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Board of Director Elections - 2008

Voting for the 2008 election ended mindnight, February 26th.

Brenda Brathwaite, Mark DeLoura and Tim Train will be joining the IGDA's Board of Directors on March 1st for the start of the next term. And, Tom Buscaglia was re-elected to the board for another term. A hearty congratulations to each of them!

A formal press release to announce the new board members and results of officer appointments (ie, chair, secretary, treasurer) will be posted later in March.

 

 

We have 16 brave people who have stepped forth as nominees for the IGDA Board of Directors. Each candidate has provided a brief statement of candidacy, which can viewed by clicking on their name (in alphabetical order).

 

Key Dates and Information

The candidates who are elected to the four available seats will serve three-year terms, beginning March 1st, 2008. Board members who will remain on the board for the next year consist of the following individuals: Bob Bates, Mike Capps, Chris Charla, Chris Crowell, Jennifer MacLean, Mitzi McGilvray, Tobi Saulnier and Coray Seifert.

Current board members who will have completed their terms are: Tom Buscaglia, John Feil and Brian Reynolds.

View the IGDA Election Policies and Procedures Manual (50kb - pdf) for complete details on the IGDA election process and requirements.

 

Statements of Candidacy

Scott Berfield ( scober at xbox dot com )
Lead Program Manager, Xbox LIVE Arcade, Microsoft Corporation

 Scott Berfield

The games business has changed almost beyond recognition in the 24 years I have been involved in it, but the one thing that has not changed is our need for great people. Game development is a craft that stretches the boundaries of traditional disciplines and which requires both technical and creative brilliance and a high level of flexibility and cross-disciplinary thinking. As the leading game developer organization, the IGDA is in a unique position to promote the adoption of standard curricula, support industry internships, develop and provide scholarships, and expand job placement programs and opportunities. As a director, I would work with the rest of the board to reach out to schools and companies to help ensure that we continue to attract and nurture the best possible people and offer them the best opportunities to excel.

Another area that has grown in importance as we have gone from an interesting hobbyist niche market to a dominant entertainment form is in the realm of public policy. The IGDA is in a great position to become an advocate for the development community to the local, state and federal governments. We cannot simply duck our heads and let other organizations speak for us – it is critical that the people making the games that drive this multi-billion dollar industry have a voice in public policy that directly affects us. As a director I would press for the IGDA to form a Political Action Committee (PAC) which will work to promote the interests of the members.

Every one of us does this because we love doing it. It is critical that our leading organization work to preserve, grow, and promote this craft/art/business that we care so deeply about. As a director I would make that my number one priority.

Brenda Brathwaite ( bbrathwaite at member dot igda dot org )
Independent Game Designer / Professor, Savannah College of Art and Design

 Brenda Brathwaite

As a game designer, I feel privileged to have made this my career for the last 26 years. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. Since 1982, I've worked at a variety of developers and publishers, and have been a contractor on MMOs, AAA titles, serious games, casual games and most recently, Facebook games. Now, I continue my work as a contract game designer while teaching the next generation of game designers at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I have also begun working with high school educators to use game design as a means to motivate and educate at-risk youth.

My goals for the IGDA are based on this experience as a game designer:

The IGDA has been good to me and to other developers, and it is this that drives my desire to give back. It advocates on controversial issues, provide a voice of sanity in a sea of calamity, and stand behind developers on issues ranging from censorship to quality of life. It would be a tremendous and humbling honor to be a part of this organization.

Brenda's volunteer contributions:

Tom Buscaglia ( tom at igda dot org )
The Game Attorney, Dev-Biz, Inc.

 Tom Buscaglia

I have spent the past three years on the Board and helping the transition the IGDA into a financially sound, independent and growing organization. With a focus on serving the members, I have worked to make the organization responsive to all of its members and to continually strive to deliver real value. I would like to continue in those efforts by being reelected to the Board.

As a member based organization, the IGDA Board needs to always be cognizant of the desires and needs of its membership. The Board works for the members since, after all, it is your organization.

Some of my pet projects to date include the Employment Contract Quality of Life Certification Taskforce and the formation of the IGDA Foundation, both of which I chair. I have been actively involved in the Programs and Membership Committee, working to better serve the chapters and Special Interest Groups, and the Identity Taskforce, helping to formulate a coherent set of core beliefs and goals for the IGDA. In addition, I continue to moderate the Business and Legal and Quality of Life Forums.

My experience on the Board means that I am well aware of the dynamics and workings of the organization.

If elected, I will work to:

As an attorney and consultant dedicated exclusively to the game industry, I will use all of my legal training, industry experience and business savvy for you, the IGDA members, to keep the Board focused on your needs and goals and to deliver real tangible value to the membership. I will work to make sure that your membership in the IGDA is as rewarding and fun for you as it is for me.

Brief Biography: Tom Buscaglia, The Game Attorney, obtained his Law degree, with honors, from Georgetown University in 1985 and is a game industry attorney and consultant in the Seattle area. Tom has been representing game developers since 1991 and is dedicated to the computer and video game industry, assisting developers in all aspects of their legal and business needs. More info on Tom at www.gameattorney.com.

Tom's volunteer contributions:

Fiona Cherbak ( Fiona at ThemeParkStudios dot com )
VP of Marketing, Theme Park Studios

Fiona Cherbak

If elected as Board Director for IGDA, I would:

I am a passionate advocate and volunteer for the video game industry. I've participated as a volunteer in Women in Games International as Public Relations Chair, Development Chair (fundraising) and Strategic Relations Chair, providing leadership, PR, business development, strategic expertise and resources that have enabled WIGI to advance its initiatives on a global basis and establish its permanency as a grass roots games industry organization. Additionally, I'm serving my second year on the advisory board for SXSW ScreenBurn Festival, and write editorial on career, gender and workplace topics.

It is my profound objective to highlight and advance solutions for industry issues such as quality of life, workplace diversity and gender inclusion, specifically by giving voice to these concerns and offering advocacy and advice. As a founding member and continuing advisory board member of WIGI, I've served the games community for nearly 3 years by producing and promoting various conferences focused on these very issues.

I am committed to creating more educational resources and career opportunities for newcomers to the games business. As a regular speaker for the Game Career Seminar and other industry career events, I'm well versed in the challenges that young people face when entering the industry. By leveraging IGDA's existing programs and tools in this area, I'll endeavor to expand IGDA's horizons in career development for tomorrow's talent.

I would utilize my deep background in entertainment marketing and public relations to assist in identifying and developing marketing and PR opportunities that will position IGDA's agendas and improve its ability to make a substantive difference to members and non-members alike.

Finally, if elected, I'd offer my lengthy fundraising experience and expansive business development network to seek out critical strategic partnerships and funding sources that would help the IGDA achieve its global goals and provide additional, beneficial methods for the game community to participate in the IGDA as corporate sponsors and partners.

Mark DeLoura ( mdeloura at satori dot org )
Videogame Technical Consultant

 Mark DeLoura

It's strange to realize I've been a member of the IGDA for ten years. I don't feel like a gray-hair! But with nearly 15,000 members around the world, the IGDA has certainly entered adolescence. As the industry has evolved and grown over these ten years, so has the IGDA.

Fifteen years ago, when I first joined the game industry, I programmed arcade games. Throughout the years I've worked with Jason and the IGDA on various projects, as I've moved from lead engineer at Nintendo, to editor-in-chief at Game Developer Magazine, developer relations manager at Sony, technical director at Ubisoft, and finally to working as a technical consultant.

As a consultant my concerns are different than they were when I worked for Sony, or Nintendo, and yet my core concerns are still the same: How can we bring more people into the game industry? How can we introduce developers to each other, no matter where they live, so that people around the world make games together? And how can we make it easier to develop games, by talking about the problems and processes together and developing our education systems?

This past year's IGDA conference in San Francisco was hopefully the first of many. I would relish helping the organization build an infrastructure to support more education and community-building through conferences around the world, as other non-profit organizations do. My seven years on the GDC advisory board has helped me learn effective ways to design conferences that are valuable for game developers.

Recently I've begun helping to reboot IGDA San Francisco, and it has been more challenging that I expected! As a member of the IGDA board I'd work to encourage greater communication between chapters, and help make starting up new chapters simpler.

Lastly, I have always been very passionate about making games easier to develop. When I started the Game Programming Gems book series it was from the idea that learning from each other enables us to collectively tackle bigger problems. Making games easier to develop enables us to keep moving the industry forward, hear more voices, and have a broader impact on society.

If there's one idea I'd like to bring to the IGDA as a member of the board, it is exactly that: we are more powerful together than we are as isolated individuals. When we encourage education and community-building, internationally, who knows what we can build together?

Mark's volunteer contributions:

Sean Kauppinen ( sean at kohnkecomm dot com )
Vice President, Kohnke Communications

Sean Kauppinen

I have been a member of the IGDA for the past several years and I have seen how the association can be a positive voice for the game industry. As the largest group of game developers in the world, it is important to understand both the power of our unified voice and the responsibility we have to address not only our own issues within the industry, but also to improve the external perception of game development.

I am not a developer, however I have been a part of this industry for the past 13 years working with many talented people to promote games of all shapes and sizes, and volunteering my time and services for people and associations I feel can have a positive impact on all of us.

When multiple people came to me and said the IGDA could really use my experience to work on the issues of our industry, I had to listen. The timing is right. Two years ago I approached the IGDA and offered to help however I could, and ever since, we have volunteered the distribution and outreach surrounding the association's news in getting it into the hands of the media.

Those of you who know me, know that my priorities are to grow our industry both domestically and internationally, create more and better opportunities, and to present our best and brightest as examples of the wonderful creative business that we are. I know my qualifications in business development, marketing, and public relations would be a huge asset to the IGDA and I hope to have the opportunity to work hard beside all of you.

In my career I have held PR and marketing management positions with Sony Online Entertainment, Ubisoft, bleem!, and 3dfx. I have launched more than 400 titles from Xbox Live Arcade and casual games, to some of the biggest blockbusters around. If elected I will put in the same dedication I have put into my daily work at Kohnke Communications, as well as my responsibilities on the advisory boards for the Games Convention Developers Conference in Leipzig and the GC Asia Developers Conference in Singapore.

I look forward to the opportunity of working with all of you and the board to further the IGDA mission.

Clinton Keith ( clintonnkeith at hotmail dot com)
CTO, High Moon Studios

Clinton Keith

I am asking for your vote in this year's Board of Director Elections. I have been in the games industry for 14 and a member of the IGDA since 2000. I co-founded the San Diego IGDA chapter in 2001, chaired it until 2003 and have also been a regular presenter at GDC.

I believe in the vision of the IGDA and I am excited about its potential. The IGDA has grown steadily in size and scope over the past decade. At the same time our industry has grown. It has grown in market size. It has also grown in the size and diversity of games and the variety of disciplines required to create them. This growth has created opportunities and problems and the IGDA is ideally situated to address both.

I want to see the IGDA explore and expand in the following areas:

The development community should identify and share our improved practices on how to make games competing only on the creativity of what we make. We are in a market with considerable growth potential. If we raise the quality and value of all our products, we will grow the market together. We need to do this because the increasing cost of creating games is far outstripping our current reach and rate of growth. This has forced us to make games we would rather not make and work in environments that are not ideal. The IGDA can help change this and if elected I will help them do just that.

Clinton's volunteer contributions:

Michel Kripalani ( michel dot kripalani at autodesk dot com )
Sr. Industry Manager, Games - Autodesk

Michel Kripalani

I have been the Sr. Industry Manager, Games at Autodesk for close to 4 years. In this role, I travel the world, speak with developers, analyze industry trends and find ways to make better tools. Basically, I act as a global evangelist. My background in games goes back 17 years. I founded and was the CEO of Presto Studios, an early, independent development facility located in San Diego. My partners and I grew the company to a healthy size, shipped some great games (The Journeyman Project series, Myst 3:Exile, Whacked! and many others) and had a blast doing it.

The IGDA is a vital organization for our industry and I have been a supporter for many years. I first joined 14 years ago, back in 1994. I helped to co-found the San Diego chapter in 2001. Many of the early San Diego chapter board meetings took place in the Presto Studios office.

Game development is a complicated process and my personal interest is in finding ways to make it easier. Some of the most creative and innovative films to come out in the last 10-20 years had nothing to do with technology. The sooner we get to an equivalent place in games, the sooner we will have some true, breakthrough creative masterpieces.

I view myself as an artist and game design as an art form. Photography and film were each criticized as “not art worthy” in their infancy. It took decades for each medium to be widely accepted for its artistic contribution and social value. From my perspective, the games industry is in the same position today. One of my goals is to help games mature and find widespread acceptance in society. The more that we can talk about the social impact of games and the less we talk about how many polygons make up the scene the faster we will reach this place.

In my public speaking role at Autodesk, I often message the importance of the IGDA and all of the chapter organizations worldwide. I have been able to generate significant, genuine corporate support. Autodesk was the lead sponsor for the IGDA Leadership Forum in November and we consistently sponsor the IGDA luncheons at GDC. The more the organization goes global, with solid connectivity between the chapters, the better it is for all of us.

Michel's volunteer contributions:

Tim Langdell ( tim at edgegames dot com )
Independent Game Developer (Founder, EDGE Games) / Game Professor

Tim Langdell

I'm a veteran of the game industry having formed EDGE Games (formerly Softek) in 1979, and am a proud member of the IGDA. Around 200 games later, there've been many EDGE ventures: in the early 80s we were effectively EA Europe and Sega Europe, and most of you know EDGE Magazine. A Brit by birth (now based in LA), I co-founded AIAS, have served on the AIAS board and am a long-time passionate advocate for the games industry. As well as running EDGE Games, I'm an evangelist for games education having started games courses at USC Film school in 1992, and am now lead game faculty at National University where I run the game design/production MFA program. I'm an active writer and speaker: I've published several books on games and conducted numerous panels and roundtables at GDC in the IGDA tracks over the years, speaking on game design and game education.

I am extremely excited about the IGDA's future: with active chapters and energetic SIGs, we are a vibrant voice dealing with crucial issues such as credits standardization, quality of life, game curriculum, etc.. If elected to the board I would have three key goals:

  1. Further empower the IGDA special initiatives like Games Curriculum, Quality of Life and Credits Standardization. Outstanding efforts by IGDA volunteers have led to incredible progress on several special interests – if elected I would encourage the board to give even more support to these groups .
  2. Increase communication both internally and externally. The IGDA can build better strategic relations with other game, film and TV industry bodies. Since I am a member of AIAS, the Producers Guild, the Writers Guild, the Television Academy , and AFTRA, if elected to the board I would use my connections to help foster such relations. I would also actively promote even greater communication between the board and the membership and between members.
  3. Help make the IGDA an even more effective career resource for emerging talent and game veteran's alike. Identifying job opportunities and finding ways to advance our careers impacts us all. If elected I would work tirelessly on these issues.

Over the years I've worked at about every level in the games industry: programmer, designer, producer, writer, executive -- as well as chairman and board member of various game industry bodies. If elected I will bring all my experience to bear on taking the IGDA to the next level.

Tim's volunteer contributions:

Michael Lubker ( snowballz dot game at gmail dot com )
QA Analyst, Aspyr Media

 Michael Lubker

I am currently the Lead Coordinator of the Indie SIG and have held that position since 2004. I also contribute to the Austin chapter, the IGDA Speakers Bureau, and helped found Austin's Independent Game Conference. I currently work in QA at Aspyr Media on various projects and platforms, and on indie projects.

My interests in the IGDA include furthering the cause of independent game development, supporting new developers and getting them up to speed, and making it easier to legally acquire and use abandonware games. I would also like to assist in improving links between different game studios and other industry businesses.

To help these causes, some of the efforts I plan to champion are:

Michael's volunteer contributions:

Ed Magnin ( Ed at EdMagnin dot com )
Director of Development, Magnin & Associates

Ed Magnin

I have been actively involved in the game industry since 1979. I was fortunate to work at some of the top studios in their days – MicroProse, Cinemaware, Virgin Games, and Park Place Productions. Magnin & Associates has been in business since 1993. We are a Nintendo authorized DS developer and an Affiliated Studio of the IGDA.

In addition to my game development work, I have also simultaneously been a game educator for the past 10 years. I currently chair the Game and Simulation Program of DeVry University's Dallas campus. I had previously started a small game program at Palomar College near San Diego and taught graduate courses at the Guildhall at SMU near Dallas. I have also served on other non-profit boards.

Our industry is going through a period of unprecedented growth. Each year we need more and more qualified applicants to meet the demand. Nintendo said they were tired of fighting over their slice of the pie and that they were going to make a bigger pie – and that's exactly what they've done. Who ever thought that we'd see an online game enroll 9 million players?

We are going to see an even greater diversity of game players, which will require an equal diversity among game developers. I would like to support the efforts of Women in Games International and Girls in Games. I would like to see us reach out to disadvantaged schools and let them know there is a career available to those willing to learn the craft and do the work.

We are starting to see more online distribution and alternative ways to bring games to the market. Alternative funding methods, such as venture funds, could take “points” in a game and not in the company that made it. We have all seen some extremely large mergers this past year.

As the large companies get even larger the IGDA becomes all that more relevant. Who else advocates for the individual game developer? Who else encourages us to get together annually at GDC or monthly at our local chapters and share our knowledge and experience? Who else helps mentor young people seeking to break into our industry?

This is an exciting time to be a game developer and I would like to help the IGDA steer the way.

Ed's volunteer contributions:

Chris Melissinos ( chris dot melissinos at sun dot com )
Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chris Melissinos

Video games have become a permanent part of our global culture. We are witnessing the uniting of multiple generations of gamers in the living room in a way we have not seen since the introduction of the television itself. It is vital that we continue to build and evolve the community around this explosive medium.

I believe that it is the duty of the IGDA to cultivate an organization that continues to educate, build community and reach out to the next generation of content creators. If elected, I would focus on the following areas:

  1. Building stronger ties to current video game thought leaders in the community.
  2. Build more University level programs that can help guide those wanting to work in the video games industry.
  3. Help establish a regular cadence of statistics, reporting and information that more accurately reflects the output and consumption of the video games business.
  4. Focus on growing the “International” representation of the IGDA.

It is important that the work we do in the development of video games is shared in a broad sense. I would seek to gain direct support from the leaders of this industry to actively share their insights and advice within the whole of the IGDA community, not just at the chapter level.

University outreach demands our attention. As more universities offer degrees in video game development, it is vital that there is consistency across these offerings. I would work to get university representatives involved with the IGDA to ensure that their graduates are armed with the skills needed to participate in todays video game industry. I would also look to establish campus “ambassadors” to further community building and information exchange.

Understanding the bigger trends of the industry is directly in line with the role of the IGDA. I would seek to have more consistent and reliable reporting of statics and trends of our industry that the IGDA community can leverage.

I believe that we need to have a much stronger global presence and would work with the other board members to broaden our reach and help establish programs that cater to the specific needs of different geographies.

Video games have played a central role throughout my life and I would be honored to serve on the board of the IGDA. For more information about me, please visit my blog at http://blogs.sun.com/chrism. Thank you.

Marty O'Donnell ( martyod at bungie dot com )
Audio Director/Composer, Bungie LLC.

Marty O'Donnell

ARTTE is my motto; Attract and Retain the Top Talent in Entertainment. Top talent doesn't mean “star talent”. It means the best and most creative programmers, designers, testers, writers, artists, musicians, audio designers and all others who are able to make valuable contributions to entertainment products. I believe that this is more than just a goal of an individual or a studio, but can and should be the goal of the entire game industry as we compete in the arena of wider entertainment. As one of the new owners of the newly independent game studio, Bungie, I'd like to be able to share my thoughts and experience within the board of the IGDA, a group that has long understood that the primary reason games are successful is due to the talent and work of the developer teams who actually create the games.

I've had a 25 year career in various entertainment mediums; film, TV, radio and for the past 11 years games. I've been privileged to be able to work with incredibly creative and talented individuals and teams, but none have been better than those in the game industry. In many ways, these teams are the most under-appreciated and under-valued in all of entertainment. The IGDA has and will continue to work on changing this through better public awareness, publisher partnerships, working with mainstream media, and most importantly the direct involvement of the individual members of the IGDA. We can make the game industry the best place to be for creative people.

Brief bio: After receiving a Masters of Music Composition degree from USC, Marty wrote of bunch of jingles like “We are Flintstones Kids”, and “Mr. Clean”. Then worked on games like Riven, the Sequel to Myst , and the Halo series. He's owned his own company, O'Donnell/Salvatori Total Audio, been a freelancer, worked for Microsoft, and currently co-owns Bungie LLC. He's also on the board of trustees for the IGDA Foundation.

Marty's volunteer contributions:

Joseph Olin ( joseph at interactive dot org )
President, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

Joseph Olin

Dear IGDA members,

I believe that now is the time for the IGDA and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences to stand and work together to advance the talented people who truly are the foundation of today's interactive entertainment industry. As an independent organization whose primary mission provides the means for game makers to promote their best work through the Interactive Achievement Awards, D.I.C.E. Summit and Into the Pixel, there are a number of ways through establishing a formal relationship that both organizations can be more successful in fulfilling their missions.

Although like many, I began my career as a self-taught coder, the majority of my career in games which goes back to1986, has been as a publishing, marketing or sales executive. I headed the account team for Sega during the Genesis/GameGear era, launched Tomb Raider while at US Gold Eidos and handled online marketing and community for MicroProse during the Falcon IV era. I was the publisher for the edutainment team of Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliot, creators of Carmen Sandiego. My participation, in almost every aspect of our industry has served me well as head of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and will help allow me to be an effective steward within the IGDA board.

Many of the issues that I faced when first appointed by the AIAS board are similar to those currently confronting the IGDA today. Even though the Academy had a broadly defined mission, the organization was not able to truly execute our programs in support of it. The Academy was financially weak; industry support was hardly universal, and the Academy's membership was stagnant and not involved. The success and stability that the AIAS has enjoyed over the three few years is the direct result of my approach to engaging our board of directors, creating a plan that they could endorse and support, and then tirelessly working with the Academy's membership to participate in making this plan a reality.

The IGDA, through its mission, board structure, and broad number of constituencies comprises a great asset that when focused and inspired, can help raise the awareness that game makers play within the world of culture and entertainment. I would be honored to use my experience so that the AIAS and IGDA become the leading proponents for all who wish to create great games and interactive entertainment.

Brian Robbins ( brobbins at fuelindustries dot com )
Executive Producer and Gaming Evangelist, Fuel Industries

 Brian Robbins

My career began as a junior programmer, and over the years I have worked on over 100 casual game titles. My current role, allows me to evangelize the benefits of gaming to our clients, our partners, and to others already in the industry. Fortunately, this allows me to invest a lot of my time and energy into promoting the ideals of the IGDA. I've always believed very strongly in the concept of "paying it forward". That is, you can never hope to repay the efforts of all those who helped you get to where you are today, and thus your only choice is to help those who are in the position you once were.

For some this means sharing their knowledge and expertise through white papers, articles, forum posts and the like. For others this means assisting with students, and helping people break into the industry. Still others approach this from a more pragmatic viewpoint, and have created the IGDA Foundation. The common theme throughout is that the people who contribute have volunteered their time not to benefit themselves directly, but to benefit the community at large, and I believe they do so because they know it is the right thing to do. Further, I would argue it is the only thing to do.

Over the years I have served in many roles within the IGDA, and I feel that this broad experience would make me an ideal candidate for the Board of Directors. I know firsthand the issues facing chapters small and large. I have lead both the Casual and Online Games SIGs, and I have always given a helping hand wherever I could.

If elected to the Board of Directors, I will strive to make sure the IGDA continues to represent the ideals it was founded upon:

The next three years will see a tremendous amount of change for all of us, and I sincerely hope that you will allow me to help steer the IGDA towards an even better and brighter future.

Brian's volunteer contributions:

Tim Train ( timtrain at bighugegames dot com )
Studio General Manager, Big Huge Games / THQ

Tim Train

The IGDA has made tremendous strides in the past few years. We've moved out of the shadow of CMP and have doubled our size and budget. Now, it's time to truly “level up” the organization as an advocacy group for game industry professionals. One potentially powerful tool, nearly within reach, would be to create certification standards in areas where we've already made great progress, including Quality of Life, Diversity, and Credits.

The move toward certification to protect developer interests has a successful pilot in the IGDA Credits initiative. The Game Crediting Guide includes proposed standards (“must” rules) and guidelines (“suggested” rules) meant to fix the uneven practices seen throughout the industry, with the expressed goal of creating a Credits Certification Program and awarding an “IGDA Certified Crediting” logo for companies that follow the standards.

Now imagine being able to go to the IGDA website and find information on how well a prospective employer conforms to published IGDA Quality of Life standards, or access a database on diversity at a given studio, drawn from optional survey responses of IGDA members. Such knowledge can empower game developers to make better choices when evaluating job offers, and creates powerful incentives for larger companies to remain competitive in those fields—in short, strengthening the hand of the people who actually make the games. The IGDA now has the clout and strength of numbers to put these practices in place.

My interest in the IGDA is the same as my interest in the games industry—I love that smart people can make a (hopefully) good living on their own terms, by stretching their creativity on a day-to-day basis. Fostering the environment for that creativity is what has always excited me as a founder of Big Huge Games, and why I'm seeking a position on the IGDA board. I've been fortunate to work on many fantastic titles and teams at Microprose, Firaxis, and Big Huge over the course of sixteen years in the industry; feel free to check out a more in-depth bio here.