the longest time.
Its a very important panel, she tellsRolling Stone.
(GDC did not immediately respond to a request for statistics on its attendees country of origin.)
And the all-access pass provided by Xbox helped justify his trip.
I didnt want to waste it, he says.
Im looking for work, too, and finding work as someone outside of the U.S. is hard.
Risk vs.
But for me, [immigration] was smooth, quick, less than a minute.
Days later, he tellsRolling Stonehe got home safely without any real fuss.
Maybe they were glad to see me leaving when I said I would, Moon jokes.
Im alone in Dubai, so seeing people and being in this company is magic, he says.
Its like, Oh my God, human company is incredible.
Why am I isolating myself?
Theres not a very big Thai presence in the global game scene, he explains.
