In the “old days” of software and game development, the term “developer” was most often used as a synonym for a “programmer” or “coder.” While in the IGDA we’ve evolved the term “developer” to mean essentially anyone who’s involved in the creation of games, we of course haven’t lost sight of that vital function of programmers and their role in architecting the technical foundation of the games we create. So in this issue, welcome to the world of game programming, as we also recap our activities at GDC, the Scholars program and keep you current on happenings in the IGDA!

- Kate Edwards

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Table of Contents

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson
• Events
• E-Reader PDF

Editor in Chief – Elizabeth LaPensée; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

Intrinsic Algorithm’s Dave Mark described one of the core challenges that Game AI currently faces neatly as the difference between the player having “an experience” contrasted with them having “the experience”. On the tabletop, game designers very early on came to rely on the presence of a human intelligence to manage the flow of the game, and shift the authorial control very much towards the players – to let them tell their own stories, using pre-built settings and rules frameworks. That access to a human intelligence has been a limiting factor for videogames, and it’s only been recently that developers have begun to explore ways that we can start to transfer the responsibility for shaping the experience (in meaningful terms) back to the players, rather than force a specific narrative, level design or pacing on them.

But besides using AI to control the flow of the game and to give more control to the players in terms of how they react to the world, there’s another big consideration to bear in mind when crafting AI for Games, and that’s ensuring that the player’s expectations are met. Nothing is more immersion breaking for players than seeing something happen in the game world that isn’t what they expected, and this is the quickest way to get accusations of poor AI development than this kind of situation.

Consider a situation where two soldiers are patrolling an area. If the player kills one of them, the other needs to react to that in some way – they should notice their colleague is missing, react with suspicion or alarm and so on. Not doing this would be considered immersion breaking, it’s unrealistic. We can take the exact same scenario and instead replace the soldiers with zombies. They can still “patrol” the same area, but now a lack of reaction feels more engaging. We have much lower expectations for zombie characters, so using the same algorithms we have two different outcomes, one that is “right” and one that is “wrong”.

This example highlights that AI and world design go hand in hand. Your game design will specify a lot of how the player interacts with the world, but it also needs to describe how the world interacts back; and that is fundamentally the role of AI, to manage the timing and outcomes of those interactions. That means that you need to talking to your AI team early in the design process to ensure that the “feel” of the world interactions can be met by their technical implementation. Equally, involving the AI team early means that they can talk about aspects of the design that could be put under the control of an artificially intelligent system, that maybe non-AI specialists wouldn’t consider initially.

We’re on the cusp of a revolution in the way AI is used in games. New titles like Linden Labs’ Versu (http://www.versu.com/ ) are leading the way in terms of showing how richer experiences can be offered to the player through a much more intelligent approach to simulating environments. Indie titles such as City Conquest ( http://intelligenceenginestudios.com/cityconquest.htm ) are experimenting with incorporating AI techniques into the development workflow for example by automatically balancing and tweaking parameters to optimise level design. Michael Cook’s “Games by Angelina” ( http://www.gamesbyangelina.org/ ) shows that entire games can be generated by AI systems, and still be engaging and enjoyable. We’re closer than ever to unlocking the true potential of AI in games, and the IGDA’s AI Special Interest Group is here to make sure you know what’s possible and where you can go to learn a lot more about the techniques involved. Please swing by our website for more information and to join our mailing list: http://igda.org/ai/

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

STEP ONE: RELAX AND ASSESS THE TASK AT HAND

Effective learning cannot begin unless you clear your mind . Try to understand the nature of the beast you are trying to tame. How does it affect your immediate goals and long-term career? What materials (i.e.: software, books, etc.)  are needed to enable the personal growth you are trying to achieve? This is the best time to be realistic about what you can achieve as opposed to what you want to achieve. Don’t cripple your plan by putting unrealistic expectations on yourself. Know what you want and go for it, but don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t an expert in a few weeks. It helps to have a series of goals and milestones.

STEP TWO: REACH OUT

Utilize your community and reach out. The people you connect with may even hold you accountable for the new milestones you chose to take on. With the help of local studios, IGDA Philadelphia has established a large community where we freely exchange ideas and hurdles in the self-learning process. This allows us  to help one another with book recommendations, new perspectives, etc. Chances are, in your location, there is someone out there who has been/or is currently going through what you are going through. This step is where networking and having pretty solid social skills come into play. If you find yourself at a loss for words at events like these or too young for a Game Dev Drink Up , then hit the forums or the email list! Find any way possible to reach out and learn as much as you can about what you are taking on while establishing a network of support. You’ll need it for the next step.

STEP THREE: GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

Some learn best by reading or with visual aides, other by getting dirty and elbow deep in what they are learning. Game development is a pragmatic beast by nature. You can read books and get degrees, but when push comes to shove its about what can you produce. A best practice   is not to simply follow what the books say. Experiment with concepts. True learning begins  when you can take those lessons  and implement your own ideas . The products that you create (in your new tool/skill) could be shown off to your peers and when they ask questions you can back up your answers with legitimate experience rather than saying “I followed this book…”

A study at the University of Texas expands on this idea. The study shows that people effectively retain 10 percent of what they read; 20 percent of what they hear; 30 percent of what they see; 50 percent of what they see and hear; 70 percent of what they say; and 90 percent of what they do and say. (Metcalf, 1997)

**Hopefully you are reading this out-loud**

  STEP FOUR: GET INVOLVED

Getting involved in your local chapter or special interest groups  augments your professional (and social) support network. Expanding your horizons  as a well-rounded developer is a result of effective learning. Having the ability to compare your progress to other developers allows for quality discussions . This in turn, ignites more ideas and ultimately more ways to get your hands dirty thus propelling you to an even deeper understanding. In the end, everyone wins. You expand your network, meet experts ,  have one more thing to add to that résumé and the overall network continues to grow stronger. Building relationships with people (virtually and at your local chapter) are key to gaining  deeper understanding which would result in landing that job or promotion.

Sources:

Metcalf, T. (1997) Listening to your clients, Life Association News, 92(7) p16 – 18

Keith Nieves is the Treasurer of the Philly IGDA chapter and an independent game developer. With a focus on design, Keith takes real-life experiences and couples them with innovative gameplay with a dash of imagination to capture the player’s mind. But, when he is not working on a game of his own or helping out the local chapter, you can typically find him playing StarCraft 2 or any other game under the pretense of “Design Research”.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

As it does every GDC, the International Game Developers Association — the largest nonprofit membership organization serving the video game development community — was there to meet new people and greet old friends. In many ways, GDC is a family reunion for the IGDA, as no other event gathers so many of the IGDA leaders and members in one place at the same time.

And, much like a typical family reunion, not everything always goes exactly to plan. (More on that later.)

New Leadership

This year’s GDC was the first time for many to see the new IGDA leadership in action. New Executive Director Kate Edwards was just appointed at the end of 2012 and new Operations Manager Tristin Hightower joined the IGDA only a few weeks before GDC.

Upon arriving at GDC, Kate, Tristin, and the IGDA Board of Directors immediately rallied the troops. They assured the membership that old problems plaguing the IGDA (a lack of clear communication channels, a bulk of abandoned or underdeveloped projects, and a website that seems to always be under construction) will soon be worries of the past.

Logistics was a key message – they understand that working for the improvement of the video game industry at an international level is difficult if the IGDA leadership cannot effectively communicate with the local Chapter heads and Special Interest Group (SIG) leaders. Improving the internal infrastructure of the IGDA will be the top priority throughout the next year.

Another message was improving both the tangible and intangible benefits of IGDA memberships. While many plans have been put into action (including the return of physical cards) and others are being processed (more discounts), much of the discussion was focused on generating more ideas. Keep an eye out here for future announcements about these benefits.

Chapters & Special Interest Groups

The local IGDA chapters are the lifeblood of the organization, so the main focus of the Chapter Leaders Meeting was how to best improve each individual chapter and the chapter system as a whole. Each chapter’s regular attendance varying from single digits to hundreds of people, and each area has different needs to fulfill. The group agreed that the local chapters’ main focus should be to become what their communities needed most, instead of trying to force an agenda on the community.

Further, many discussions centered on cross-chapter collaboration and sharing. If one chapter has a speaker come in, there should be a real effort to record that session and share it for other IGDA members and chapters to view. Skype sessions and online meet-ups were also discussed.

The IGDA Special Interest Groups Leaders meeting had a similar theme. Sheri Rubin, secretary of the IGDA Board and head of the SIG Committee, laid out a vision where SIGs are far more mission-driven, have multiple leaders, and where it is easy for volunteers to contribute in whatever way they choose. “You never turn down a volunteer.” – Sheri.

It was also made clear that there would be some housecleaning in the SIGs. Some of the SIGs are defunct and need to be revived, absorbed by other SIGs, or simply shut down. In addition, they are looking into solutions for SIGs that are not actually SIGs, but more focused on broader career paths such as Game Design or Programming. There is value in these groups, but they are inherently different than the smaller, focused SIGs.

VIP Luncheon

Every year at GDC, the IGDA Board of Directors and leadership invite the SIG leaders, chapter heads, and other hard-working volunteers by holding a VIP Luncheon. It is a chance for the IGDA leadership to show their gratitude to all of the volunteers that go above and beyond to contribute to the organization.

The luncheon is also an opportunity for the IGDA to name its Most Valuable Players for their service to the organization. The awards, first introduced in 2005, are the IGDA’s way of highlight those individuals or groups that shine beyond expectation. This year’s 2013 MVP Award winners are:

■     The Bohle Company

■     Daniel Greenberg

■     Heather M. Decker-Davis & Luke Dicken

With so many members gathered together, it is also the perfect opportunity for Kate to address everyone. She reinforced her messages from the day before, reassuring a renewed focus on organization and communication as bedrocks for the IGDA to work more diligently and efficiently in the future.

Advocacy Track

A point of pride for the IGDA this year is the partnership with GDC for the Advocacy track. These earnest discussions of the issues being faced in the industry happened all throughout the week, and most were directly co-sponsored with the IGDA.

Talks this year included a look at the damage of cloned games, the dangerous perception of the average gamer, equality for all genders in online gaming spaces, and designing games for maximum real-life impact. No speaker held their punch as they discussed how we as developers can do better for each other and for society.

Of particular note was the multi-speaker event on Wednesday afternoon: #1ReasonToBe, a session focused on what it means to be a woman in games. The six panelists (Leigh Alexander, Mattie Brice, Robin Hunicke, Kim McAuliffe, Brenda Romero, and Elizabeth Sampat) delivered unique and varied experiences, but each was passionate and to the point that we, as an industry, need to be more inclusive. Many shed tears as the women received a standing ovation.

IGDA Party

The next day, a report came out via Forbes about the IGDA Party and some of the hired costumed perfomers that were in attendance. It must be addressed, despite the pain it caused the members of the IGDA and the game development community.

On Tuesday night, March 26th, hundreds of people piled into Ruby Skye for the YetiZen party, co-sponsored by the IGDA. While some expected the party would be a great networking event or a place to discuss issues with fellow game developers, they quickly found out that this was a loud party, including live music, a dance floor, and (unknown to the IGDA at the time) costumed models wandering the event. These models interacted with guests on the floor and briefly danced on stage at the invitation of one of the musical performers, along with YetiZen’s two founding partners.

The IGDA, as an organization, is focused on Advocacy and making this industry as inclusive as possible for everyone. No excuse can make up for the fact that a party co-sponsored by the IGDA objectified women and made some people uncomfortable. The IGDA leadership was very disappointed that this happened, and are committed to ensuring this does not happen again.

Specifically, Kate Edwards recently announced via her Executive Director’s blog (http://www.igda.org/edblog) that the IGDA will no longer have “parties,” and will instead focus on fully inclusive networking events. This is just one in many steps that are being taken to ensure that the actions of the IGDA fully match the message that it broadcasts.

Annual Meeting

While it is understandable that part of the Annual Meeting dealt with the events of the party and how it came to pass, the IGDA’s annual meeting during GDC was also an opportunity for the IGDA Leadership to talk to the membership at large about their goals for the coming year.

These goals include:

■     The completion of a new website, a problem that has plagued the IGDA for far too long.

■     An iOS and Android app for members focused on organization news and communication.

■     Physical IGDA Membership cards.

■     Add more tangible benefits to membership.

■     Adding additional support channels for Chapters, SIGs, and Project Leaders while also holding them more responsible for continuing their activities.

■     An increased focus on making the IGDA more International.

■     Better long-term planning for events such as GDC.

The post-meeting Q&A focused in part on the party again. While more details were revealed, the important factor is embodied in the meeting’s opening statement: “One of the core values of the IGDA is encouraging inclusion and diversity. Obviously we need to be more vigilant in our efforts. We intend to be so in the future.”

Takeaways from the IGDA @ GDC 2013

It will be far too easy for most people to remember the IGDA @ GDC for the unfortunate situation at the party and the angry reactions. It doesn’t matter how it happened, it happened, and the IGDA was associated with it.

But, if you take time to look at the whole picture, there are a lot of reasons to have hope. There is a reinvigorated IGDA leadership that truly understands the tasks ahead of them. The goals of the IGDA, focusing on communication, logistics, and long term planning, will not only help avoid issues such as what occurred, but will prepare the organization for the challenges ahead.

More importantly, this is a time to let your voices be heard. The IGDA Leadership needs to know what you think and how you feel. If you don’t like the answers you hear, let them know that too. They are working to serve your needs, so that we can collectively make this video game industry that we love a better place for all of us to work in.

Doug Hill has been a game designer, writer, and producer in the game industry for over ten years. He is currently a Lead Game Designer for Disney Playdom, and is working on an unannounced social game.

Doug has previously worked with several companies including Take Two, PopCap, Nickelodeon, THQ, Warner Bros. and Activision. He has worked on such franchises as Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Garfield, Wizards of Waverly Place, Dr. Seuss, and UNO. His most recent release was the Disney Playdom social game Armies of Magic for Facebook. 

Images by Morten Skovgaard.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

When I entered Microsoft as a cartographer on Encarta Encyclopedia, interrupting my Ph.D progress to do so, I didn’t think my time there would last beyond a temporary assignment. But I’m one of those people who, when they perceive a need, they strive to fill the need. It was clear to me that Microsoft could benefit from my geopolitical and cultural background, so I decided to accept the challenge of trying to make change happen. Thirteen years later, I left the company with the satisfaction that we had changed the way the company manages critical cultural issues that many people just don’t think about – not only in the games work but across the entire company.

Q:  What can you share about your first experience working within the games industry that revealed opportunities for you professionally?

My first experience with the games industry came from within Microsoft, even before I created its geopolitical team. I was working on Encarta World Atlas and was approached by a team that was working on a new game that would be set in the near future. They needed my assistance in deciding upon a realistic geopolitical scenario where two factions would be at war and also meet specific parameters for land vs. sea battles, types of weapons, etc. Given my background, I was able to suggest them to a few likely flashpoints where a conflict could be likely and fit their requirements. It was the first time I realized that my path into geography might be able to take me back into a more creative field like game development (a lot of people don’t know that my original aspiration was to be a conceptual artist for Lucasfilm and work on something Star Wars-related. I finally got that chance years later when I worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic!).

Q:  How did you find out about IGDA and what helped you to make the decision to not only join, but to eventually fill leadership roles within the organization?

I knew of the IGDA during my time at Microsoft, but after I left the company in 2005, I was looking for a way to get more closely involved with the games industry and the IGDA was the natural choice. I was able to connect with a variety of people in a wide range of job functions and I really enjoyed the collaborative tone of the Chapters and Special Interest Groups. So joining the IGDA was kind of a no-brainer for me, there wasn’t (and isn’t) any organization like it out there. As for the leadership roles, again, I’m the type of person who likes to identify a need and aims to fill it. When I saw there was no Localization SIG, which most closely represents my area of work, I created the group. When I saw that the Seattle chapter needed help to revive itself, I stepped up as a board member and helped the group get back on track.

Q:  You established a consultancy around culturalization and no doubt have built a large and diverse international games network. How do you envision leveraging your network to help the mission of IGDA?

With a background as a geographer and given my culturalization work, I have established a broad, robust international network over the years. This has been instrumental in my IGDA duties as I feel I already have a solid understanding of various cultures and regional issues, as well as a good foundation for what’s going on in the global game industry. The best part is that for what I don’t know, I have good contacts to rely upon for answers in various parts of the world. I feel this will further help us broader the IGDA’s reach and really emphasize the “I” part of the IGDA.

Q:  I would imagine that you have a unique perspective on where you believe IGDA needs to be headed.  Can you share any ideas or future focus that you feel would make a difference for membership growth and benefit for current members?

There are many, many revisions, fixes and changes in the works across the IGDA, all aiming at making this organization a mature, professional association. We’re going to finally fix the website, revamp our membership structure, continue adding incentives and benefits, and we have some fun ideas in mind for increasing our membership as well as broader marketing to help the public understand what we do for a living. Stay tuned!

Q:  What do you tell indie developers about how IGDA membership helped your own business?  

Even though I’m not a game developer, I was an independent freelancing consultant. The IGDA was critical to helping me not only understand the broader landscape of the industry with notable representatives across a wide range of game development functions, but also connecting me with projects that might require my assistance. Knowledge building was the primary reason I joined the IGDA, but it quickly became clear that it was the place to network, establish a reputation for my specialty and make good friends in the process. As most people know, being connected with others in a meaningful way is a key part of forwarding one’s career, and I know that was the case for me in the IGDA.

Q:  Is there one thing that you feel industry professionals are missing in their bid for success?

It’s difficult to pinpoint one factor as it can vary from person to person, but if I had to select one general thing, I think it’s ensuring they maintain a broader perspective and connection with what’s going on in the industries surrounding games – in IT, media and so forth. I think it’s also important to keep an eye on the general vibe in the public eye about how games and game developers are perceived on a global scale. If someone feels familiar with their own country or region’s viewpoint, then it could help to broaden that knowledge to other areas of the world. This not only helps provide perspective but could be inspiring for exploring new game types, themes and scenarios.

Q:  I love the cool rap YouTube http://youtu.be/9LXsdB4CSPY on your site that shows another talent.  Seems a unique way to promote a business.  Got any fun and different ideas for promoting IGDA?

Well thanks, that was really fun to do – that’s how I spent Mother’s Day in 2011, underneath the West Seattle Bridge making that video. It was my take on the Dillon music video for his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” which was done again by INXS on their music video for “Mediate.”

As for the IGDA, yes we’re working on a variety of ideas for promoting the IGDA and looking to do a much better job of not only raising the profile of the organization in the public eye but helping developers take pride in the work they do. We’ll be rolling out some specific ideas in the coming months, so I don’t want to go into those details until they’re finalized.

Q:  Lastly, since we know you probably rap for grins, what do you do to relax?  

Actually that video I did was probably the first and only time I’d do a rap; my musical tastes lie elsewhere. For relaxation, I always start my day with exercise, usually a run but I love to swim too. I actually do a lot of writing to relax, as I have my regular column on culturalization issues but I’m also working on two book projects – one on content culturalization for game developers and the other a children’s book that emphasizes geocultural literacy. And yes of course I play games, usually trying to keep up as much as I can with mainstream titles, in addition to various casual and indie games (I’m always open to suggestions!). I listen to music to relax (lots of classical, movie scores, rock, etc.), and I’m a frequent movie goer. I also like to cosplay at events like San Diego Comic-Con and travel is a true passion for me, whether it’s a local road trip or somewhere around the world.

Mary Kurek is a Professional Networker in the Games Industry, published author of a nationally endorsed business networking book, and industry writer. Visit her at  http://www.marykurek.com  or http://www.twitter.com/gamemarketing

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

The short answer is yes, you can write polished games in HTML5 and have them run across a myriad of browsers, platforms and devices with consistent results.

The longer answer – the subject of this article – is that HTML5 is still young, and there are real world pitfalls which should be avoided whenever possible.

Beyond the buzzword

So when we’re talking about HTML5, what we really mean is Javascript (JS) coupled with graphics and interactive APIs exposed to JS by the browser.  Like any mature technology, Javascript comes with its own set of dogma and misinformation.

Here is a short list of common misconceptions:

“Javascript is slow!”

This was true until the browser makers started pouring R&D into JS optimization, circa 2005.

Nowadays, according to this list (http://attractivechaos.github.com/plb/) it’s generally the fastest dynamic language – on par with static languages Java and C#, and only about half the speed of native-compiled C.  That’s not bad – it’s awesome.

“Javascript doesn’t have classes!”

We hear this one a lot, and it just isn’t true; the prototypal inhertiance in JS delivers all the basic OO features you’d want in a game: member variables; member functions; sub-classing; static members; polymorphism; reflection; function/constructor overloading; type identification (instanceof).

Check out the object-oriented section of Tom Novelli’s JS reference for more information (http://tnovelli.net/ref/js).

“Javascript isn’t secure because it isn’t compiled!”

The use of minification and obfuscation (if reflection isn’t needed), turning your code into a whitespaceless, commentless heap of nonsense to the human eye is as effective as native code compilation.  Remember, anything run on the client, be it Javascript, Java or C++ is not secure, and obscurity is not security.

“Javascript isn’t a real programming language!”

This is just silly; look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript.  From a language design perspective, Javascript is pretty nice.  It’s a pared-down version of Scheme Lisp with a C-like syntax and Smalltalk-style prototypal objects.

By the way, the next version of Javascript – ES6 – is going to be sweet.

Now that we’ve addressed some dogma concerning Javascript, let’s talk about HTML5.

HTML5 simply adds to the existing HTML specification we all know and love, and as game developers we only really care about a few choice bits.  So here are some exciting things you can use today with HTML5, and some pitfalls.

Canvas

It’s the feature we’ve all heard about concerning games in HTML5.  The Canvas creates a 2D drawing space on your web page.   You can control the frame buffer size (pixel width and height) and set the screen size of the canvas element; it will automatically stretch or shrink the buffer to the element size.  You can even create off-screen canvases and copy one canvas to another, giving the potential for powerful effects and/or performance enhancements.

With a simple setInterval timer (or better yet, the requestAnimationFrame API) and a canvas, you’re ready to start drawing things in less time it would take to install a typical IDE.

“Pitfalls!”

Besides blitting bitmap images at lightning speed, canvas includes a robust API (based on PostScript) for geometric lines and fills, and rudimentary text rendering facilities; use these sparingly however, as they tend to sap frame-rate.

Also, canvas likes to draw from a small number of source images and would prefer that you keep your drawImage calls down (this is probably a reality of underlying drivers/API which are 3D in nature).  So, atlas those tiny images (you’ll want to anyway to reduce http load calls), and use offscreen canvases to cache unchanging parts of the scene (turn those 6400 drawn tiles into a single drawImage call).

Audio

I’m gonna come right out and say it, audio in HTML5 sucks.  There is no reason to dance around the issue.  Before I go any further, let me assure you, you can get a decent audio experience in HTML5, but here are some issues you’ll face:

Audio format issues:

Certain browsers can only play certain audio formats, this means you will have to deploy at least two audio formats (currently .mp3 and .ogg).  Blame software patents.

Bad Information:

There is an API to ask a browser what kind of audio formats it can play; sadly this API is horrible with such decoder support responses as “maybe”.  Across the myriad of browsers, we’ve also found the API to outright lie about what is can and cant support.

Cruddy Implementations:

Some browsers, decoder/stream implementations are just broken.  High start latencies, bad audio quality, incorrect timing.  Some browsers (or operating systems) seem to implement the bare minimum just so they can say they support a format.

High start latency:

If you load a sound file via http and hit play, by the time the sound has downloaded the moment has passed.  This is okay for background music, but it’s unacceptable for sound effects action games.

This all sounds really hard!

Audio is the #1 problem with HTML5 today; thankfully a lot of smart people have come together, and technology is emerging that makes HTML5 audio at least functional, if not feature-rich.

Audio Sprites to the rescue!

Just as the Atlas is a 2D packing solution for images, to reduce loads of http calls and nominal overhead; the Audio Sprite is a 1D solution for sounds.  We took our lead from the ground work done by Remy Sharp (http://remysharp.com/2010/12/23/audio-sprites/).  The basic idea is that you pack your sound effects into a single audio file, with a half-second of padding (silence) between each sound to allow for timing irregularities.  An accompanying .json file lists all of the files contained in the audio sprite, and their start and end positions.

With audio sprites, you only need to convert one file to ogg and mp3, and you only need one http request to download it.

Latency b-gone!

The main benefit of having one large sound file is that we avoid streaming issues with small audio files.  The browser preloads the single audio file, then seeks to the beginning of each sound effect when called for, with minimal latency.  Our only issue is that we need to monitor and stop the stream after the sound ends but before the next one begins.

“What about bad format detection?”

This is still somewhat of an issue; we’ve found that you can favor MP3 and get coverage on most browsers; but at the time of writing it would not be a bad idea to include an MP3-or-OGG setting in your options menu.  Also, make sure you’re doing it right; a lot of people cut corners in format detection.

“This all sounds like a bit much to handle!”

Yeah it’s a pain; it took us weeks to develop the necessary tools and tricks.  If you’ve got a project in the works and need some help, drop us a line (tdrgames@tdrgames.com)

By the way, there is hope.  Most web browsers already support the new Opus format and/or the spiffy new OpenAL-based WebAudio API.  It’s probably just a matter of time before they all do.

WebGL

One of the principle buzzwords in the HTML5 movement, WebGL holds great promise, the ability to use the native graphics API for 3D games.  Our experimentation however, has shown webGL is /not/ ready for prime-time today.  The fact that I can run an OpenGL example program written in C++, and on the same machine fail to run the same example written in WebGL, means there are still issues.  Damn those proprietary NVidia/ATI drivers!  WebGL also has a steep learning curve, compared to Canvas.  That all being said, if these issues can be overcome, WebGL should be a very viable option for 2D and 3D graphics middleware – hopefully by year’s end.

Annoyance: WWW baggage

Browsers support a ton of document-formatting features (CSS, HTML, XML, SVG, etc) that aren’t terribly useful for Canvas and WebGL games, and are probably best avoided as much as possible.  A simple game requires only a half-page of HTML as a container to load the Javascript.  Unfortunately if for some reason you know nothing about web design, you’ll have to learn basic HTML and CSS in order to create JS games.  It’s necessary for landing pages and UI dialogs anyway.

Because text rendering is awkward in Canvas and WebGL, you’ll probably want to use HTML for in-game text (notifications, character dialogues, etc).  The trick is to use “pointer-events: none” (CSS) to prevent the text from blocking mouse clicks.

Using CSS “the right way” can be tedious and pointless.  When in doubt, use and abuse “position: absolute” with reckless abandon!

XML being a close cousin of HTML, one would think browsers would have excellent XML facilities.  To the contrary, we have found them to be awkward and sometimes buggy, so we converted our old XML assets to JSON.

Also, you’ll probably need to install a web server program such as Apache.  You may be able to run your game by opening the HTML file on your hard drive (as a “file://” URL), but there are some arcane security restrictions that’ll stump you, especially if you get into AJAX or WebGL.

Pitfall: web browsers are not 100% compatible

There’s always a catch; “cross-platform” is never seamless.  Our advice is to support the top 3 or 4 browsers, and test your game on all of them regularly.  Chrome and Safari are generally the best for games, and they both use the WebKit engine so they’re nearly 100% compatible.  Firefox is also good – better in certain respects – but be careful to avoid bleeding-edge features like “let [x,y] = point”.  IE and Opera require extra effort which may not be worthwhile for /serious/ games because better browsers are available for all devices.  For simple casual games, on the other hand, supporting IE is easier and probably essential for commercial success.

If you’re making phone/tablet games, beware: mobile browsers are different beasts.

Resource packing and loading

Unlike other platforms where you can zip everything up in an installer package, HTML5 requires a bit more effort.  Atlas your sprites and sound effects, embed small HTML files in JSON, embed GLSL shaders if you’re using WebGL, embed JSON files in JS, then combine and minify all your JS files.  We automate the process using Make, PHP and NodeJS scripts, ImageMagick, LAME, and OggEnc.

Then, when your game starts up, pre-load all your resources (except perhaps music).  We use async.js to ajax-fetch everything in parallel, then start the game loop.

AppCache (AKA Offline Mode) is a fairly easy way speed up pre- and re-loading (even for an online multiplayer game) if you keep it simple.  Beware, it can go horribly wrong; read the highly entertainingApplication Cache is a Douchebag article before you get too excited.

In the beginning, when you’re running your game from your own machine, none of this matters.  Do whatever works.  Just be forewarned, if you finish an HTML5 game, resource loading issues could delay your release by a few days or weeks.

Summary

The potential of making games in a single language that can  blend with existing web services, have all the trappings and simplicity of web development in free and open platform makes HTML5 very attractive.

RAYMOND JACOBS is the driving force behind Ethereal Darkness Interactive (EDIGames), a western Massachusetts indie developer focused on the Action/RPG genre.  Their most notable game is Morning’s Wrath, a fantasy RPG released in 2005.

TOM NOVELLI is a game developer and musician in western Massachusetts.  He is currently porting Morning’s Wrath to HTML5.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

Players are the most well known threat to the intended use of your program. The obvious threats are piracy, cheating, hacking, cloning, and phishing. These behaviors can undermine the purpose of your game and can even eventually result in game failure. Most developers, including large development companies, do not have the budget or resources to follow through with legal repercussions against every player that engages in unacceptable behaviors. The threat of litigation against players is mostly empty and, at best, may result in a change in behavior, at worst, the player calls the bluff, and the developer is unable to follow through in any real way. Put simply, it does not make economic sense to sue your players.

Then what can you do to discourage unwanted behaviors? Policing forums and social networking sites to discover the sources of and instructions for these kinds of threats is time intensive and usually only results in the discover of outdated information, since it’s already widely disseminated and easily found online. While this information may be helpful, it is likely that new threats are being created regularly. Maintaining a presence in your game, manually monitoring for these threats, is similarly time intensive, and may not have much of a payoff – since you cannot be everywhere all the time. There is a low return for an intense temporal investment.

On the other hand, technological responses to these problems are often met with player backlash. The most contentious developer strategy is to require online connectivity for gameplay. While this allows you to verify the legitimacy of the program, it can inhibit certain would be players with limited connectivity from playing your game. You can automate monitoring of gameplay for threats and unacceptable activities, but this often results in false positives, frustrating users who are incorrectly accused. These frustrated players can respond in any number of ways, and, if your monitoring system is programmed to send out a legal threat, a player can contend that your false threat for legal action against their legitimate play is illegal.

The most effective non-technological approach to protecting your code is to communicate with your players. By maintaining open dialogue, players will be more able and willing to flag threats to game security. They’ll also develop a personal connection to you, as a developer, making them less inclined to undermine your product. Even without establishing such a close relationship, developers can incentivize positive behaviors such as proper game play and reporting improper players. Developers can also encourage community watch type events for added perks, where not only are threats reported, but players are also educated on the signs of threats and what constitutes improper play.

Two categories of programmers can threaten your game. The first are those who want to take your concept, or some other major component, and undermine your game, usually by drawing away your players. Many successful independent developers have accepted the inevitability of code or ideas being stolen or copied. These developers can either retaliate legally, claiming copyright on their work, or produce a better product than any competitor. The latter option is more economic in most cases. The aforementioned policy of developing a community with your game is also a powerful tool. Other versions may exist, but your users will feel loyal to your game. While that’s likely an unsatisfying answer, it should be taken as encouragement to create the best possible product. The second category of programmers who can threaten your game are those that produce tools which assist players in cheating. The legal remedy for such tools is an injunction from continued distribution, but writing or rewriting code in such a way as to deter the creation of or make unusable these types of tools is usually a much cheaper and easier option for most game developers. Stay ahead of the curve

On the other side of the seeming paranoia of this article is the risk that you may be infringing on the rights of other programmers. While there isn’t room in this article for every legal risk you take when coding, you ought to follow a few general rules. Don’t use any code that you aren’t absolutely certain you have the right to use. Make sure any code written for the game is contractually attached to a game- meaning, if your programmer gets angry and leaves, the code doesn’t go with them. Make sure you aren’t using any patented processes, even if the code is different, you could still be in trouble. Keep in mind that just because you remember some code does not necessarily mean you can, or should imitate it. If you choose to imitate, change the internal structure or use a different tool to achieve the same result. You can also switch the focus between speed and memory-use to differentiate your program from another. Most importantly, identify these kinds of issues early, to avoid needing to redo the entire project when you’re almost done. While legal considerations may not allow for the greatest creativity, by keeping a few things in mind, you can protect yourself and your program from becoming yet another cautionary tale.

Suzanne Jackiw is a law student at Chicago-Kent College of Law, focused on Business and Intellectual Property issues as relate to Video Game Law. In her free time, she enjoys PC, Atari, and Xbox gaming, snowboarding, kayaking, and schooling noobs who think legal issues get in the way of their creative process. She can be contacted at Suzanne.Jackiw@gmail.com. 

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

Here are six things I liked about my experience in trying it out and four things I hope will improve. Enjoy.

• Logging into your account is easy. It’s as convenient as getting into and using your Drive account on Google, with possibly the same hiccups. You don’t have to depend on Microsoft Word on your PC anymore. And this time for making games!
• You can fork things. No more copying and pasting into a new folder to use a foundation/template project. Just click that fork button.
• Everything is easy to find on the control panel and neatly arranged. Always nice to see when that happens.
• The workflow seems very similar to Unity3D. If you use Unity3D, you can recycle  old habits like adding entities, components and scripts. Easy transition if you are a Unity3D developer.
• Since it’s running from a cloud, its easy to share your project/work with others. No revision control yet so you may have to stick with Perforce.
• Excellent graphics and physics. Frame rates appear very consistent although I have yet to try it with anything above 300 objects and pathfinding AI.

Things I hope will improve…

• Since I’m used to notepad++ when coding in Javascript and running from my PC to check on chrome, I found the script loading times to be a bit slow. But there is an option to use a local server.
• I found the camera controls to be a bit counterintuitive to the habits I picked up from using Maya and Unity3D. But once I got the hang of reminding myself, “Use the alt key!” It was fine.
• There does not seem to be a way to load art assets without linking to Maya or 3dMax. Not ideal if you plan to use mostly 2D assets.
• There are a few fiddly things you have to do for now like keeping the settings window open on Chrome when debugging any WebGL.

I hope to use Playcanvas for future 3D projects. I am very curious as to whether there is a way to use it with networking or have a node.js attachment.

All in all, I think it’s a great game engine and found the experience of fooling around with it fun and engaging. I encourage you to give it a go. Try their FPS example.

Playcanvas seems poised to meet any future demand for browser based game engines running from a cloud so look out for it as it continues to gain sophistication and a following.

Peter Yu is a budding game developer, AIE graduate and Incubator Participant with a focus on browser and mobile development for games, applications and interactive stories. You can reach him at peter_andrew_yu@hotmail.com.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

At the IGDA, we often mention the Scholarships program, which offers students from around the world a unique opportunity to attend a major industry conference. With the Game Developers Conference recently completed, we wanted to share with you the kind of experiences that the Scholars had at GDC.

Typically, the week begins with some short tours of local studios, and this year was no exception. The Scholars were invited to visit Three Rings first of all on Monday morning, with a guided tour of the offices by CEO Daniel James, who took the time to answer some questions. Tuesday morning, the Scholars were invited to tour Double Fine where they were able to talk to a number of team members about their roles within the company, with Tim Schaefer popping in to have a chat with the group. As Justin Lara, one of the Scholars puts it “It was really enlightening to get an inside view of how prominent game companies work day-to-day.”.

Monday lunchtime was a chance for the Scholars to meet their mentors, and the mentors that were working with others in the group, over lunch. This gave them all an opportunity to chat together and share tips on how to get the most out of the conference. In the words of Timea Tabori, another of the group, “[My mentor] provided me with useful advice regarding the conference, my studies, personal projects, portfolio and career choices. Having a mentor to discuss any questions one-on-one added a unique element to the conference.”

After this, the Scholars were more or less free to experience GDC however they, along with their mentors, felt best. Many of them attended sessions of the conference whilst others took the opportunity to meet with representatives of companies, explore the expo floor and GDC Play or spend some time in the Career Pavilion. However, having a badge that marked them as an IGDA Scholar meant that where ever they went, they had an easy icebreaker with the many developers across the industry who support the program. In fact one of the big takeaways for many of the Scholars from GDC has been how approachable they found many industry veterans.

The Scholars had an amazing time at GDC, and Jukka Laakso echoes sentiments from many of the group when he says “Overall, my first GDC turned out to be even greater than I could have ever imagined. I would definitely recommend the IGDA Scholarship for anyone who dreams about being a game developer or an entrepreneur in the industry.”

We are intensely grateful to UBM, organisers of the Game Developers Conference, for their support in sponsoring passes for the Scholars. We would also like to thank Three Rings and Double Fine for opening their doors to us and allowing us insight into how real studios work. The Scholarships would not be the success it is continually without the support of the mentors, who are responsible in many ways for making the conference such a special experience for the scholars. Finally we would like to thank all of the judges who take the time to review applicants and select the “best and brightest” who are worthy of participating in the program.

We’re now taking applications for Scholarships to attend Casual Connect USA, which will open the door to similar experiences to those that the GDC students had; Industrial mentorship, tours of local studios and more, as well as of course access to one of the premier conference for casual gaming, monetisation and small studio development. We’re grateful to the Casual Games Association for their support continued support of the IGDA Scholarships. Find out more and apply at http://www.igda.org/scholars/2013-info/how-to-apply/

If you’re an industry veteran, and well versed in the dark arts of successfully navigating E3, we need your help to provide our class of Scholars attending the show a great experience. As you’ve read, the mentoring component of the program is a fundamental part of the Scholarship experience, so if you are able to give up a few hours of your conference to help an aspiring game developer – and one of the brightest up-and-comers in the industry – we would massively appreciate it. For more information on what mentoring as part of the program entails and to volunteer, please see http://www.igda.org/scholars/mentors/

Finally, now that you have read about the GDC Scholars experiences, if you want to discuss other ways you can support the program, then please contact scholarships@igda.org .

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

IGDA Member Discounts:

• Save 35% off print book list price with discount code: PRINTGAME
• Save 45% off eBook list price with discount code: EBOOKGAME

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

“We wanted to explore these perceptions of veteran programmers as being out of step with emerging technologies and see if we could determine whether older programmers are actually keeping up with changes in the field,” says Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the research. “And we found that, in some cases, veteran programmers even have a slight edge.”

The researchers looked at the profiles of more than 80,000 programmers on a site called StackOverflow, which is an online community that allows users to ask and answer programming questions. The site also allows users to rate the usefulness of other users’ questions and answers. Users who are rated as asking good questions and providing good answers receive points that are reflected in their “reputation score.” The higher an individual’s reputation score, the more likely it is that the user has a robust understanding of programming issues.

For the first part of the study, the researchers compared the age of users with their reputation scores. They found that an individual’s reputation increases with age, at least into a user’s 40s. There wasn’t enough data to draw meaningful conclusions for older programmers.

The researchers then looked at the number of different subjects that users asked and answered questions about, which reflects the breadth of their programming interests. The researchers found that there is a sharp decline in the number of subjects users weighed in on between the ages of 15 and 30 – but that the range of subjects increased steadily through the programmers’ 30s and into their early 50s.

Finally, the researchers evaluated the knowledge of older programmers (ages 37 and older) compared to younger programmers (younger than 37) in regard to relatively recent technologies – meaning technologies that have been around for less than 10 years.

For two smartphone operating systems, iOS and Windows Phone 7, the veteran programmers had a significant edge in knowledge over their younger counterparts. For every other technology, from Django to Silverlight, there was no statistically significant difference between older and younger programmers.

“The data doesn’t support the bias against older programmers – if anything, just the opposite,” Murphy-Hill says.

The paper, “Is Programming Knowledge Related To Age?,” will be presented May 18 at the 10th Working Conference on Mining Software Repositories, sponsored by IEEE and ACM in San Francisco, Calif. Lead author of the paper is Patrick Morrison, a Ph.D. student at NC State.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

For 2013, the IGDA is looking for great sessions and speakers across a wide range of topics. We are open to receiving proposals on any topic relevant to the art and craft of game development, so if you have a great idea, please send a proposal! We are particularly interested in the following themes for the IGDA Summit:
- Leadership / Management best practices and challenges
- Advocacy on key issues affecting game developers
- Community building and management
- Professional development and career building
- Workshops: Do you have a skill you’d like to teach other developers?
- Microtalks: Quick, focused talks on a wide range of subjects

Join us 30 July – 1 August 2013 in San Francisco, CA USA.

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More from this issue:

• Self-Learning as Effective Learning, Keith Nieves
• IGDA AI SIG Reboot, Luke Dicken
• GDC 2013: Recap, Reunions, and Revisions, Doug Hill
• Q & A with IGDA Executive Director, Kate Edwards, Interview by Mary Kurek
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: HTML5 Prime Time, Raymond Jacobs and Tom Novelli
• The Code to Protecting Your Game, Suzanne Jackiw
• Playcanvas!, Peter Yu
• IGDA Scholars Program, Luke Dicken
• Is Programming Related to Age?, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill
• IGDA Summit Call for Proposals
• Member Benefit: Pearson

When I talk about promotion, this can mean many things—from representing your own unique identity to finding support for your projects. Whether on the floor at GDC or launching a Kickstarter campaign, it’s most important to know yourself and what you want out of any situation.

Whatever you want, visualize it, and with daily time and effort (even a few minutes before you go to sleep), you’ll draw it to you. This is, of course, supposing that we’re all computers who can program ourselves to open up categories to fill with data. Once we clearly identify the categories we want to fill, we naturally gravitate toward opportunities for the kind of data we want in our lives.

For those of you at GDC (and hey, even for those of you who are not), think on your personal, business, and game representations. What makes you stand out? What do you bring? What existing connections do you have? Who do you know who could vouch for you? What can you do to expand your network? How can you grow every day?

To growing in 2013,

- Beth

Table of Contents

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation
• Events

Editor in Chief – Elizabeth LaPensée; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

Kickstarter is the most cost-effective and brutally efficient marketing tool I have ever used. It gives you same type of tools corporations use and rather than charging you for it, allows you to raise money. When used effectively, Kickstarter will provide you with market research data (Does anyone want to buy this?), product positioning data (Why do people want to buy this?), strategic advertising data (What message most makes people want to buy this?), merchandising data (How do I make people feel good about buying this?), and customer loyalty data (Look at all the awesome people who want to buy this!).

In 2011 my studio, Zakelro!, launched a Kickstarter project for a tabletop storytelling platform called Bhaloidam. It is a niche tabletop storytelling game with an unusual approach and design. It’s difficult to explain easily and coming from the world of videogames, we had little-to-no connection to the tabletop gaming communities on the web.(fundingprogress.jpg)

Be patient. The majority of projects aren’t funded until the final days.

Despite these challenges we managed to exceed our goal, obtaining 113% funding in 45 days. This wasn’t Kickstarter magic, but hard work and staying focused on the true power of the platform. Running our Kickstarter project became my full-time position for 45 very emotional days.

Here’s how we did it.

• Rally Your Base. Ping your social networks every single day. You can mitigate the spamminess by following these rules:
  • Don’t Beg. Be informative! Tweet updates on the status (4 more backers at the $45 level will put us at 13%!), share new project updates, reveal new information, etc.
  • Give ‘Em a Break. Skip one network a day – skip Twitter on Tuesday, Facebook on Friday, LinkedIn on Larsday, Google+ on Goobday, etc. Also switch up the language and timing of posts between networks.
  • Contribute Meaningfully. Post non-Kickstarter links and updates and engage with your followers about the topics they’re talking about.
  • Use Multiple Accounts. Drive people to a Twitter account, FB, or G+ page, where all you do is post Kickstarter updates. Then reshare every 3rd update or so from your personal account (particularly if, like me, your personal account is your primary “brand” and has a larger following).
• Expand Your Community. Once or twice a week, find a new message board, a new circle, a new LinkedIn group and figure out how to respectfully introduce your project. If there is enough interest, stay in touch with this group and provide weekly updates. Make sure you’re linking to your other social networks so members of those communities can elect to stay in better touch.

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Kickstarter provides in depth information about conversions from referring sites.

• Engage Your Backers. This is critical. Your backers are the most important community you have. At any point they can either cancel, reduce, or increase their pledge. If you’re staying truly engaged with them – on any and every social network they choose – you will find them to be your greatest fundraising allies. Here’s a few specific tips:
  • Post Regular Backer-Only Kickstarter Updates. Keep them informed as to the financial status of the project, new content from your blog, articles and interviews across the web, etc. Do not be afraid to make direct, honest, appeals for them to give you more visibility via social network updates, blog posts, etc. Towards the end of the project – if you still need funding – ask them to directly recruit people they think would be interested.
  • Keep an Open Door. Make sure your backers know that you are engaged and interested in their thoughts on the project. Answer their questions, highlight their contributions, and validate them every time they provide feedback, especially for negative feedback.
  • Don’t Limit Yourself to Kickstarter. I had the best in-depth public conversations about Bhaloidam with my backers on Google+ and this proved to be one of our strongest methods of expanding our backer community.
  • Say Goodbye. You will probably lose backers. Don’t be mad or upset. Do send them a friendly Kickstarter message saying you’re sorry to see them go and ask if there’s anything they learned about the project that caused them to leave. 9 times out of 10, it’s a financial concern that has nothing to do with the project. 1 time out of 10 you’ll learn something invaluable about your pitch.

And here’s the critical internal work that I see a lot of studios ignore (to their peril):

• Be Unflinchingly Honest. This should underlie everything you do. You need to be honest with yourself about every single aspect of your project or – even if you get your funding – you may not be prepared to deliver what you promised, or what people heard you promise, which isn’t always the same thing.
• Understand Your Audience. You may think you know who your audience is and what they want. You may even be correct. But never, ever, stop listening to what people are saying about your project. And if they aren’t talking directly to you, it’s especially important to go and find where they are talking about it. You may find that whole new audiences are excited by your project and for reasons other than you anticipated.
• Listen Without Judgement. This one can be really difficult. People will tell you your idea is dumb, that you’re asking for too much money, that they don’t believe you can deliver, that your art style is amateurish, that your messaging is wrong, or that there’s no market for what you’re offering. The more difficult the feedback is to hear, the more important it is to seriously consider it. You need to listen to this feedback and then decide what action, if any, to take on it:
  • Stay on Course. If the criticism is about an intended feature/impact of your project and the person isn’t your core audience, don’t worry about it. People criticized Bhaloidam for being too open to interpretation. Since that was part of our core design, we realized we were effectively communicating our intent and that people who didn’t like it, weren’t our core audience (even if some of them thought they should be).
  • Change Your Message. If the criticism is completely off base, then you haven’t communicated clearly enough to that person. It’s possible their own bias will prevent them from hearing you, but chances are you simply haven’t found the right messaging to reach them. If they seem to represent a significant portion of your ideal audience, you’d better give some thought as to how you can reach them.
  • Change Your Project. It’s possible that your most enthusiastic supporters will want something you haven’t included in your project. It might delay delivery, it might cut into your bottom line, it might even go against the grain of what you wanted to offer. But if enough people want it, you should strongly consider it. For example, Ouya decided to include an ethernet port on their console as a result of backer feedback. So if you’re not getting the traction you hoped for with all the previous tactics, consider this strongly and assess whether it’s a change you can make within a reasonable time frame and with your current financial goal.

• Embrace “Failure.” The final strategy is the biggest emotional obstacle you’ll need to overcome. Be prepared, even eager if you can manage it, to hit your deadline without being funded. Do not be discouraged, do not be ashamed at your failure, do not be angry with your audience, and do not be disillusioned with your project. If you really believed in what you were offering, keep believing in it. Take 4-6 weeks off to focus on something else and then go back to the drawing board to improve your idea. Use everything you learned to better prepare and relaunch a Kickstarter project again in 12 months.

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

How, then, does a game developer become good, or find some luck? (or is this article all bad news from a pessimistic law student??) One possible answer comes from the quote above: developers need gurus. For those who don’t know, a Guru is someone who is the head or leader of a large community. A typical Guru has a myriad of followers waiting for the command “fund this project”. Being a Guru means being able to get a project funded, a really good guru can fund a project that doesn’t even exist yet, for example one without a prototype. Why? Because they aren’t being paid. Gurus know how development works. Gurus know good and sellable games and are able to maintain a record of success. That is why it can be said that gurus are good. One bad hype and a guru will lose his or her standing within the community, and the developer will lose a valuable resource. To game developers, that means if a guru endorses your product, it is a very good idea to make sure you follow through and produce an excellent final product.

Similar to gurus are community silos. Often, community silos are viewed as news sources but are more akin to forums of shared information. The quintessential example in the gaming community is Giant Bomb. Once word of a particular project, hopefully your project, begins to spread within a community silo, it builds momentum. Community Silos create a mob mentality where people coalesce behind a particular project. Similarly, community silos can spread word of your project to other parts of the internet, making them often better than a marketing team.

Both gurus and community silos relate to an important component of any Kickstarter project: if you have the funding for marketing or a marketing team, you ought to be spending it on making your game. Marketing money may be wasted on a Kickstarter project regardless of community response. On average, one third of crowd funding income comes from people who have direct contact with the content creators. In this sense, Kickstarter seems to work best in the way it was likely intended- as people coming together behind a shared goal or project. As part of this shared goal, funders become advertisers, as well as your press team. Everything from a tweet to a blog becomes the equivalent to a formal article, and your success hinges on word of mouth.

Given everything that those supporting your game can do, what can you do? Perhaps the most important goal is to complete your game and deliver on your Kickstarter incentives. Many first time creators do not realize how difficult making and shipping a game can be; further, many contributors, feeling as though they have a personal stake in the project, will attempt to impose their goals and ideas on your project, like a thousand mini publishers. It can be nearly impossible to make everyone happy, and that needs to be your expectation from the beginning. This is why any Kickstarter incentives you choose to offer need to be clearly stated and reasonably attainable. On a related note, games are expensive to create, particularly to a quality level ready for distribution. Funders are becoming aware of this, making the need for a prototype before seeking funding even more apparent. People like to see what they’re buying into, and the more a prototype resembles a final product, the more likely you are to get funding.

Typically being digital product distributed through an online market, Kickstarter games have an expectation of frequent build releases. While this is not something that needs to be stated outright while seeking funding, creators need to be aware that players will regularly expect new content and updates even after all the goals and incentives have been met. Part of this expectation comes from the development of very intense relationships between creators and funders. While the game or product is the focus of any Kickstarter, becoming a recognizable brand, by being an interesting and relatable person, sets you up for future funding. It is almost impossible to be too personal on Kickstarter.

Inevitably, some projects will run out of money, be too large to complete, or fail for any number of other reasons. Under the current funding program, there’s limited legal recourse for miffed funders. They likely will respond by not funding any of your future projects, but the payment into your original project is viewed more as a donation or gamble than anything tangible in which they would have a legal claim.

Losing community support is bad, but it likely doesn’t open you up to serious financial risk. However, recent legislation, the Business Startups Act of 2012, may change how games are funded and how much risk creators take on. Prior to this Act you could not generally advertise for investors in your company, but once the Act is finalized, you can solicit investors from any source, including the internet, as long as certain conditions are met. This will allow the creation of crowdfunding-like portals, which will match investors, who will have a legal interest in the success of the company, with game creators. According to the Act, up to one million dollars in securities may be sold in a twelve month period without a requirement to register with the SEC, as long as the sales occur through a portal. This means future projects may have real investors, but there are strict restrictions regarding how much a single person can invest (not just in your project but overall). The issue of keeping track of who is investing what with whom online, and verifying that information, creates lots of room for mistake and fraud. Some other possible complications with this type of funding include: audits if you’re raising more than $500,000, untraceable stockholders, overactive stockholders, and how to handle buyouts. For the casual programmer, the free money of Kickstarter remains the safest and most appealing option.

So what does all this mean for the game creator looking for funding? Work hard, make sure your expense estimate is reasonable, and produce what you say you will. Kickstarter, and all crowdfunding sites, can be delicate and fickle, and it won’t take many misses to kill the market. If enough games fail, even if they aren’t your game, even if they are nothing like your game, funder trust will be broken and funding will become scarce. As things currently stand, Kickstarter allows people to see your product, giving you access to an audience, and creating an opportunity to convince people to fund, because not all people will fund all things. Most people will only fund a limited number of certain types of games before settling in to wait and see if anything comes of their donation. So make that funding count.

This article could not have been produced without the thought-provoking panels of the Game::Business::Law Summit in Dallas. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Mark Methenitis, Ryan Barrett, Evan Fitzmaurice, J. Holt Foster, Patrick Holleman, and Zack Karlsson, whose thoughtful comments propelled the Crowdfunding Panel.

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Suzanne Jackiw is a law student at Chicago-Kent College of Law, focused on Business and Intellectual Property issues as relate to Video Game Law. In her free time, she enjoys PC, Atari, and Xbox gaming, snowboarding, kayaking, and schooling noobs who think legal issues get in the way of their creative process. She can be contacted at Suzanne.Jackiw@gmail.com. 

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

Today I wanted to address another infrequent question I’m getting about the pre-order offer. The DVD contains all the previous Blackwell games burned onto the disc, and buying it gives you immediate access to Blackwell Convergence, the third game in the series.

I’ve gotten a few emails from customers asking why I didn’t give them access to Blackwell Legacy instead, since it is the first game in the series. It technically makes the most sense, but in practice… not so much. When a company gives a product away for free, it’s not just to be nice (well, maybe a bit nice). The free product is being used – primarily – as a promotional tool. So why not lead with your best product? Telltale did this with Sam and Max a few years ago. The fourth game in the series – Abe Lincoln Must Die! – is now freeware, and it is widely considered by fans and critics alike as the best of the season. This is no coincidence.

Blackwell Legacy is a solid game, but it was also my first game, and I’ve improved my skills significantly since it was released five years ago. Convergence is a much better showcase for the series, so it made more sense to give the customers immediate access to it. Had I given them Legacy instead (or given them all three, in which case they would play Legacy first), I ran the risk of them not seeing me at my best.

Maybe this was the right decision, maybe it wasn’t. Some of you might feel slighted. Heck, you bought the DVD that contains the games, so why can’t you play them now? To you I say: I understand. So, here’s what I’ll do. If you bought the DVD and don’t want to wait for it to arrive before playing the first three games, I will give you a voucher so you can nab the downloads free of charge. Send me your DVD order receipt and I’ll hook you up.

[This article originally appeared on New York Gamedev.]

Dave Gilbert has been interested in adventure games ever since 1986, when his mother made the mistake of buying him a copy of Wishbringer. Since then, he has authored over six successful freeware games, including 2004′s award-winning Two of a Kind. In 2006, he turned his hobby into a fulltime career and founded Wadjet Eye Games.

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

Now you are thinking about whether you should revise (or have?) a social media handbook policy. In the game industry, most employees are very tech savvy, so you want to have some sort of policy regulating their social media usage, right? If so, read on for guidance on how to draft your policy with federal labor law and the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines in mind.

Federal Labor Law

Federal labor law applies to both unionized and non-unionized workplaces. This impacts all companies regardless of company size, with limited exceptions. Federal labor law gives employees the right to engage in activities, such as discussing their wages and criticizing their company, which could lead them to improve their working conditions or form a union.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that safeguards employees’ rights to unionize, says that social media is a viable method of forming a union. Therefore, if a company’s social media policy is too broad (for example, “do not disparage or damage the company online”), then the company risks violating federal labor law because its social media policy might inadvertently restrict its employees’ rights to unionize.

The FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines

Companies should also keep the FTC’s endorsement guidelines in mind — specifically, the requirement for the disclosure of “material connections” between companies and advertisers/endorsers. Being an employee of a company counts as a material connection (an “endorser”) that has to be disclosed.

An employee may not directly receive payment or benefits for writing about the company and its products like an advertiser would; nevertheless, the employee’s job security may depend on the company’s success. Therefore, a violation of these guidelines would include an employee who tweets that your game is “the best game ever” without disclosing that she works for your company.

Potential Conflict?

Companies cannot have policies that completely forbid their employees from posting “endorsements” of their products and services online because this could conflict with federal labor law. For example, a policy stating, “Do not use social media to discuss anything related to the company and its products/services” is too broad and may signal to employees that they cannot engage in unionization activities.

At first, the NLRB rule and the FTC’s guidelines seem like they conflict with each other. On one hand, the NLRB says that a company cannot have a policy that is too restrictive of its employees’ social media usage, but then the FTC says that a company should regulate its employees’ social media activities. So, what should a company’s handbook policy regarding social media usage be? And how can an employee safely talk about their company’s upcoming game or hardware via social media?

Luckily, there is a way to comply with both rules: have a policy stating that employees are advised to (or must) disclose their relationship to the company when promoting and endorsing its games/hardware via social media. Such a policy is narrow enough that employees will not think that the policy intends to restrict their unionization activities, yet the policy still encourages compliance with the FTC’s guidelines.

How can an employee properly disclose their employment relationship? The good news is that the FTC’s guidelines do not require employees to use any special language when disclosing their employment relationship as long as the disclosure is clear and conspicuous. A simple statement such as “I work for Company X and we just released [insert name of awesome new game] and it’s awesome” is sufficient. And for Twitter, which limits users to just 140 characters, even a simple hashtag is sufficient (e.g., #microsoftemployee or #ad).

Just make sure that the audience is aware of the employment relationship! It is probably not enough for an employee to have a general disclosure on their “about me” page (or list the company as their place of employment on Facebook/Twitter) or assume that their social media followers know whom they work for and what games/hardware their company and its affiliates produce. To be completely safe, an employee should directly disclose their employment relationship within each separate post that endorses their company’s products.

Additional Suggestions Based on Federal Labor Law

In addition to recent NLRB cases, the NLRB has also offered extensive guidance through its Acting General Counsel’s reports, which explain the NLRB’s current position on social media. Unlike a regular NLRB case, not everything in these reports is the law yet. However, the reports are still very useful because they offer companies cautionary guidance and are very likely to become the law in the near future. Foremost, the reports reiterate that handbook policies must not be too broad; otherwise, employees will think that their right to engage in unionization activities is also being restricted. The reports contain additional useful advice, which I have summarized below.

Give the policy some context: A policy can restrict certain social media activities if the policy provides enough context that employees know that the policy is not meant to restrict their unionization activities. Therefore, a company should try to explain the business purpose behind their policy. The examples below give their respective policies the appropriate context and are therefore lawful.

• “Employees may not use social media to post or display comments about coworkers or supervisors or the employer that are vulgar, obscene, threatening, intimidating, harassing, or a violation of workplace policies against discrimination, harassment, or hostility on the account of age, race, religion, sex, ethnicity, nationality, disability, or other protected class, status, or characteristic.”
• “Employees may not use or disclose confidential/proprietary information that is necessary to ensure compliance with securities regulations and other laws.”
• “Employees must maintain the confidentiality of company trade secrets and private or confidential information. Trades secrets may include information regarding the development of systems, processes, products, and technology. Do not post internal reports, policies, procedures or other internal business-related confidential communications online.”
• “Promotional Content: Employees may not refer to the employer by name or publish promotional content. Promotional content is defined as content that is designed to endorse, promote, sell, advertise, or otherwise support the employer and its products and services.” (Yes, this company policy was meant to comply with the FTC’s endorsement guidelines, too.)

Provide definitions: Be sure to define ambiguous words that employees could mistakenly believe are restricting their unionization activities. For example, the term “inappropriate communication” could refer to sexual harassment, but it could also refer to communications about wages (which the NLRB explicitly protects) if the term is not properly defined.

There are many other words that also require definitions: misleading, untrue, inaccurate, sensitive, confidential, proprietary, non-public, private, personal, inflammatory, disrespectful, unprofessional, dishonest, unreasonable, objectionable, offensive, demeaning, abusive, damaging, embarrassment, harassment, and defamation. This is not an exhaustive list. When in doubt, define the word clearly.

Use examples: In addition to defining ambiguous words, provide examples. For instance, explain that the term “inappropriate communications” refers to activities such as “displaying sexually-oriented material” or “revealing trade secrets.”

Do not require employees to be courteous and avoid conflict when using social media. Employees could interpret such “courtesy policies” as restricting their unionization activities because discussions about unionization are often heated and cause conflict. Instead, be sure to clarify what kind of conduct is not appropriate (e.g., using profanity) through proper definitions and context.

Do not restrict employees from posting about certain topics that federal labor law normally allows them to discuss, such as wages and other terms and conditions of their employment.

Do not restrict employees from using social media at work. Federal labor law allows employees to engage in unionization activities while on company premises as long as employees do it during non-work time (e.g., lunch) and in non-work areas (e.g., outdoor picnic area).

Do not restrict employees from using the company’s name, address, or other information on their online profiles (e.g., Facebook) because such profiles serve as a way for employees to find one another online and possibly communicate about unionization activities.

Do not restrict employees from posting pictures of your company’s logo, uniforms, etc. because this also restricts employees from posting about their union activity (e.g., posting pictures of coworkers at a union rally wearing pro-union T-shirts that depict the company’s logo).

Do not restrict employees’ communication with the public and press via social media because federal labor law protects these kinds of communications.

Do not require employees to explicitly state that whatever they post is their personal opinion every time that they post anything about the company (e.g., “Company XYZ doesn’t provide us proper benefits. This is my personal opinion, not that of the company”).

Do not require an employee to get approval before they can identify themselves as an employee online.

But you may require employees to get the company’s permission before they post something on behalf of the company or post something that people could think came from the company directly.

Do not restrict employees from becoming Facebook friends with one another or communicating with one another via social media.

But you may have a policy that prevents employees from pressuring their coworkers into connecting or communicating with them via social media. Just be sure that the policy clearly applies only to harassing conduct and does not restrict employees from contacting one another for the purpose of engaging in unionization activities.

Do not require employees to discuss work-related concerns with their supervisors or managers before they air their frustrations online.

But you may suggest that employees should first try to resolve their work-related concerns using internal company procedures.

Do not rely on a disclaimer to fix an overly broad social media policy that lacks appropriate definitions and context. For example, one company had a disclaimer in their policy stating, “This policy will not be interpreted or applied so as to interfere with employee rights to self-organize, form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their choosing, or to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” The NLRB says that this may still conflict with federal labor law because employees may not understand what this statement means and will nonetheless think that they are not allowed to engage in unionization activities. In other words, err on the side of being more specific.

That is a lot to take in, so how do you begin? The NLRB has graciously included a full sample of a social media policy in its third report (“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this!”), which is available for free on its website. Search for the Operations Memorandum 12-59 published on May 30, 2012; the sample is on pages 22-24. Use this sample as a starting point and remember to also keep in mind the FTC’s guidelines that I mentioned earlier. Happy drafting!

Preeti R. Khanolkar received her B.A. from Rutgers University in 2007 and her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2011.  She is the co-author of “100-Percenting It: Videogame Play Through the Eyes of Devoted Gamers,” an academic publication exploring the sociological aspects of video gaming.  Preeti is currently an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.  The views expressed in this article are that of the author personally, and should not be attributed to the National Labor Relations Board or the U.S. government.  Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship exists between the author and any reader.  

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

Digital delivery allows for easier, direct access to customers, which is helpful to developers with limited funding, but the low barriers to entry mean there is massive competition. If, as an approach to digital distribution, a creator chooses to go through a distributor, such as Facebook or the Apple App Store, the distributor takes a percentage without offering any promise of marketing or success. This is most apparent on mobile platforms, where a landslide of apps fills the game page. Customers flock to the app store and marketplace because they are attracted to choice, resulting in the roughly $300 million in sales in apps last year, as compared to the $14 million in console game sales. Everyone wants a piece of the pie but standing out in a large market is a complex endeavor.

The initial reaction of many content creators is to respond to comments and feedback. Feedback is how potential users come to understand a game, and has a strong influence on buying choices. The issue with feedback is that competing creators also recognize the importance of feedback, and can skew results. Your comments can become their advertising. To know who your customers really are and what they actually want, content creators must involve themselves in analytics. Understanding your current user base helps define where advertising should be focused in the future. The users who play the most, and are willing to pay for upgrades, also tend to be the users who push the limits of gameplay and user agreements. Creators should avoid favoring those players who have put more into the game, but should also recognize how players are playing the game.

Enforcing a user agreement that maintains fairness makes the game more enjoyable for all players, and makes new players more likely to join. The names of games that have been taken down due to cheatcodes and bots are common knowledge. These are the same issues that app game designers have always faced but on a new media. The pattern of same problems on a new device is common. Digital distribution has not worsened piracy, but rather changed how it occurs. In response, game creators, particularly big companies, have created anti-piracy/anti-cheating measures that tend to harm legitimate consumers and make regular gameplay more difficult. For smaller creators, a free to play business model with optional pay for perks seems to be the best way of avoiding injuring non-paying players while still creating income. A sign on requirement is another option, but can be difficult for users with limited internet connectivity.

Perhaps the best way to avoid abusive play habits and piracy is by establishing a relationship of respect with your users. If users love your game, they will be less likely to treat it adversely and more likely to report users who do. Creating and maintaining this relationship can be accomplished by adding and releasing new content with a high degree of regularity. In this way you establish a service environment around your game, but you’ve also converted release day from a finish line to a starting line.

The importance of establishing this relationship and maintaining it through constant releases has been recognized by major companies as shown by brick and mortar stores now displaying empty mock-up boxes which consumers can use as indications that they wish to purchase digital content. These companies are creating a bridge between the familiarity of a purchase and the continued relationships of digital content.

What content creators need to take away from this is that games are now a service rather than a product, and maintaining a good relationship with your customers through reliable releases helps maintain the stability of your service. Who your customers are and how they play should affect your choices more than feedback and comments. If possible, create a physical bridge for people still becoming accustomed to digital distribution.

This article could not have been produced without the thought-provoking panels of the Game::Business::Law Summit in Dallas. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Marco Mereu, Patrick Hudson, Steve Nix, and JJ Richards, whose thoughtful comments propelled the Games as a Service Panel.

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Suzanne Jackiw is a law student at Chicago-Kent College of Law, focused on Business and Intellectual Property issues as relate to Video Game Law. In her free time, she enjoys PC, Atari, and Xbox gaming, snowboarding, kayaking, and schooling noobs who think legal issues get in the way of their creative process. She can be contacted at Suzanne.Jackiw@gmail.com. 

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

You can now easily donate shares of stock to the IGDA Foundation.  As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity the IGDA Foundation can sell the stock without paying capital gains tax while you receive full-credit for the market value of shares at the time of the donation, regardless of your cost basis.  This allows the Foundation to put your entire donation to work on needed projects while you get full credit for the value of your donation but avoid the burden of the capital gains tax.

So, if you have stock in a non-retirement account that you would like to donate to the IGDA Foundation to help support our projects, just have your stockbroker transfer those shares to:

TD Ameritrade Account #862254544

FBO: IGDA Foundation

Foundation Taxpayer EIN: 20-5991931

and send Ed Magnin, Foundation Treasurer, (Ed@EdMagnin.com) a copy of your instructions so we can thank you.

More about the IGDA Foundation.

The IGDA Foundation supports the mission of the IGDA, “To advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community,” through Educational, Scientific and Charitable works.

Here are a few programs and other worthy causes of unique value to our game developer community that receive our support:

• GDC Scholarships for worthy students with a passion for making games, including the Annual Eric Dybsand Memorial Scholarship for AI Development, entering its fifth year.
• Support of the IGDA Special Interest Groups and Chapters through SIG and Chapter Grants.
• Targeted research in the Game Industry of unique value to individual developers.
• The “Gamers with Disabilities” Project providing access to game for gamers with disabilities.
• The Patrick Downey Cancer Fund, to support the family of game artist Patrick Downey after his untimely loss to cancer.
• Grants to fund participation by the Library of Congress in educational panels on Game Preservation.
• The Romero Archives. The Romero Archives was founded by programmer and game designer John Romero and is dedicated to preserving the work, processes and history of game design and game designers.

The IGDA Foundation is managed by an all-volunteer team with little or no administrative overhead. This means that over 98% of Contributions to the Foundation go directly to our projects and as a 501(c)(3) charity all contributions are fully deductible under US tax law.

The IGDA Foundation is constantly seeking worthy projects of interest and benefit to the game developer community that elevate our industry and our members’ lives.  If you know of one, let us know.

More information at http://foundation.igda.org

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More from this issue:

• Every Kickstarter a Success, Corvus Elrod
• Gurus, Silos, and a Good Story: How to Approach Crowdfunding, Suzanne Jackiw
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: On Giving Away Stuff for Free, Dave Gilbert
• Drafting a Social Media Handbook Policy for Developers, Preeti R. Khanolkar
• Would You Like Color Options With That? Games as a Service, Suzanne Jackiw
• Member Discount, Selfpubd
• Donate Appreciated Stock to the IGDA Foundation

Mindshare is the commodity of the information age, and influence is the medium in which that mindshare flows between various parties who are keen to control it. The questions surrounding control and influence, especially as applied to forms of media like games, have been a key debate for decades. But they’re a backdrop to the broader issue of freedom of speech and expression. While the Supreme Court of the United States secured that freedom for video games in 2012, the battle for the public perception continues – not only within the U.S. but in many countries around the world where various standards of freedom are applied (or not). Some believe it’s in the best interest of game developers to be silent and enjoy our artistic status, but until the public mindshare is swayed from the misperception of games as agents of chaos, we all need to remain vocal advocates of our craft.

Sincerely,

Kate Edwards
Executive Director

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Just before this issue reappeared, I was discussing the influence of gameplay with a colleague Josh Tanenbaum. Josh pointed out an irony—on the one hand, we as game industry and academia want to say that games aren’t responsible when something unhealthy happens, while on the other, we seek to prove how games can educate and even change players. Personally, I believe that we as human beings shape our realities and our dreams by the content we surround ourselves with day-to-day. I also believe that this is each individual’s choice and responsibility (understanding parental responsibility as well).

On my end, I just can’t touch anything with overt violence. I spend too much time thinking about the larger social, economic, cultural, and political contexts that the game mechanics, characters, and storyline exist within. That and I just have nightmares. Really. And hey, I appreciate scary games done well, like BioShock, thanks to Susan O’Connor’s writing. Mostly, I long for those early Ultima Online days where we as players created stories for live events and I filled my dreams with great adventures.

Games can be outlets just as much as they can be immersive, rewarding experiences. If someone who does something violent also plays violent video games, it’s not necessarily that games “made them that way,” it’s that they had existing issues that fed into their preference of games and went beyond into the world. Having said that, games do have real elements with real physiological impacts on the human mind and body that need to be explored further.

I see encounters like this as an opportunity. It’s a call for each of us to look closely at the games we are designing, what we are putting out into the world, and for what purposes. Censorship on this scale is an ugly beastie. It’s on everyone to understand the differences between fighting against mass censorship and defending specific games. Policies set in place will affect all.

Elizabeth LaPensée
Editor in Chief

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Table of Contents

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor
• Events
• E-Reader version

Editor in Chief – Elizabeth LaPensée; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

The zombie of censorship is once again shambling toward the game developer community, barely a year and a half after the US Supreme Court dropped it with a cranial shot of reason.

In 2011, nine black-robed justices forced the sorcerers of censorship to acknowledge your constitutionally protected First Amendment right to express yourself through games. Laws restricting, modifying, or banning games were buried in national and state legislatures around the country. But the censors are once again uttering the forbidden rites, and those newly buried laws are stirring in their coffins and clawing their way toward daylight.

What We Do

For over a dozen years I have volunteered as chair of the IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues (ACSI) committee, dedicated to the rights and responsibilities of game developers. We have worked with the press, the courts, Congress, state and local governments, large and small publishers, the ESRB, game organizations, rights groups, researchers, and countless game developers to educate, coordinate, cajole, plead, and pressure everyone to separate fact from fiction and do the right thing. We listen to the game developer community to identify the latest flare-ups, we work with researchers to get the facts, and we lobby Washington, DC and the states, asking pertinent (and sometimes impertinent) questions to elected officials.

Our accomplishments include external successes, like helping bottle up censorship bills in legislative committees so they can’t become law, and internal successes, like improving developer understanding of and communications with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). We also recognize that our rights to work free of censorship also come with responsibilities, so we work with the developer community to promote new ways of looking at old designs and using games to explore social issues. Games are not required to improve society, but they can and they do, and games are often greatly improved when developers thoughtfully consider their impact on the world.

Hot Content at the GDC

The ACSI committee began on an informal basis in 1995, after I presented a lecture at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) called “Hot Content: Handling Controversial Material in Computer Games and Multimedia.” I had shared experiences I had designing critical thinking games about environmental controversies, published by Apple. I had also helped create a media training guide for game store owners ambushed by reporters during the moral panic over Dungeons and Dragons when I was a paper RPG designer in the mid 1980s.

The session was well received by the developer community, GDC, developers, and the IGDA, which was newly formed to advocate for developers. The timing was critical, as video game bans were gaining momentum in Congress and around the nation. Competing video game ratings systems were in their infancy, and developers feared creative interference from within and without.

Playing Games with Washington

With the support of like-minded developers, I began to informally lobby Congress. The next year I presented a GDC session on “Government Affairs for Computer Game Designers” where I summarized the threat against free speech in games and began an initiative for developers to do citizen lobbying. By 1997, our informal committee had formed alliances with other like-minded groups, including the powerful Software Publishers Association.

We descended on Capitol Hill in a highly-coordinated lobbying push. The California delegation in Congress, which was very supportive of the software industry, helped us get meetings with other representatives they considered persuadable. We laid out the facts and asked for commitments to oppose censorship bills, which at the time had considerable support. In 1998 I summarized our efforts at the GDC, “Washington DC Road Trip: Game Developers Go Lobbying.” 

NIMF-mania

The greatest threat to game freedom at the time was driven by the annual press conferences held by Senators Lieberman and Kohl, where they pushed for government control of the game industry. The press gave extensive coverage to the lurid video game footage and the indignant, puritanical finger-wagging, which were much better for ratings than dry congressional hearings. So I decided to attend and perhaps ask a question.

Lieberman and Kohl thought they had a smoking gun. A research organization called the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) had published a study slamming the game industry’s efforts to regulate the sales of video games to minors. Lieberman and Kohl concluded that the ESRB was not working and should be replaced.  After the reporters asked questions I did not find very pertinent, I decided to ask an impertinent question.

“How can you consider NIMF be an objective source on the ESRB game ratings system when NIMF has made a competing game rating system it wants to force on the industry,” I asked. “How is that not a conflict of interest?”

Senator Lieberman began to answer, but, realizing he had no answer, threw the question to Senator Kohl, and walked out of his own press conference. Senator Kohl attempted to answer, but quickly threw the question to NIMF founder Dr. David Walsh. Walsh indignantly defended his research, but, in my opinion, never answered the question. But it didn’t matter. The press conference was over, and so was that year’s attempt to have the government replace the ESRB. 

A Committee Is Born

I continued my annual presentations at GDC with calls for citizen lobbying and reports on government action like the FCC’s attack on video games. But the threats were more than one volunteer could deal with. In 2000, we formally inaugurated the committee, first under the name Violence in Games (there’s a name the media will love, I said), but then called Anti-Censorship and Social Issues to better reflect our focus on both rights and responsibilities. The new IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca asked me to chair, and we received support from research luminaries like Dr. Henry Jenkins (MIT) and Dr. Dmitri Williams (University of Illinois), authors like Gerard Jones (Killing Monsters) and Christy Marx, journalists like David Thomas (Denver Post) and Van Burnham (Wired), and far too many gaming greats to name, including the current IGDA Board Chairman Dustin Clingman.

Our goals were to build awareness among developers of the new ratings system, provide feedback to the ESRB from developers, coordinate with other organizations on shared goals, and follow research developments to educate developers on the impact of games. We would not debate the impact, but we would follow the facts wherever they lead. I pledged that if science proved that violent video games caused harm, I would stop making them.

Pertinent Content

Over the years, developers, marketers, and executives from virtually all the large publishers and many smaller studios attended our annual meeting at GDC to provide input, air grievances, learn about the latest censorship threats, share strategies, get media training, learn how to lobby their local representatives, and hold passionate discussions about how we can further the social good, even in games with violent or controversial content.

In the early days of the ESRB, many developers felt that their games were rated far more harshly than the material deserved. They worried about censoring themselves through trying to second-guess ratings. The committee began compiling a “Ratings Survival Handbook,” with the lessons from the trenches. The goal was to help developers understand the ratings process and to work within the ESRB system without compromising their vision, but we did not know how much of the handbook was truly accurate, how much was based on assumptions, and how much was just sour grapes on the part of developers.

We also invited the ESRB to the lion’s den, and, to their credit, the ESRB agreed. They attended and listened, even though the discussions sometimes got heated. By building bridges, developers could gain a much better understanding of the ratings system and learn to function under it while still making the kinds of games they want to make.

We did not have illusions that our committee could change the ESRB, but they did agree to provide us with a “pertinent content” chart describing the way video game material is rated. The chart clarified many issues for developers and made our “Ratings Survival Guide” largely irrelevant. The ESRB returned to more of our annual meetings, and we remarked on how much complaints about ratings dropped each year after we disseminated the pertinent content chart.  Ratings confusion went from our number one concern to a nonissue in about five years.

Years later, when NIMF and politicians tried to attack the ESRB as being too lenient on the games industry, the ACSI committee was able to effectively refute them simply by citing the many developer complaints that had come through the committee over the years.

Ups and Downs

In the following years, we trained developers about how to testify in their state legislatures against anti-game laws. I helped demonstrate how by testifying against the District of Columbia game ban at the DC hearings. I held up a Vampire: The Masquerade game book I wrote, and a copy of the Vampire: The Masquerade video game I worked on. I testified that the material is similar, so why does everyone agree that selling the book should never be a crime, but selling the game could be a crime? After the hearings, the bill came up short of enough votes to get out of committee, even though sponsors said they had enough votes to pass it if it made it to the floor.

The ACSI committee coordinated with other industry groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and anti-censorship groups. We helped promote the polite but illuminating GDC debate between the IGDA’s Jason Della Rocca and Congressman Leland Yee, author of California’s anti-game law. We followed and promoted the latest research in the field, which was increasingly showing that imaginary violence does not cause real violence. Studies attempting to prove otherwise were roundly criticized by the rest of the scientific community, their flaws exposed.

The committee had to jump into action to fight a new onslaught of censorship attempts after the industry was brought into turmoil by Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas “Hot Coffee” scandal. We fought back against heavy-breathing news reports that failed to make the vital distinction that the (relatively tame) sex-themed material on the disc was inaccessible in the play of the game and that accessing it required third party software, hacking, and a violation of the software user agreement. We countered NIMF’s claim that the material was “sexually explicit.”

The committee continued monitoring NIMF and publicizing what we saw as conflicts of interest and unsupported claims. Soon other researchers began debunking NIMF, too. The United States National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) issued a press release condemning NIMF for “erroneous statements about National PTA’s position on the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s (ESRB) rating system. In fact, National PTA does not endorse NIMF’s report. Further, it does not agree with the report’s characterization of ESRB and its rating system.” NIMF finally closed down in 2009, its rating system never imposed on the video game industry.

Supreme Protection

While many game laws never got passed, some did, including one in California. When the case went to the Supreme Court, it wasn’t just the ACSI committee that responded. The entire IGDA signed on to a Friend of the Court brief against the law. I wrote an editorial in the Washington Post, timed to publish the Sunday before the Supreme Court heard the case. The Justices forced even the pro-censorship researchers to admit that violent video games have no worse effects than Bugs Bunny cartoons or non-violent games.The Supreme Court followed our reasoning, definitively ruling that the science was overwhelming: violent games do not cause real violence. For the first time in history, video games were explicitly protected by the US Constitution.  

SOPA PIPA

In late 2011, disturbing new laws emerged, like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). They would not simply make the government that the source of censorship, but would put censorship powers in the hands of companies. Some video game lobbyists supported the legislation. The ACSI committee did not agree. We took a stand against the bills, and to their credit, so did the full IGDA. The bills were finally stopped in an impressive Internet uprising.

The Future

Following the Supreme Court victory, some people hoped that the IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee could finally take a break. But after a recent string of gun violence, including the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, politicians and lobbyists were again scapegoating video games. The committee took quick action, making available the literature we had amassed showing that violent video games do not cause violence.

I appeared on the NBC Nightly News, Fox News, MSNBC, and other news programs to face withering questioning from anchors who did not seem to know the basic scientific facts that the Supreme Court ruled on.

Despite all our gains, the ACSI is busier than ever, helping IGDA chapters in other countries with their anti-game laws. We sent a letter to Vice President Biden supporting more well-validated research into violent games, but asking that the government also study the benefits of violent games. We refuted comments by politicians like Senator Chuck Grassley and we challenged Senator Lamar “Video Games Is [sic] a Bigger Problem Than Guns” Alexander to a debate on facts. (We have not yet heard back.)

We don’t really expect an end to censorship attempts anytime soon. So our next initiative is to educate the public and end the scapegoating of video games. You are welcome to be part of the solution. Visit us at GDC and volunteer to join the fun. Other than making video games, what could be more fun than defending them?

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

1. Technical innovation births the videogame platform. This new platform creates new business models. New business models create new game design imperatives for videogames. Game designs target more mature audiences as profitable market segments. The resulting mature game content is criticized by society. New regulations are created to further define what is and is not acceptable. Go back to step 1.

Let me explain it in more depth by way of the history of the Japanese game industry.

#1 Arcade in 1980s

A semiconductor breakthrough in the 1970s allowed a company called TAITO to manufacture cheap and high performance CPUs. TAITO would go on to create agame called “Space Invaders” with it in 1978. It made a huge impact in Japan, but it also created new social problems. A black market for pirated games formed as a new source of income for Japanese yakuza, or gangsters. Arcades were thought of as a hotbed of vice by old generation and society demanded more control.

In 1985, the Entertainment Establishments Control Law was updated and the arcade industry was ruled to be under police jurisdiction by law.  The Japanese arcade industry has survived until today under the rule of law, for better and for worse. While it clarified issues for society, it also gave the game industry a bad image. In the addition, laws are very conservative and do not adjust quickly to social change. In the 40 years since Space Invaders rocked the industry, arcade guests have changed from gamers to families and old people. Some arcades are used as a kind of community center for older folks in a town. But it is difficult for these arcades to survive legally. For example, while many of the elderly need extra physical support, arcade clerks are banned from physical contact with their patrons. Unfortunately, there seems to be no moves toward updating the law or removing it from the game industry.

#2 Consoles in 2000s

Happily, consoles shook off the social regulation that plagued arcades in1980s and 1990s. The Japanese economy was crushed in the 1990s, yet the game industry was very active at the time. They defended against new regulation by saying that it might have a negative economic impact on the industry. But technological innovations in photorealistic visuals created new frictions between the game industry and society.

In 2003, GTA 3 was published by CAPCOM in Japan. It was labeled as harmful content by some local governments. The Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO), a game rating system similar to the ESRB, had already rated the game,, but it was not enough according to public opinion. The Computer Entertainment Suppliers’ Association (CESA) took it seriously and the game rating system became more strict. In the addition, CESA became more transparent about their values and ratings. It is an example of self control in a society that views the videogame industry’s self control as dubious. The industry is pulled in opposite directions by industry and society, and fair operation is difficult.

#3 Mobile/Social in 2010s

Wireless communication and the Free-to-Play business model combined to create a large mobile/social game market in Japan, expanding quickly throughout 2009 to 2012. Now, the mobile/social market has expanded to the console gaming market. Many developers were challenged to create new game designs, some of which focused on increasing average revenue per user. On the other hand, the genre of kids’ games created new friction. In 2012, the Japanese government opined that a game called “Complete Gacha (lot)” was socially unacceptable due to gambling connections. Social game publishers quickly updated their content. In addition, they created new game industry association, the Japanese Social Game Association, or JASGA. It announced new regulations for social game design and operations.

At that time, there were said to be two groups in government. One group thought that the social game industry was very active and new regulation would slow their growth. The other group thought that the social game industry should be regulated to protect consumers. The social games industry has gotten by with self-regulation, but some don’t think it’s enough. Today, merging CERO and JASGA’s regulation has become a new mission for the game industry.

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These days, the game industry faces globalization, meaning that the game industry should consider equally global regulations. I think that the game industry needs some regulation in order to continuously grow its market. Of course, I think self-regulation is much better than rule of law, but I understand that it is a very difficult task. On the other hand, mature or socially criticized game content can spread throughout the world and cause unexpected problems. In addition, games keep changing with technological innovations.

The games industry needs to focus on new self-regulatory systems and that are transparent and well-explained to the world. It is a difficult mission, but we understand that it is our duty to our society and community.

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

If you are the typical gamer, you might want to stop reading at this point, because you aren’t going to like what I have to say.  So go ahead and move on to the next article and you’ll be fine. On the other hand, if you are strong of heart and rational, then keep reading.

Gun Control

The debate about video games and violence is very similar to the debate about gun control. I support reasonable gun control measures.  Just because the second amendment gives us the right to bear arms doesn’t mean that people have the right to own any weapon. Restrictions on the type of weapon, amount of ammo, and regulations such as background checks seem reasonable to me.

Although I don’t have an actual source for this, the last statistics I saw were that about 85% of Americans agree with these types of regulations.  On the other hand, if you were to gauge public opinion simply by watching the evening news, you would believe that everyone wants the right to own an arsenal of combat weapons.

As I listen to the gun proponents, one thing in particular strikes me:  most of them are against any regulation on guns.  They claim that regulations will do nothing to curb gun violence, so there is no point in even trying.

As I listened to the rhetoric of the pro-gun enthusiasts, I had an epiphany:  “This sounds a lot like gamers!”

Game Control

When you talk to gamers about games and violence (or read a plethora of posts on the Internet), most of them are dismayed by the thought that video games contribute to violence in any way.  It is, they say, ridiculous to think that violent video games have anything to do with violence in society. We are aghast at the thought!  In fact, the idea that video games have anything to do with violence is so ridiculous that we shouldn’t even take part in the discussion.  Besides, regulations will do nothing to curb violence, so there is no point in even trying.

Sound familiar?

We are so convinced that violent video games are harmless that we sound just like the extreme gun enthusiasts.  But it just starts to sound like, “Don’t take away our toys!”

I know, I know….Before you all stone me to death, I know that reputable research has found no link between video games and violence.  I know that video games have even been shown to be beneficial.  And I know that we need to fight, as an industry, to maintain our first amendment rights of artistic expression.

But we have to be rational.  We have to at least appear to be listening.  We have to be willing to accept that there are some reasonable industry regulations.  For example, we all agree that 4 year-old should not be playing Modern Warfare.  In fact, most of us agree with a rating system that identifies content so that parents can make informed purchasing decisions (and yes, I know that we already do this).

Let’s be reasonable!

The point I am trying to make is this:  instead of making knee-jerk reactions, we need to admit that violent video games do require some regulation, and that we as an industry should actively support reasonable regulations of video games with violent and/or mature content.  We need to highlight the steps that we are taking and show the world that we are actually mature adults.

If we refuse to even listen to public opinion about video games and violence, then the public will refuse to listen to us.  At the very least, we need to admit that violent media of all kinds, including books, movies, music, and games, should have age appropriate limitations.  We should be willing to participate in a dialogue regarding these issues and quit reacting as if we were all adolescent boys.  Besides, if we don’t advocate for our own industry, who will?

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

Bouncing off of Nels’ discussion of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, the scenarios in The Witcher are similar to the ones used by Kohlberg, Gilligan, Haidt, and other psychologists to explore moral development in students. I would like to support what Nels said in that games like The Witcher are great at offering authentic experiences. These experiences may even be more situated than the hypothetical situations that Kohlberg and others used in their studies.

Players build a relationship with the characters they play, and, through experiencing the narrative of the game, the relationships and moral choices are deeply situated and contextual. In addition, players have the option of trying out the different options available to them with respect to where the narrative goes, and they can experience the implications and consequences of these choices rather than simply imagining them.

The Witcher did this very well. I was forced to sit back and think about my own thinking and actions whenever a new dilemma presented itself and assess whether these actions were consistent with my ideals. I was able to align my play with who I thought my character should be. When I mention “my character” I mean both Geralt, the on-screen character I controlled, and myself-as-Geralt in a sort of cybernetic relationship. This mirrors what Jim Gee describes as “projected identity” in his writings about playing a half-elf in Arcanum (2003). The actions made and roles taken in a RPG are limited by the abilities of the in-game character, the abilities of the player, and the imaginings of the player about who the character should be or how he or she should behave.

In sum, the value that games add is not just that they offer rich experiences to explore morality (and possibly help people develop moral reasoning), but that they offer exploration of multiple identities and morality paths. Presenting players with a sandbox to explore real, complex, gray issues and modeling realistic consequences are what will make games mature.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilligan, C., & Attanucci, J. (1988). Two moral orientations: Gender differences and similarities. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 34, 223-237.

*This post contains similar ideas in a longer review Mark wrote on The Witcher for E-Learning. (Chen, M. (2008). Moral ambiguity in The Witcher: A game review. E-Learning 5(3), 358-365.)

Mark Chen is a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington-Seattle, College of Education, who uses ethnographic methods emphasizing personal narrative and experience to study groups of gamers in the massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft. Prior to his doctoral work, Mark was the webmaster and a web game developer for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR. You can read more about Mark on his blog.

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

It’s hardly a novel experience that they settle on an entertainment medium as being the root of all societal ills. It happened to Rock and Roll and it happened to comic books. In the late 40s, under the guise of anti-Communist rhetoric, creativity across the film industry was stifled as Hollywood Blacklist came into full force. In every case, the political grandstanding hasn’t affected any change. Ghandi famously said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win,” and that’s what we’re seeing now as out-of-touch politicians try desperately to lash out at a world that they no longer understand, throwing around the Second Amendment to the US Constitution as though it were more sacred than the Bible, the Torah and the Koran combined.

However, it’s fair to say that on the whole certain elements within our industry acts with very little responsibility and regard for the influential power we can wield. As much as we might argue that the gun lobby is hiding behind the Second Amendment, many developers are also hiding behind the First, believing that a guaranteed freedom of expression absolves them of responsibility for the contents of that expression. Although they’re technically accurate it seems, these studios, acting like petulant children simply because they can are very dangerous to the reputation of our industry. I frequently meet people who talk about gaming consoles with disdain, “Why would you want to spend all day sitting around in your underwear shooting people?” They don’t know about all the charming, quirky indie games produced; they just know the hyper-violent sensationalised
blockbusters with large enough budget to be featured on TV.
And this is the crux of our problem. We have one side of the conversation that thinks they have a divine right to have the equipment required to shoot someone in the face, and a public perception that we are obsessed with showing people getting shot in the face. It’s not hard to see where we might repeatedly get sucked into having to justify ourselves. It’s easier for politicians to score points over this issue than take steps to actually fix what needs to be fixed. We don’t need more guns, we need to make sure that guns aren’t an impulse purchase. Anyone who wakes up one morning needing to shoot something really bad probably needs to see a therapist an awful lot more than they need to be given an M16. But the thing we need to do—as an industry—is work to make sure that we try very hard to dispel this view that games are all about shooting people in the face and beating up hookers. It isn’t what our medium is about, yet it defines our public image, and that is very problematic for us trying to have this debate.

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

We would remind Senator Grassley that an extensive body of research has already shown that violent video games have no worse effects than watching “cartoons starring Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner” or “video games like Sonic the Hedgehog that are rated “E” (appropriate for all ages)” as established by the US Supreme Court.

As for Senator Grassley’s attempts to play art critic and search for artistic value, we would refer him again to the US Supreme Court, which struck down a ban on video game sales, saying, “Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas–and even social messages–through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/04/violentkidsent.shtm

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/08-1448.pdf

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

The video games industry has been self-policing for many years. The video game industry’s ESRB industry ratings system has been shown to have the highest level of compliance at keeping games made for adults out of the hands of children, as confirmed through rigorous, continual undercover shopper tests run by the US Federal Trade Commission. The vast majority of parents are aware of the ESRB rating system and regularly use it. We give parents the tools they need and we are always listening to parents and looking for ways to do a better job of it.

Are games fine the way they are?

There is always more that the video game industry can do to keep games made for adults out of the hands of children. The industry is constantly seeking better ways to reach parents about how to evaluate games for children, with public service announcements, advertising, displays in stores that sell games, and improved enforcement of ratings at checkout.  However, it is important to note that violent video gameplay does not make people violent. In 2011, the US Supreme Court examined the research and concluded that imaginary violence does not cause real violence, saying “Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such exposure causes minors to act aggressively.”

Have games gone overboard?

Games are a form of protected speech like books, music, and movies. Game developers have a right to explore themes and ideas just like creators in other media. We take this right seriously, and we understand that rights come with responsibilities. For more than 15 years, the International Game Developers Association’s Violence and Social Issue Committee has held annual meetings with key members of the game development community to discuss not only how we defend our work from censorship, but how to elevate video game content with richer themes and incorporate pro-social values.

Game developers tend to be very thoughtful people with a surprisingly wide range of interests, and unique ideas who hold a great concern for their players. Many game developers care deeply about the effects of their games on fans and on society and they often want their art to reflect that concern, even when it requires extra effort with no guarantee that the extra work will sell even one more copy. In recent years, many extremely popular video games have proven this by exceeding conventional game design and harnessing the power of interactivity to immerse players in a thoughtful meditation on the use, misuse, and consequences of violence. Look at games like Bioshock, Fable 2 and Fallout 3, where players must make choices about the kinds of actions they will engage in and the consequences therein, for good or ill. Newer games with violent content have been designed with extra gameplay modes and options so players can opt to win without their character killing any character in the game. Other game designers are working on games for conflict-resolution, anti-bullying, and other pro-social themes, even though these kinds of games have no proven market and there is no evidence they will be able to make money from them.

It is also important to note that even violent video games can have beneficial effect. Research from Texas A&M associate professor of psychology and communication Christopher Ferguson has shown that “violent and non-violent games tend to relax people over time, not anger them.”

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

Then it hits me: the unspoken, unwritten rule of being a volunteer in a high profile role…

Since the closure of Melbourne-based studio Transmission Games, in October 2009, Giselle has taken on the unpaid task of rallying local game developers, providing support and organising events in order to bring the community together. She’s implemented monthly meet-ups featuring industry talks and showcases, coordinated large-scale events, meals and activities for groups of 150 or more, built a thriving Facebook page, and secured tens of thousands of dollars in funding and sponsorship, on top of holding down paid employment and a busy family life.

It’s the kind of tireless generosity that can take a toll. And often does.

It’s also why I cornered her after the pre-launch of Time Surfer by Kumobius.

‘But what about you?’ I asked. ‘What do you need or want?’

I already knew the answer. More than anything, Giselle wanted a paid job doing what she loved: building up developers within the local games industry, helping them grow and succeed. And, as we talked about how that situation could be improved, and what she needed to make that happen, the conversation turned to GDC 2013. Giselle had already been offered the chance to be a volunteer (guaranteeing entry), and her US-based Australian friend had offered her accommodation, but it would still require a passport, the support of her family (‘I just need a proposal that my husband can’t refuse…’) and, most importantly, money to pay for flights. Of everything, that would be the most difficult to come by.

The soft sadness filled her eyes. ‘But I can’t ask for anything for myself; can I?’

It was the unwritten rule. As director of IGDAM, she could whip up a dozen corporate sponsors for an event, put on meals that cost thousands of dollars in beer and food, and see that all the required venues and people got paid. But it wasn’t right to ask for anything personally.

I couldn’t shake the thought. For the next few days, I messaged Giselle about the importance of GDC, and encouraged her to put everything else in place, to get the support of her husband and kids.

On the morning of Monday, January 14, Giselle messaged:

‘All systems go, I’m allowed to go to GDC.’

The plan was to post something in Facebook and make a personal appeal to those who knew Giselle through the IGDA of Melbourne.

It was too late to get something written up for that day, so I decided to kick things off the next morning. In the meantime, though, I needed help. I approached work colleague, Fiona Murray, and shared the idea with her. Fiona was a good friend of Giselle’s, well-liked within the local dev community and a bit of a financial/admin whiz. Should no one jump in to the thread and offer money, she could also help get the ball rolling. Fiona loved the idea.

The next morning, I logged into Facebook and posted on the IGDA Melbourne page:

‘GET GISELLE TO GDC.’

I explained that GDC 2013 was coming up in March, and added: ‘For anyone involved in the making of games, or the running of international game development events, it’s a big deal.

‘One such person is Giselle.

‘The go-to for making IGDAM tick, Giselle has spent the last 3-4 years building the game developer scene in Melbourne. She’s organised events, talks, conferences, BBQs, game jams and just about everything in-between. But she’s never had the chance to get among the real heavyweights of the industry, never travelled to be part of the bigger scene or make the connections that could really benefit the local industry.

‘At GDC 2013, Giselle has the chance to do all that. Accepted as a volunteer, she also has the chance to see the event from the inside out.

‘In short, GDC 2013 is really important to her.

‘Giselle has already organised her own accommodation; she’s working on getting a passport; and she’s been given full support by her family to go. All she needs now is the airfare.

‘For years, Giselle has given up her time, energy and resources to make the local scene come together. She’s created events where game devs have been able to make deals, connections and long-lasting friendships. Despite holding the title of “Director of the International Game Developers Association, Melbourne Chapter”, she’s done everything for free; for the love.

‘Now, we have an opportunity to give something back to Giselle.’

Giselle needs $1,400 AUD to cover the cost of flights to the US, I explained. ‘Let’s do this!’

Commenting first, I offered $50, then prepared for the worst.

I should have known better.

Within seconds of hitting enter, someone else had replied, ‘I’ll throw in $100,’ adding a heart-shaped icon.

‘Hit me up for $20,’ added another, immediately. ‘$70 from me,’ wrote a third. ‘I’m in for $30 ($20 for flight, $10 for the beer),’ wrote another.

The replies kept coming: $50, $50, $100, $50, $30, $25. ‘$100 and an invitation to the annual 4am Lori’s Diner burger run,’ added another!

One dev, wishing to remain anonymous, messaged me privately to contribute $250.

‘Appreciate all the work Giselle’s put in,’ wrote another, putting up $25.

‘Giselle does so much for us, glad to give some back,’ and ‘Wish I could do more,’ wrote other contributors.

‘Endgame’s good for $250—more than worth it for Jazz’s contributions to the local industry,’ posted someone else.

Less than six hours later, the $1,400 had been covered, and it was looking like the total might get closer to $1,800.

The money and the affection, however, kept coming.

‘So much love,’ wrote one contributor. ‘This thread makes me happy,’ wrote another, fronting up $20.

By the time we wrapped everything up a few days later, Giselle had been offered more than $2,500 in cash, an invitation to Lori’s Diner, ‘a greasy breakfast at Mel’s’, Blue Bottle coffees, flight suggestions, several donations from international friends, and the ‘cost of a US pay-as-you-go android phone or 4G hub, plus credit’ to ‘make sure you can still tweet and post pics of your adventure without racking up a massive data bill’.

Fittingly, the final amount raised was publicly presented by Fiona to Giselle, along with a toy plane, on January 25—the first day of the Global Game Jam event in Melbourne—yet another incredibly successful event organised by Giselle.

And while I wasn’t able to attend the presentation, the photos that were taken that day showed an entirely different look in Giselle’s eye to the one I saw a few weeks prior—an excited sparkle, a sense of being loved and appreciated.

It’s a look that we—as a local community that appreciates everything our beloved IGDA director does for us—hope to see in many more pictures of Giselle as her GDC 2013 adventure becomes a reality.

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More from this issue:

• A Brief History of your IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee, Daniel Greenberg
• A History of Control in Japanese Game Industry: Kenji Ono
• IndieSpective: Games and Guns, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Ambiguous Morality, Kohlberg, and The Witcher: Mark Chen
• Student Beat: The Media Scapegoat, Luke Dicken
• IGDA Release: Statement on Senator Grassley: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• IGDA Release: Response to Mike Bowersock: IGDA Anti-Censorship and Social Issues Committee
• Planes, Games and Facebook Appeals: How Love and Appreciation Sent an IGDA Director to the Other Side of the Planet: Drew Taylor

Diversity is not a tricky concept; in fact it’s rather fundamental to the world in which we live – from the biodiversity we see around us every day to the ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity we experience in a globalizing world. The tricky part about diversity, particularly when it comes to the workplace and gender equity, is putting it into practice in meaningful ways. While we yearn for the day when it’s an issue we don’t have to think about anymore because it just happens - much as the biodiversity around us – that’s not today, not yet. In the games industry, we rely on various key pieces of software to provide the backbone to our daily craft – from game engines to rendering tools to writing and composing apps and so on. There will come a time when diversity and the elimination of gender disparity will be as implicit to our workplace as these creative tools already are to game development. What will it take to happen? Much like these tools, it’s a matter of education and adoption, i.e., it occurs because we need it to happen for the ultimate benefit of our craft. So let’s make it happen.

Kate Edwards
Executive Director
International Game Developers Association

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Letter from the Editor

Why hello everyone! This is a particularly juicy newsletter, which includes the re-launching of the Letter from the Editor opening. Good to talk again. Ya know, dissertation, marriage, two young children, a divorce, a name change, and oh yeah dissertation. It’s 2013 and I’m alive­­.

I started off in game industry as a journalist who secretly wanted to be a writer. But whenever I came close to joining a videogame company, I’d hear something like, “It’ll be good to have a girl on the team so we can make games girls will buy,” or “there’s a lot of money in that middle aged stay-at-home mom target audience since they have nothing to do with themselves but play casual games, so could you figure that out for us?” and go running back to land.

Networking gave me the opportunity to consult on Indigenous representations in games and to apply my writing and aesthetic to a number of projects. I ran game development workshops for Indigenous youth in Portland, Oregon and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. I thought to myself, “This next generation will have it; we’re now beating down the path so they can follow and smooth it out.” So why would I want to hear horror stories from my fellow women in the game industry? I am pretty sure it was the professional meetings held in strip clubs and the uncomfortable stalking at game conferences that did it for me. Good knowing you, industry, but I think I’ll go get this Ph.D. so I can grant fund Indigenous games.

Thanks to social media, we have an open forum to discuss ongoing issues of diversity in the game industry. Women still have concerns today and this is an opportunity to reflect on recent and past experiences. We’re talking, and I’m happy for that. We also have a lot of reasons to keep doing what we’re doing. I think back to those workshops and of a young girl who was a natural level designer. It was like her mind was wired for it, and she loved what she was doing.

I will hold onto that spirit of youthful exploration. I just want to write, play, and create. How about you?

And with that, I present the International Game Developers Association Perspectives Newsletter’s January issue on #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe.

Elizabeth LaPensée
Editor in Chief
IGDA Perspectives Newsletter

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Table of Contents

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts
• Events
• E-Reader version

Editor in Chief – Elizabeth LaPensée; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

IGDA Members often get special access to discounts for conferences, software, etc. Below are just a few of the discounts available (or soon-to-be available) to IGDA Members:

Apps World North America (details below!)

• When: 7-8 February 2013
• Where: San Francisco, US
• What:  20% discount on registration

Gaming Connect @ TV Connect

• When: 19-21 March 2013
• Where: London, UK
• What:  20% discount on registration to TV Connect main conference. Gaming Connect event is free.

Game Developers Conference

• When: 25-29 March 2013
• Where: San Francisco, US
• What: $75 discount code on All Access and Main Conference passes (forthcoming). Discount is not available onsite.

National Assoc. of Broadcasters – NABShow

• When: 6-11 April 2013
• Where: Las Vegas, US
• What: $100 off Conference Registration (code: PR29), FREE Expo Registration (code: PR14); offers expire 22 March 2013.

Social Gaming Summit

• When: 14-15 May 2013
• Where: Berlin, Germany
• What: 15% discount code (forthcoming)

Inside Social Apps

• When: 6-7 June 2013
• Where: San Francisco, US
• What: 15% discount code (forthcoming)

Gaming apps workshops at Apps World – North America – save 25% off your pass!
Europe’s largest multi-platform app event, Apps World will be heading to the Moscone Center West in San Francisco this 7-8 February for two days of debate and discussion around gaming strategies for the apps ecosystem.

The gaming apps sessions will examine gaming strategies for mobile platforms, monetization strategies, discuss how social elements can be utilised to publicise gaming apps and analyse the methods used to market the latest gaming sensations.

Speakers include:

• Christopher Mahoney, Director Emerging Platforms, PlayStation
• Niccolo De Masi, CEO & President, Glu Mobile
• Matt McMahon, Vice President, Mobile, Fox Digital Entertainment
• Baudouin Cormen, VP Publishing America, Gameloft
• Kyu Lee, Vice President, GAMEVIL USA
• Paul Condolora, Senior Vice President, Digital & Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), Turner Broadcasting

View the full gaming apps agenda and speaker line-up here:
http://www.apps-world.net/northamerica/agenda/tracks/gaming-apps

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Save 25% on the gaming workshops at Apps World!

As a special offer to the IGDA, Apps World is providing us with an exclusive 25% discount on gaming workshops. To claim your 25% discount simply use the discount code IGDA25 when registering here:  http://www.apps-world.net/northamerica/register/workshop-registration

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Register for the free exhibition:

• Over 130 exhibitors at the event to networking with, and there are over 2500 people already pre-registered to the event
• Complimentary Developer, Android, and partners theatres from : Microsoft, Rackspace, Enyo & Intel

Register for the exhibition pass here: http://www.apps-world.net/northamerica/register/free-developer-track-a-exhibition-pass

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

As I hit the ‘tweet’ button that announced my personal contribution to the hashtag #1reasonwhy, I suddenly thought: “All true, but who is this really helping?” It came as a surprise to me. #1reasonwhy was all about exposing the darker corners of the industry and, as a writer, I’m usually all for that. After all, that’s where we spent most of our time. But my overwhelming fear was that we were not helping to solve the problem of the lack of female developers, but actively contributing to it by scaring them off with a hashtag entirely devoted to the negatives of the industry.

Not that what was exposed by #1reasonwhy wasn’t important, disheartening and just a little bit unsurprising, but I felt there needed to be balance. Yes, we have to show the wars we’re fighting every day, but we also need to remember what we’re fighting for. So with that in mind I created #1reasontobe, which encouraged female developers to speak out about what they got out of working in the industry and why they love it. It’s proved a popular addition to the debate, and many people seemed to value having a place to pour out their love, as well as somewhere to vent.

It got me thinking about why I first got into the industry. Initially, it was through freelance game review work and then as a fulltime games journalist for PC Zone magazine – a job I got by having played games since I was six years old, and by ever so politely taking apart the magazine’s review of Diablo II during my interview. Although the publication had never had a full-time female staff member, gender didn’t come into it. Passion and being an experienced gamer and a half-decent writer did.

My cross-over into game development was almost by accident. I was offered a job as a story editor on a hard-core role playing game, shortly after having gone freelance again. I seized the opportunity and utilised my contacts to build upon it. Despite being a games journalist, game development found me, rather than the other way around. I’d met very few female developers during my time in games journalism. Very few were interviewed about what they did. And, as far as games writing went, it just wasn’t being talked about in the same way it is now.

At school my experience with computers was minimal, at best. Everything I learnt about them, I learnt from home. I certainly didn’t think of being a game designer as a career in the same way I thought of being a lawyer,  an actress… a mermaid, as a career. My exposure to that world was limited to being a gamer.

Nowadays computer clubs are certainly on the rise, but there’s definitely more that can be done to encourage young girls (who, as we all know, now comprise over 40% of gamers) into this world. I believe this is absolutely fundamental in tackling issues of sexism and gender awareness in the industry. Sexism will always exist in the industry because sexism exists in the world. The least we can do is try to level the playing-field.

These days I rarely think about my gender, but I realise that others do. The girl-gamer tag is frequently bandied around in a way that I find faintly ridiculous, but at the same time I realise that there’s a power to it that can be used for good. Initiatives like ‘Girls teaching Girls to Code’ (which saw 30 Stanford and Cal women in computer science teach high school girls how to code over a weekend) are inspirational. It’s one of the reasons I shall be heading off to Watford Grammar School for Girls in 2013 to talk to the pupils about what I do and why I do it. Being female might not be of great concern to me, but I’ve come to realise that it does matter to young women to see other women out there helping create great games and loving what they do.

I know from the wonderful women I’ve met and worked with in the games industry that there’s no lack of talent and passion. More women should be kicking open doors all over this industry. However, I  believe that it is the responsibility of the industry as a whole to point out where those doors are, and for female developers to spend a little more time educating and enlightening future generations. We need to be the architects of change.

Rhianna Pratchett is an award-winning writer and narrative designer, as well as a 14-year veteran of the games industry, working for companies such as: Sony, EA, SEGA, Codemasters and Square Enix/Eidos. Her titles include: Heavenly Sword, Mirror’s Edge, the entire Overlord series and Tomb Raider. Rhianna also has the rare honour of having been interviewed by both Vogue and Playboy. She also works in film, TV and comics, and is co-director of the Narrativia production company. True to British form, she drinks a lot of tea.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

Hashtags, tweets, and trending topics on Twitter are fleeting and easily forgotten in the digital avalanche of data and the next big discussion topic, be it presidential election results or a monkey in a shearling coat at Ikea. And the reason why this misogyny has been an acknowledged but unresolved issue in games culture is that it is incredibly easy to become discouraged about the potential for an individual to shift the status quo. The way things are seems to be immovable, and sometimes the effort required to change our everyday reality, no matter how obviously problematic it is, seems untenable. And in many ways it is if we try to do it by ourselves. This is why the collaborative nature of #1reasonmentors and the formations of alliances is so important.

I’m one of those academics who has talked and written about the exclusionary culture of game play and production for most of my graduate career. I would group a lot of that work under the banner of ‘bad news stories.’ For instance, I found in my doctoral research that even when girls and women do play games – which they do in large numbers – their participation is often minimized or rendered invisible because game play is still understood as a ‘boy’s thing.’ Some of that gender imbalance changed last year when my research partner Stephanie Fisher and I were offered the unique opportunity to study the creation and implementation of two women-in-games incubators in Toronto, Ontario (for more information on these, see http://handeyesociety.com/difference-engine-initiative/). There were some challenges in the planning and execution of this programme, which we’ve written and talked about, as has coordinator Mare Sheppard from a different perspective in her Game Developers Conference presentation last year. But these disagreements and difficulties were not something to be afraid of, because they provided everyone involved with a clearer vision of what they needed to do to change the dominant way of doing things in the video game industry. While Sheppard concluded that female-only spaces and groups were too exclusionary to be justifiable, other participants in the incubators got involved in creating the local community group Dames Making Games (see dmg.to). DMG is an explicitly feminist organization, actively addressing the systemic marginalization and exclusion of women in game development through incubators and jams open to female-identified participants only. They invite mentors, both women and male allies, from the broader local community of indie game development to share skills and provide game-making support to these often first-time designers. And in their barely one year of existence, they have changed the face of Toronto’s indie game development scene.

The unique vision and mandate of this organization has not gone unnoticed. With seed money from the Feminists in Games network (see feministsingames.com), as well as advice and support from DMG, a team of game developers in Montreal have started planning for an incubator called Pixelles (see pixelles.ca). Gearing up for a January-February 2013 run, Pixelles, like The Difference Engine in Toronto in 2011, was swamped with applicants. It was also met with an unprecedented influx of goodwill and, most importantly, willing mentors from Montreal and beyond. Excitement and enthusiasm are running high, as well as expectations that Pixelles will become something like DMG – a more permanent fixture in the local scene.

Yet, whether these actions will lead to some sort of enduring change is not a guarantee. As with all voluntary activism, sustainability is a huge problem. Dames Making Games has moved to a membership model in pursuit of this, and has secured support from academic and non-academic sponsors as well as from Bento Miso (see bentomiso.com), the collaborative working space where they hold their events. But none of this is possible without the unpaid labour and dedication of its founding members and directors. The same goes for those volunteering their time and expertise at Pixelles and on #1reasonmentors. Part of why DMG works, and what others can learn from their successes, is that those who have benefited from their incubators and jams tend to pay it forward, acting as mentors and volunteers at other events. So, kudos to industry players and those with game development experience for offering to mentor. Mentorship is the first step to creating change. The next steps, the ones that will make these initiatives sustainable, are the formation of alliances and communities like the one coalescing around DMG. If the rallying point of #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors is to have an enduring impact on what is universally acknowledged to be something in need of change, everyone needs to step up.

Alison Harvey is a postdoctoral researcher at the Semaphore Lab in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto in Canada. Her work focuses on inclusion in digital culture, specifically considering game play and production, gender, and disability.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

An industry that is driven by creativity can’t afford stagnation.  The days where games were created by and for males are drawing near an end.  Games now reach a far broader demographic, and those who ignore this fact do so at the risk of becoming obsolete.  The truth is that the game industry needs diversity to survive and flourish beyond the imaginations of teenage boys.

Diversity is quite the buzzword. We hear a lot about diversity and generally admit that it’s a good thing to have.  We talk about how it would be nice to have more women in game development and figure we’ve done our part.

It turns out that it will take a little more effort than this to achieve diversity.  It’s easy to talk and write about diversity but much harder to make it a reality.  The real issue is that, while we all profess that diversity is a worthy goal, deep down inside we wonder, “What’s the big deal?”

It is easy to skirt the issue of diversity by shifting the burden onto others and generally ignoring the issue.  In the meantime, we continue to work and collaborate with people who are just like ourselves.  The truth is that diversity isn’t going to happen until we all take significant steps toward fostering an environment in our studios that demands diversity and refuses to compromise with the status quo.

Allowing Diversity

Creating an environment of diversity starts by rejecting the status quo and embracing an egalitarian perspective in the entire development process.  Let’s start with our employees.

In my experience, there is quite a divide between management (those who run the studio) and staff (those who make the games).  Traditional corporate structures and politics dictate that the staff are worker-bees who do what management tells them to do because management holds the purse strings and the power.

I find it ironic that management will go to great lengths to hire the best and most qualified developers for their team, only to ignore those same team member’s opinions on how the game should actually be made.

I recall one game that I was involved in where the entire development team saw huge flaws in the game and tried to communicate these to management, only to be completely ignored.  The game lacked inspiration, was difficult to play, and simply wasn’t fun.  Management thought otherwise and the game was pushed out the door. When the game was a dismal failure, no one on the development team was surprised.

I’m not trying to say that game studio managers are inept.  I am saying that it becomes all too easy to allow organizational barriers and traditional power structures to block the very creativity studios spend so much time and effort to hire.  I’m saying that to be successful it’s time to throw out practices and policies that kill communication and collaboration.  I am also saying that a game studio is no place for a corporate hierarchy.  If there are more managers than developers at your game studio, you have a problem.

By now you are surely thinking, “I thought this was an article about diversity?”  Keep reading.

It’s really quite simple.  A company that won’t even listen to its own employees is already destroying any potential for diversity. No matter who your employees are, there is already diversity.  Creating a culture that fosters diversity starts tapping into the uniqueness of each individual.

The first step is to eliminate the barriers that are created by the management/staff dichotomy.  The most successful and creative companies out there are those who allow their employees to be invested in their work.  These are companies where a game tester has no problem walking into the Vice President’s office because she sees a glaring problem with the game she has been playing for hours on end.

The next step is to think outside of our individual roles.  Segmentation kills diversity.  Believe it or not, a programmer might have some important insight for the art department.  An artist might have some critical input on some aspect of the game design.  We must create an environment that treats each member of the team, regardless of role, experience, or title, as an invaluable part of our studio’s creative milieu.

Demanding Diversity

Once we have learned to tap the diversity that already exists in our company, we can start to truly expand our horizons to the broader issues of diversity.  Now we can truly consider what it will take to create an environment that embraces employees of every gender, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, handicap, and socio-economic status.

Again, if your company culture already ignores the input of your employees, then it really doesn’t matter who works there.  Once you begin to appreciate diversity as the very foundation of creativity, then you will realize that it is in your best interests to increase and multiply the diversity of your team.

Demanding diversity means always seeking the next opportunity to add someone to the team who is completely different from everyone else and breaks all the rules and expectations.

My personal experience is relevant here.  I was 46 when I got my first job as a game programmer.  I certainly didn’t fit the general demographic of the other members of the programming team who were generally in their twenties.  This company had the rare ability to see beyond stereotypes and gave me a chance to contribute from the wealth of my differences with, rather than my similarities to, the other employees in the company.

Indiversity

Here’s the cool thing.  As indie studios, we are small enough that we probably haven’t formed many of the bad habits that are found in larger companies.  We already depend on every member of our team to wear several hats and to provide insight on all aspects of our games.  Every person on the team is already doubling as QA.

The challenge for indie studios is that they are generally small teams.  It’s harder to find diversity when there are only four people.  Again, diversity starts by appreciating the uniqueness that every team member has to bring to the process.   When it comes time to add someone else to the team, make sure you demand diversity and pick someone who is different than everyone else.

One way that smaller studios can embrace and foster diversity is by becoming involved in the larger game development community.  Some ideas include:

• Sponsoring a hackathon or having the entire studio take part in the Global Game Jam (http://globalgamejam.org/).
• Participating in fund raising efforts such as Child’s Play (http://www.childsplaycharity.org/) or Extra Life (http://www.extra-life.org/)
• Volunteering at a local high school or community college to encourage and educate students about the game industry.

Getting involved in a larger community will foster diversity among your own team as you reach outside your boundaries and touch the world.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

The games industry is still learning that lesson. If we turn to the same experts, opinions and focus groups, we don’t get a real picture of who is—or wants to be—playing games. That doesn’t just restrict studios and designers creatively, it also gags them from giving feedback that is not only needed, but should be heard. Twitter’s 2012 explosion of #1reasonwhy demonstrated that ignoring vital sources leads to explosive demonstrations of the need for change.

I’m a journalist who moonlights as a tabletop game designer. The hashtag may have started with us, with women in the indie tabletop sphere, but it spread to our fellow creators, designers, artists, journalists, and community managers—it didn’t matter whether we worked in analog or digital games. We were telling the same story. The industry is not listening to us. It is not listening to the women or the minorities in the industry or in the audience. It is not going to the source.

Consulting the people who are directly affected by something isn’t just a matter of ethics in journalism. There isn’t a fully rounded picture of the world without all the voices involved. Games, regardless of medium, are being pointed to as sexist, as full of bias, because the accusation is true. Not to the same degree across all titles, nor in the exact same ways. But the issue is present, and telling people that it isn’t doesn’t work anymore.

There are women in nearly every job imaginable in the games industry, all over the world. If games want to become progressive, and reflect a truly global approach to narrative and innovation, you’re going to need to leave your desk, walk down the hall, and talk to the women you work with. If there are no women down the hall, in the building, or in your company, you have a lot more to address first.

You can’t assume that you know what your audience or coworkers want. You are not psychic. Acting like you are doesn’t help progress, it just brings us right back to where we are now. Start with coworkers. Ask what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right. You will likely learn that your work strangles women by lacking options. Choices. Depth. Most of all, presence. The visibility of women in the industry and in the games themselves is increasing, but a commitment to that, to keeping it steady, isn’t strong enough yet.

Making changes in the industry will be hard, and it starts at home, as it were. In your office, your cube farm, your events. It starts with listening to women and making the workplace safe from sexual harassment and continually fighting gender bias. Put more women on panels at conferences, and give a damn about the women who work your booths and events. Give a damn about mentorship. About professional development.

And stop ignoring your audience. Women make up an incredible amount of the population, and wield considerable market force with discretionary income. If you want to get—and keep—them playing your games you’ll have to learn to listen to them. Changing the makeup psychologically and physically of game creation and game consumption works inside and outside the studio. You have to reach out to women who are or could buy your games and ask what they want. It seems overly simplistic. But in this case, going to the source is what’s going to keep you employed. If progressive social change and honoring half the world’s population isn’t enough for you, then contemplate the monetary gain of not angering one of the most mobile, vocal, articulate consumer bases in the world as we currently know it.

#1reasonwhy isn’t a spark. It was a match to a kindling pile bigger than you can ever imagine. If we want games to stay, for jobs to stay, for products to report on—we go to the source.

2013 is a new year. It is a year to change the industry in good ways, for good. You can go to the source and be a part of making things better, or you can get out of the way.

Lillian Cohen-Moore is an award winning editor and writer, working in journalism and game design. Currently  Assistant Editor of Booklife Now, and a guest writer for Bitch Magazine. She is a member of  the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

I once asked at a WIGI conference if diversity in the workplace had made an impact on design decisions.  Normally, people talk about the impact on female character models or how diversity in the workforce can broaden the market appeal of the games.  I’d like to hear your thoughts on how diversity in the workforce affects design decisions.

I’m an economics major, so when I presented at the Women’s Game Conference in 2005, I discussed the economic impact of diversity:  reduced recruitment costs, increased staff motivation, increased creativity, and greater growth in new initiatives.  A more diverse workforce means more diverse backgrounds and experiences, which can lead to richer ideas and greater community connections.  Moreover, studies have shown that when the male:female ratio is more even, employees feel that it is a more pleasant work environment and this leads to higher productivity.

So why is it that there are fewer women in the game industry?  #1reasonwhy has shed some light, citing reasons from misogyny to harsh work conditions to unequal pay.  The prevailing economic thought on women’s unequal pay when I was taking Labor Economics in college had to do with the fact that women can have babies.  Because some women had babies and chose to drop out of the workforce, it was reasoned that employees could not count on women to be reliable.  Therefore, it was riskier to hire women.  Also, those women who did drop out of the workforce tended to do so during years when men were climbing up the corporate ladder so they lost valuable time in their careers.  Oftentimes, they could not return to the workforce after a hiatus.

However, the 2000 Nobelist in Economics James Heckman conducted an exhaustive study on women in the workforce and concluded that there was no “typical” woman who dropped in and out of the workforce.  There were women who worked all the time and there were women who didn’t work, or worked part-time or seasonally.  He concluded that companies should pay attention to the women who worked and invest in them equally.  An unequal wage to a valuable employee would only be detrimental to the company and to the industry.

Of course, as many HR managers in the video game industry might tell you, it can be challenging to find a diverse pool of qualified applicants.  It takes top-level commitment.  See the video below for ideas on diversity initiatives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZyaETVeKdY

Sande Chen is a writer and game designer whose work has spanned 10 years in the industry. Her credits include 1999 IGF winner Terminus, 2007 PC RPG of the Year The Witcher, and Wizard 101. She is one of the founding members of the IGDA Game Design SIG.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

Perhaps even more indicative of the problem was the response that the outcry on Twitter received. First and foremost were the trolls, people (let’s face it – men) who took the time to reply to the stories being told through the hashtag to respond with hate and abuse. It’s awful to think that when people are at their most vulnerable, sharing intimate details of their lives, one of the primary responses of the Internet masses is to hurl insults back, primarily from anonymous untraceable twitter account. An even worse reflection is the way these trolls went about choosing their targets – having an opinion on #1ReasonWhy and voicing it was not sufficient to incur their wrath. I posted a number of thoughts on the issue and received nothing but engagement from other developers. It took a friend openly mocking the hostile reaction she was getting to even realise it was a possibility.

And that’s a big part of the problem: I’m a guy. My profile picture is of a bearded bloke, so when I interact with the world, and more so when the world interacts back, it is from a male perspective. Because of that, I don’t expect that I might get yelled at for expressing an opinion, unlike many women who participated in #1ReasonWhy.

And that’s where the concept of “listening” is really important. The reactions to the outpouring of stories and experiences ran the full gamut from sympathy and empathy to others being spurred to contribute their own stories. Some great things have been produced, like the #1ReasonMentors initiative. Unfortunately, not all the reactions have been positive, and it’s felt like a big part of the reason is an unwillingness to stop and listen. Two really common reactions in particular struck a disharmonic chord with me and I want to poke at these a little bit more here.

I’m not like that – A lot of men felt the need to clarify that they weren’t part of the problem. It’s somewhat understandable in a way to feel like our entire gender was being taken to task for the actions of a few bad apples. And for the extreme stuff, that’s definitely the case, but there’s equally an amount of casual things happening that are either part of the culture we’ve developed, or even just subconscious. Just because you think you’re not like that doesn’t mean that at some point you’ve not contributed in some small way, it just means it wasn’t your intent. Asserting that it doesn’t apply to you because you aren’t part of the problem means you’ve already decided what the problem is – you aren’t listening!

This isn’t an issue, look at <Person> – In any sort of discussion about gender, it’s really easy to point to the successes that specific women have enjoyed in the games industry, and extrapolate that “if they can make it, so can you”, but of course it’s a false argument. We have a phrase “the exception that proves the rule”, and the word ‘exception’ highlights the flaw in the argument. This year’s Develop survey showed that women made up 6% of the surveyed workforce within the industry, so being able to find a handful of female success stories isn’t remarkable, but it doesn’t dispel the anecdotal evidence of casual, normalised sexism that #1ReasonWhy rallied against. It doesn’t disprove the survey data collected by Develop. But if we look at a website like Critical Path Project, a collection of video interviews with prominent “designers and visionaries”, we see that at this level there are 37 people interviewed, of which only 3 are female.

However, when a guy speaks up on these issues, he stands a reasonable chance of being dismissed as a “White Knight” by the people hiding behind these excuses. It seems like we can’t have a conversation without our motives being suspect, without implicitly reducing the women involved to some sort of damsel in distress. And yet if a male friend were being attacked, standing by their side and sticking up for them would be socially acceptable without question. Doesn’t that highlight how much more widespread we need our equality to be?

Rather than finding reasons to sidestep the issue – whether that’s because we don’t feel it’s something we can address or because we don’t feel it’s an issue at all – we should all be looking to engage and have a conversation about it. Whether you can see the issues yourself, after #1ReasonWhy, it should be absolutely plain that there is a widespread problem here that needs to be addressed. Maybe it isn’t something that applies to all women, but it applies to an awful lot of them – they’ve stood up and made themselves heard, and it’s past time we respected that.

The unfortunate thing is that there are no easy answers, no silver bullet. It requires a concerted effort at a number of levels. We need to be aiming for broader inclusivity from a younger age and ensuring that the environment that they come up in is welcoming and open. We need to show the next generation that there are role models working in our industry, that they can aspire to be a lead designer, an art director, or a CEO regardless of gender. We need to break down the walls that are keeping the industry such a boys club.

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More from the #1reasonwhy/#1reasontobe issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter:

• Stands to Reason, Rhianna Pratchett
• #1reasonwhy and #1reasonmentors: Alliance, Collaboration, and Action for Change, Alison Harvey
• Go to the Source, Lillian Cohen-Moore
• IndieSpective: Indiversity, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Diversity in 2013, Sande Chen
• Student Beat: The Importance of Listening, Luke Dicken
• Update: Member Discounts

As we wind down and prepare to say goodbye to 2012, I wanted to take a moment to personally thank each of you. Whether you are a daily volunteer working tirelessly to advance our cause or a regular Member, it’s important to note that the IGDA is what it is because of each of you. I am always humbly surprised to see what amazing things people are doing on behalf of our beloved organization. Please be sure to thank those volunteers who make a difference each and every day.

Leadership is a very deep subject to tackle. This month, our newsletter looks to engender growth opportunities for our readers. The lessons take on many forms and will provide some food for thought as we look forward to the New Year! Enjoy this month’s Newsletter.  Until next month, I bid you peace.

Sincerely,

Dustin Clingman, Chair
IGDA Board of Directors

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Table of Contents

• Zen and the Art of Creative Leadership, Nick Thomas
• It Doesn’t Matter Who You Are, Sheri Rubin
• Serving As a Leader: A Selfless Mindset, Adam Spade
• IndieSpective: Free to Lead, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Gaming the Game Developers, Grétar Hannesson
• Leading Change in the Game Industry, Michael Laverty
• Student Beat: Leadership Qualities, Luke Dicken
• MIGS 2012: The Future Unknown, Tehoniehtathe Delisle
• Sponsored: Mozilla ‘Game On’ Competition, Jamie Lockwood
• Events
• E-Reader version

Editor in Chief – Beth Lameman; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Mozilla ’Game On’ competition! Game developers from around the world are invited to re-imagine the web as an open game platform and create some awesome new web based games across three main categories – hackable, learning and multi-device!

Win cool prizes including an all expense paid trip to GDC, lunch with rockstar game developers like Michael John from EA, a chance to have your game published by Chillingo and featured in Mozilla Marketplace, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 690, tons of Mozilla swag and so much more!

All games must be submitted by February 22nd and winners will be selected by our panel of expert industry judges including Jenova Chen, thatgamecompany, Alice Taylor, Makie Lab, Dr Jo Twist, UKIE, Jessica Rovello, Arkadium, Phil Fish, FEZ, Leigh Alexander, Gamasutra and many more.

Excited? Good! Ready to start jamming? Check out the website for details about participating in the competition, attending or hostinggame jams and much more.

Hashtag: #mozgames

Leadership within a creative services studio requires its own definition in order to successfully realize the vision for a game.  I many ways it’s balancing on a knife’s edge, with misdirection and misunderstandings on one side and egocentric creative ambition on the other.  How does one “lead” someone else’s vision?  How do we nurture an existing concept while adding excitement and value, rather than leading the visual or audio design down a path that doesn’t reflect the lead designers’ concepts.

The key to leadership in a creative partnership may not actually live inside the creative realm at all but in the technical or logistics of the relationship rather than the details of the art being produced.  For example, thinking about a partnerships friction points and then removing those blocks is often crucial to creative leadership.

Working with an in-house team of artists is almost always preferred for any game developer.   However, budgets, bandwidth, talent availability, and deadlines often require the use of external resources.  Again, the key to leadership is to remove barriers and blocks that occur in “outsourcing” production so that the experience of working with a 3^rd party contributor  feels the same as working with your in-house resources.

This all sounds good, but how exactly is it done?  Again, by removing points of friction.  For example, we noticed that trends in casual games  made it nearly impossible to scope out the creative requirements early in a development cycle due to market shifts and DLC support requirements for mobile and social games.  In fact, it has become common for the final “shipped” product, (which is of course not shipped at all) to not be defined until Beta, which is too late to be engaging with a 3^rd party vendor, as you are already against the wall with your launch date.

So how does one engage with a 3^rd party resource for audio or art support when the scope of work is still fluid and the budget and content requirements are a work in progress?  Just nailing down firm deadlines, deliverables, and budgets is enough to consider abandoning the plan altogether and hiring a few more internal artists to simplify the process (at a much higher cost). Or worse yet, waiting until the last minute and then sprinting to the finish line with unpolished assets due to time constraints!

Even the largest publishers struggle with this challenge, but we have found a leadership solution to this quandary.  We have developed an AU system (Asset Units) which is a micro-currency for art and audio production.  Our clients are able to engage with us by purchasing AU’s and redeeming them for music, Concept Art,  Characters or Environment design and many others.  This way, we effectively become an in-house solution, working in parallel with the internal resources with the ability to scale up and down dynamically based on current sprint requirements.

While this has proved a great solution for simplicity of contract and accounting, the real benefit provided to game developers is that we are now able to get involved early on and contribute content from alpha through beta builds. Audio and art support are embedded in the development process on a pay as you go basis, at no additional cost risk, just like renting an internal team.  In this example, leadership has taken the form of removing the logistical barriers between developers, publishers and 3^rd party resources. The resulting quality of the work, creative accuracy, and efficiency of these partnerships has been amazing to witness!

Another exercise we promote is the process of “temping” content into game development.  This is a page taken directly from film editing, where an editor will “temp” in music and SFX from a pre-existing film. The director can use temp content to communicate to the composer and sound team exactly what is needed in needed in the original score.  Temping is not an unknown process for artists, but it is rare for a 3^rd party provider to lead this process and offer guidance, as they are more accustomed to receiving a style guide and simply following suit.  However, even while maintaining content for a live product, all new assets need to be concepted.  By temping content into the first stage of any new content request, the guesswork is minimized and the results are more aligned with expectations.

In the same way that the Japanese martial art Aikido seeks to channel the energy of a strike and redirect it, rather then meet force with force, we have found that leadership in creative enterprises is not simply a matter of being “more” creative, but rather one of reducing the barriers in order to release the creative forces already in place.

Nick Thomas

CEO and Funder of SomaTone Interactive Inc.

Nick Thomas began his professional career in the music industry as an Engineer/Mixer for a long list of platinum artists such as Destiny’s Child, Celine Dion, Carlos Santana, and Ricky Martin to name a few.  Due to the changing landscape of the music industry, Nick transitioned out of commercial music production and launched SomaTone Interactive Inc.  Opening its doors in 2003, SomaTone began by producing audio content on a number of feature films, national ad campaigns, and AAA games.    Over the last 6 years SomaTone transitioned exclusively into video game production and is credited on over 1,000 titles to date, providing original art and audio content with a focus on casual format games.   Currently SomaTone operates studios in Los Angeles, Emeryville (headquarters), Vancouver Canada, and Munich Germany, and produces content on over 150 games annually.  Active clients include Disney, TinyCo, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Storm8, Gree, Playdom, KixEye, Zynga, Gazillion, Blue Tea Games, and many many more.

In an ideal world we would all be who we say we are. Better yet – we’d be self-aware enough to know who everyone else thinks we are. Then there’s this world. Here, our insight is cloudy at best. Intent matters less than perception and perception is the only reality.

That’s why when I give some of my talks, I not only explain corporate branding and imaging and how it affects good customer service, but personal branding as well. How you present yourself as an individual and how you handle yourself in various situations all affects how you are perceived. How you are perceived determines how you are treated.

You may think of yourself as the most kind-hearted, patient, and caring human being who has ever existed, but if your professional persona is seen selling out coworkers, yelling at subordinates, and sabotaging rivals, no one is going to associate you with Mother Teresa.

As a leader you have to be extremely careful about how you are perceived because it directly influences your effectiveness. It can be the difference between record growth and a “Going Out of Business” sale.

I can’t claim that I have got this down pat. I’m not immune to lapses. However, I am keenly aware of how I can come across to others.

I learned a long time ago that I picked up a lot of personality traits from my parents, friends, and early colleagues throughout the years. Some of these are great, while others … well, not so much. I’ve been working for the last decade or so to assess these traits, boosting the positive ones and removing or adjusting the negative ones.

The best part is that you can do this too. But first you need to get real about who you are and how others see you. Take a deep breath and prepare yourself – it can be hard to hear that inner you doesn’t match outer you.

I’ve developed an exercise to help with this self-assessment – “5 words or phrases.” It’s a three-step exercise that anyone can do and it’ll take you down the path to self-awareness, understanding how you are perceived, and empowering you to manage that perception. It works like this:

Step 1: Ask yourself who you are

Take out a pen and paper, grab your tablet, open up a text file on your computer, send yourself a text message, or print this out and fill it in the below – just get started. The method doesn’t matter, just that you get it down somewhere. I want you to write five words or phrases that YOU think describe you. This is not how you think others perceive you, but your own feelings about yourself. Focus on the you that exists in this very moment, not the person you were in the past or who you want to be in the future. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

The 5 Words or Phrases I would use to describe myself are:

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Got them? Good – next step!

Step 2: Seek insight from people you trust

Now I want you to go out and find at least five trustworthy people who know you (at any level). Trust is incredibly important. You want people who care enough about you that they’ll be honest, brutally so. Explain to them that you want their help with a self-improvement task and ask them for five words or phrases that describe and define you as a person to them. Ask them not to sugarcoat it – negative or positive, you want honest feedback.

I keep using the word “trust” here very intentionally. It’s of the utmost importance that you trust these people for honest feedback, AND that you trust that they have the best intentions when they respond. Do not take offense to any negative feedback – it is there to help you.

Pro-tip: Try getting feedback from people who have known you for different amounts of time. This way you can compare first impressions to those who’ve known you for a long time. (Think of all those times you’ve heard those “Once you get to know me, you’ll see I’m really…” statements.)

Feel free to meet in person, call, text message, email, post on Facebook or Twitter. Do whatever it takes – the more results the better. I’ve put in space for five responses below if you want to print this out and ask people. Okay – go ask them!

The 5 Words or Phrases ________ would use to describe _________:

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The 5 Words or Phrases ________ would use to describe _________:

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The 5 Words or Phrases ________ would use to describe _________:

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The 5 Words or Phrases ________ would use to describe _________:

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The 5 Words or Phrases ________ would use to describe _________:

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Done? Great – last step!

Step 3: Compare and contrast

Now that you’ve gotten all the data it’s time to compare the two sets of answers. This is where you really get to assess your self-awareness. Did you say you were detail-oriented and 3 out of 5 trusted advisors agree – great! Did you say you were punctual and hardworking but most of your friends said you were lazy or always late? Great!

Yes, I said great! You just got a blessing in disguise. It stings to hear that you’re seen as lazy or disrespectful of other people’s time – but now you know. Better yet, now you can do something about it (if you want to, of course).

It’s okay to dig a little deeper for follow-up. Ask those friends/colleagues why they think you’re lazy or lack punctuality. Perhaps it’s because every time they come to your office you’re always on Facebook or Twitter. It’s possible that you’re a community manager and you have to keep up on what others are saying and manage those mediums for your job. In that case, you can use this opportunity to talk with your friends about why you’re on Twitter, and also use the knowledge to help inform how you interact with others in the future.

Perhaps a few people agreed that you had great attention to detail, but when you probed a little more you found out that they thought it was too much detail. It’s time for more self-reflection. Perhaps you need to be a little more succinct and hold details back when appropriate. It’s all about managing expectations and continuous self-improvement, something every great leader should do.

Bonus Step: The 5 words you wish to be

I also recommend that people consider doing an extra step which is writing down the 5 words or phrases with which  you would LIKE to be described.

The 5 words or phrases I would like used to describe myself in the future:

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This helps give you a goal to shoot for and can help give you actionable steps to progress toward that goal.

For example, if you know that you you are consistently described as “late,” but you want to be described as “punctual” in the future, then work to change that. Make it a habit to leave for events earlier than you think you need to, learn to anticipate problems, plan more ahead of time (what to wear, what to bring, etc.), set more alarms, get others to call you to make sure you’re up and moving in the morning. So on and so forth.

The point is that the best leaders are the ones who are constantly aware of themselves, how others view them, and what they can do to enhance that perception. If everyone on your team sees you as a tyrant who couldn’t care less about them, it’s going to be hard to get them to rally their efforts and support your projects. If, on the other hand, they see you as a collaborator who just wants to see everyone reach their full potential, then they might not balk if you send back their work ‘one more time’ for a review and polish.

In the end, though there are some innate traits that will be extremely hard to change, knowing is half the battle. For a great leader, that knowledge is what you use to win the war.

Sheri Rubin is a member of the IGDA Board of Directors and the founder and CEO of Design Direct Deliver (DDD), a small business consultancy that focuses on project management and improving customer experiences. Prior to DDD, she was Producer and Corporate Communications Director for High Voltage Software, Inc. Sheri got her start in the game industry over 15 years ago and has more than 30 game credits under her belt. She is an avid philanthropist and fierce advocate for the betterment of the video game industry, dedicating much of her free time to volunteer organizations including Women in Games International (WIGI), the Red Cross, and the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). Sheri received her B.A. summa cum laude in Business Administration from DeVry University and also serves on the boards for IGDA Chicago and Jenkat Media, Inc.

Why is it so difficult to find a great leader?

I believe that 99% of the problems in this world are caused by one simple flaw in the human race; self-centeredness. We are self-centered beings who fight for domination over our fellow man. Our species naturally seeks control over every possible scenario we face. We are a race that requires democracy to preserve freedom. We must sacrifice control to save ourselves from it. The founders of the United States recognized this. They feared control and designed a system of laws to protect the freedom of their newfound land. Because of self-centeredness, eventually, inevitably, it will fail.

Now what?

So, how do we, as leaders of an Independent Game Development Team, behave in a manner that allows for maximum productivity without losing control of the project? I believe the simplest answer would be ‘with love for one another’. Cliché? Good. I have heard that word tossed around quite a bit during my short time in the game industry. I hear it so much, actually, that the word itself sounds ‘cliché’ to my ear. But the fact is that truth remains simple while lies create complication. This whole article, therefore, should be nice and ‘cliché.’

The Mindset

So, to understand the mindset of a great leader, we must define “love”. Love is a feeling of care for another and with it comes a desire to put that feeling into action. “Action” is the keyword here. Because only when love is put into action does it have a positive effect on mankind. Otherwise, love is wasted on oneself. This, I believe, is the the mindset of a true leader. A true leader loves his project, his family, and is willing to sacrifice for it.

Furthermore, Love is a God given pay-it-forward system that is so powerful, just seeing it put into action is enough contact for it to be able to reach inside of a man and overturn his heart. It is strong, solid, and desires growth. Love is exactly what a team requires to be whole, and teams look for exactly that from a leader. That is an incredible responsibility which we all frequently fail at before succeeding. It is not easy to love.

Recognize the Enemy

Love and selflessness are only rivaled by the opposing efforts of hate and selfishness, which cause destruction and division. This enemy corrupts from the inside. It is a cancer that attempts to hide until it is strong enough to consume its host. How do we beat something that is part of who we are? The answer is, we don’t. Instead, we struggle with it. We wrestle the beast to the ground, holding its throat until it stops breathing. Take your hand away and it breathes again. Its toxic breathe fills the room. The best we can do is expose the enemy for what it is and then confront it.

What is your major malfunction?

It’s time to analyze yourself. Before you can expect a change in any relationship, you first have to be willing to change yourself. So, what is your problem? What kind of involuntary issues should you be dealing with? If we take an honest and humble look at ourselves, we might see what we are really made of; selfishness and weakness. Now, make a list. Ask your spouse. Ask your parents. Acknowledge your human nature and then do something about it! Hold yourself accountable for your actions and desires. This will be one of the most difficult things you have ever done and the payoff will be remarkable. You will start to see improvements in every aspect of your life.

Pull up your pants.

When you feel brave enough to admit your faults, bring it up at the next meeting. Be open and sincere. Explain to them that you want to better your relationship with your team by serving them as their leader. Now, ask your team to make a list of their own flaws to present at the next meeting. By exposing and then discussing these weaknesses with purely positive intent, you will bring a level of acceptance to each individual on the team. One man’s strength is another man’s weakness. You can use this knowledge to strengthen team weakness, and utilize team strength. Keep tabs on each them. Care for them. Ask them how they are doing. Make this a routine part of meetings. It ends up being a weight off of everyone’s shoulders. The fear of being a lesser individual on the team is lifted and in its place is set a loving acceptance.

It’s alright that the animator has an anger problem. The fact that the lead programmer is an overly controlling becomes less of a problem and more of a way to bring the team closer together. Besides, this controlling man is most likely having the same problems at home with his wife and kids. Now that the team has recognized the problem, they can now sympathize and help him improve his life, not just at work, but home as well. The team becomes something he relies on in his life in order to be a better man. He has a 2nd family to help him fight his weakness. It’s good.

Accepting Failure

Now that you have a family, be accepting of failure. We must accept failure. We do this with humility. Swallow your pride. Come to terms with the fact that we do not have control over anything but what we are given on a day-to-day basis. Period. We have a limited free will and a limited amount of time to use it. Achieving this understanding is key to having a stress free project.

Shedding the Fear

It is okay to fail. It is NOT okay to allow fear of failure to hinder your project or make decisions for you. Putting fear into your team is not productive. It will cause them to be afraid of failure! Failure should be accepted as part of the learning process. We try. We fail. We fall to our knees. We stand up, rehabilitate ourselves, and screw it up all over again. We are humans. Stop expecting perfection. I often tell my team, “Go ahead, screw it up. Enjoy doing it.” My team recognizes my lightheartedness and they respond with the will to fail trying. Team acceptance of failure can build confidence, motivation, and bring your team together.

Self Control

Dealing with an upset team member is difficult. I was once confronted by an outraged woman as I was cleaning my car at a gas station. She was completely overcome with anger and was screaming at me. I did not know this woman or why she was yelling. I asked her why she was so upset. She paused, as if this was the first time somebody actually ever cared to ask. She told me that her son has terrible allergies and the cleaner I was using might cause him to have an asthma attack, as it was apparently blowing in his direction.

I could have easily been screaming back at this woman. Instead, I expressed my concern for her son with an apology. This kind of response should be the only option for a game development family. We need to have understanding and exercise self-control. Failure to do so may produce an angry avenger with intentions of sabotaging the project, rather than an actual game. As team leader, you are ultimately responsible for this.

Discouragement vs Determination.

A great leader has the ability to respond to a negative by foreseeing the possible positive outcome. Energy can be bottled up discouragement, and then relabeled with determination. Think positively.

What makes a true leader?

In conclusion, the solution to the problem is not to look to ourselves for the answer, but to recognize our desires and to turn away from them, leaving the selfish life behind to be replaced with a loving person who is willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. Now, serve your team as a leader. After that, the rest will fall into place.

Be good to each other. God bless. Enjoy making games.

Adam Spade

Uncaged Games LLC

“Release your inner game.”

Born in 1981, Adam Spade began composing music, writing screenplays, sketching, and designing games after the North American release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Perceiving a career in game development as an unreachable goal to pursue, Spade focused on digital media and technology. In 2011, Spade was presented with an opportunity to lead an independent game development team and took it. Spade co-founded Uncaged Games LLC in 2012. Uncaged Games is currently working towards their first release.

Free to Lead

In a way, it is our relative obscurity that frees us to be dynamic leaders.  Think about it:  you probably went indie because you didn’t want to be part of a monster corporation that answered to the shareholders, marketing department, and the ever important bottom-line.

As an indie, you probably don’t have shareholders to answer to.  You might not even have employees who could get laid off if things went bad.  In fact, the only person you really have to answer to is yourself and your team.  So there is nothing to stop you from being a leader and doing the right thing.

Larger companies, on the other hand, are beholden to a plethora of other interest groups who dictate how they must run their business.  Need to make a profit? Then just tell everyone that making games is all work and no play.  Have to get that game out before Christmas? Then make your team work 30 hours a day to please the retailers.  You get the idea.

My point is that the decisions that have to be made by the big guys in order to survive aren’t always examples of good leadership.  Sometimes good leadership means sacrificing the bottom line for what’s right.  Sometimes good leadership means making a good game, not just a product to sell.

As Indies, we are free to lead.

Free to be involved

So no one has ever heard of you.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t be heard. There are many ways that even the smallest studio can make a difference and be a leader in our industry, but it takes a time commitment. For example, I write this article because I want to make a difference.  It takes time that I really don’t have to spare.  I should be working on any of several other projects right now.

But I want to make a difference.

I want to be a leader in the game industry.  And while there are still many people who have no idea who I am, there are thousands who read these words every month.  I also write for several other publications such as World Game Executives magazine, and I am an expert blogger on Gamasutra.

I’m not trying to brag.  I love to write and I enjoy sharing my experiences in the game industry with others.  But I do want you to see that anyone can make a difference.

Another way to get involved and have more of a voice is to join the IGDA.  Here’s a funny story:  for years I thought the “I” in IGDA stood for “Independent” (it’s “International”).  Maybe that is because I always felt that the IGDA was fair and independent in the way it represented our industry.

For example, the Quality of Life SIG, started in the wake of the “EA Wife” controversy, took a clear stand for employee’s rights.  This didn’t necessarily endear them to the studios then and now who routinely abuse their employee’s time and humanity.

Join the IGDA and become an active participant in one or more special interest groups.  Then you can make a difference.

Next, you can join and participate in other great Internet organizations and resources.  One of my favorite is the ECA, an organization dedicated to advocacy for the game industry.  Anyone can join and play an active role.

Here are some places you might get involved:

• Electronic Consumers Association (http://www.theeca.com/)
• Gamastura.com (http://gamastura.com)
• Gamedev.net (http://gamedev.net)
• Application Developers Alliance (http://appdevelopersalliance.org/)
• Game Politics (http://gamepolitics.com/)
• Game Mentor Online (http://gmo.chronus.com/p/main/about)
• World Gaming Executives (http://worldgamingexecutives.com)

It’s more than just making games

Being a leader in the game industry means doing more than just making games.  It means getting involved in the discourse.  Become involved and suddenly you will find that you have a voice.  And you’ll find that the Internet can give you a pretty big voice.

Robert Madsen is a game development evangelist who also happens to run his own independent studio, SynapticSwitch.  Robert is a programmer by trade.  You can reach Robert at rmadsen@SynapticSwitch.com.

]]> http://www.igda.org/newsletter/2012/12/31/indiespective-free-to-lead/feed/ 0 http://www.igda.org/newsletter/2012/12/31/game-design-aspect-of-the-month-gaming-the-game-developers/ http://www.igda.org/newsletter/2012/12/31/game-design-aspect-of-the-month-gaming-the-game-developers/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:04:48 +0000 Grétar Hannesson http://www.igda.org/newsletter/?p=3106 The following article first appeared on the blog, Game Design Aspect of the Month (http://gamedesignaspect.blogspot.com), also known as GDAM, introducing the topic of Gaming the Game Developers. GDAM is currently edited by Sande Chen, founding member of the IGDA Game Design SIG. Feel free to submit articles this topic to Sande@alum.MIT.edu or to suggest other topics of interest.

As game designers, we have a collection of tools with which we direct the behavior and emotions of the player. While many of these tools are still rough, we are already capable of keeping players in a “flow,” or peak efficiency mental state for hours on end and motivating people to feel good about putting hundreds of hours into repetitive tasks. And if there is anything we are good at it, it is giving the player a sense of pride in their own accomplishments.

And yet, in many game development studios, the game developers themselves fail to be given the same sense of motivation, have the same opportunities for a state of flow or get the same sense of achievement after a job well done. We routinely fail to inspire in each other what we so easily inspire in our players.

But can we use our game design tools to motivate ourselves and our coworkers and improve our internal communication? What happens if we approach everyone in our development team as a player in a massively co-operative game?

Which of these tools can even non-managers use to affect a positive change in the office?

How does using this line of thinking change how we think about communication, management and motivation?

Grétar Hannesson is a game system designer and an enthusiastic student of human behavior and choice architecture. He cut his teeth on EVE-Online where he served many roles before that of a designer and is now working on an unannounced title for Ubisoft Montréal. He (sporadically) writes about game design and related workplace matters on his blog.

Sid Meier is one of the biggest names in computer games, and if you haven’t played one of his games, chances are that you have heard of them. Sid is responsible titles like Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Pirates. The keys to Sid Meier’s success are his vision as a designer and his ability to put together a team of talented developers and programmers (Cawley, 2008).

Sid excels at creating a vision. Sid understood that his games needed to evolve with the times, so he created a new vision for his games. That vision was social media gaming, a world in which Civilization could grow. Meier’s vision gave a clear direction on where he wanted to take the series.

Sid Meier has been in the industry for decades, and, as the “Father of computer gaming,” Sid understood the inevitability of moving to different outlets. In 2008 Sid created Civilization Revolution for consoles, and while it retained most the PC version features, it allowed Sid to reach a whole new audience (Frum, 2011). Then Sid decided to take to social media. Sid understood the importance of social media to expanding the world of the Civilization franchise. Sid knew that social sites such as Facebook would let him create a world within Civilization that would allow friends to play cooperatively (Frum, 2011). Rather than a typical PC game that takes only hours to complete, players could enjoy a game with a friend over the course of days or weeks. This was an opportunity to provide fuel for the development team, to re-imagine the classic strategy game. Sid says that “A lot of our design in ‘Civ World’ was taking advantage of and using these opportunities for players to work together — teamwork, communication, planning” (Frum, 2011). Sid Meier understood the importance of change.

Meanwhile, Cliff Bleszinski came from humble beginnings and become one of the biggest “rock stars” in the video game world. Cliff was able to create one of the biggest video game franchises in the world—Unreal. Bleszinski helped shift the Unreal series from a single-player, story-driven first-person shooter into an action-oriented multiplayer game. He eventually went on to become the Lead Designer for the Gears of War series, and his creative vision having shaped the series into what it is today (“Cliff bleszinski bio,” 2012).

Since then, Cliff has become the figurehead for Epic Games and the video game industry in general. In the past, video game designers were faceless behind-the-scenes grunts who never enjoyed the spotlight. Cliff changed that by using social media to stand out from the crowd. In an interview with develop-online.net, Cliff talks said “First and foremost, make a great game but also have a personality. Be the guy with the hip glasses, with the one gauge earring and the gamer tattoo all the way to the sleeves with a skateboard. Stand out.” (Freeman, 2011).  This is how Cliff Bleszinski branded himself as a leader of change in the video game industry.

Cliff Bleszinski is a leader who excels at communicating his vision. Cliff’s ability to brand himself is due to communicating his vision through social media and public speaking. It’s also because of his ability to communicate his vision so well that Gears of Wars is what it is today. For example, at the beginning of the Gears of War series, Cliff had an idea for a gun with a chainsaw attachment as a secondary melee weapon. It was originally denied but because of his ability to communicate his vision, gamers were introduced to the now famous “Lancer” gun.Both of these men understood how to lead change within their industry. Having a vision and creating something from it is a gift that only a select few people have. In the end, Sid Meier and Cliff Bleszinski both understand the importance of leading change.

References:

Cawley, C. (2008, December 13). A biography of Sid Meier. Retrieved from http://www.alteredgamer.com/civilization/19140-civ-a-biography-of-sid-meier/

Cliff bleszinski bio. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/stars/cliff-bleszinski

Freeman, W. (2011, October 3). Cliff Bleszinski on fame and frags. Retrieved from http://www.develop-online.net/features/1435/The-gears-of-change-Cliff-Bleszinski-interview

Frum, L. (2011, May 10). Sid Meier: Games are taking over the world. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-10/tech/sid.meier.civilization_1_social-gaming-mobile-gaming-civilization-revolution?_s=PM:TECH

Kotter, J. (1995, March-April). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review

Michael Laverty is a student in the Bachelors of Science Game Design Online degree program at Full Sail University.

You can’t be a good leader without a solid team behind you, but you need to do a more than just recruit good people if you’re going to maximize their potential. Listening is a vital part of that, and it doesn’t mean nodding and smiling when people talk to you. It means understanding what they’re saying. There’s an awful lot of components that go into into true listening:

Willingness to be Corrected – Whenever I have an idea, I usually assume that it’s crap. If I can’t immediately see what’s wrong with it, I ask “why won’t this work?” If you decide beforehand that your idea is the best, then advice or suggestions are going to fall on deaf ears. Deaf ears literally are not listening. You need to be able factor criticism into your thinking and change your strategy in light of new information or persuasive arguments.

Open Mindedness – Willingness to be corrected is actually part of a broader listening skill, which is open mindedness. When people say things you don’t agree with, it’s easy justify ignoring them and discounting everything they say. Listening means keeping an open mind to the idea that the things you think you know are not necessarily right.

Empathy – Sometimes, people relate to things that are outside your experience. It’s very easy to be dismissive because something doesn’t match up with your view of the world. To truly listen, though, it’s vital that you view others’ experiences as being as valid as your own. It will give you a lot of insight into how they view the world and the challenges that they face. Try putting yourself in their shoes  - that can help you understand the context and perspective of their story.

Finally, and fluffiest part of listening by far, is knowing when to Ignore What You’ve Heard. Informing your decisions based on input from others is a powerful tool – it can provide you with insight and perspective and help you reevaluate your entire position. But you have to be careful not to listen so much that you replace your judgement with someone else’s. You have to remember that, ultimately, the buck stops with you. There’s a reason you’re the leader, but it comes with a lot of responsibility.

If you can do all of these things, your leadership is going to be a lot better and your team will be a lot more capable as a result.

The first day started with a keynote by Tim Sweeney about the next generation of game consoles and the challenges with creating new ways to play games. He explained that he believes that gaming is growing and that mobile gaming will expand. He explained that designing games to be multi-platform will be essential and that the new Unreal Engine 4 already is. At the end of his keynote, he speculated about the future of gaming, and technologies like augmented reality. He gave examples of current augmented reality uses like the Word Lens app for IOS and Android, the Samsung Smart Window and the Vuzix Smart Glasses. He went on to explain how this new technology can be used, such as using augmented reality to decorate your house. While he believed that all these possibilities could be the future of gaming, he also said that, like the last generation of gaming, there could be unexpected trends and development in technology.

I went to a very interesting presentation about how game designers use psychology when making a game. The presentation was by Jason Vandenberghe who is the Creative Director at Ubisoft Montreal. In the presentation he explained that the video game industry is using Big Five personality traits to understand what motivates different types gamers to play games. By conducting these tests, game designers are better able to design games that appeal to wider audiences, something Jason Vandenberghe really believes in – not making games for demographics. He also explained that game designer should try to get into the heads of different type of gamers, something he called “play acting”. He said by doing this, game designers would be better at creating different types of games and not just games they play. It was very interesting to learn that video game designers are using psychology to create games that appeal to more gamers.

The next presentation was by Marc Beaudoin, Technical Director at Ubisoft Montreal. The presentation focused on the creation of their new game, Far Cry 3, and the production’s similarity to a movie production. He started off by explaining that they used full performance capture oh their actors for all of their cut scenes. He explained that using full performance capture is a more efficient process of creating believable animations because when it is done, animators just need to tweak the animations. He also said that full performance capture lets directors see what the cut scene will look like, which helps the director achieve his vision.

The first presentation of day two was a keynote presented by video game designer and game programmer Peter Molyneux. The presentation was on experimentation and innovation in the industry. He talked about his new company, 22 Cans, which aims to make 22 innovative and experimental games. He went more into details about their first game, Curiosity- what’s inside the cube. The object of Curiosity is to get to the center of a virtual box to find out what’s inside, and that the players must tap away at the many layers of the box to get closer to the center. He explained that, when launching the game, they believed that only 1000 people would be play, but in actuality there were 50,000 people in the first hour. Because of the massive amount of players, their servers got overloaded and the game crashed. Since they were unprepared, they had to work longer to try to fix the game. The objective of creating Curiosity was to find out what motivated people to play games. They found out that the curiosity of what’s inside the box was enough to motivate people to play their game and that they should have been more prepared for the massive amount of people playing their game.

There was a presentation by Sue Bohle, the founder of the The Bohle Company, a corporate public relations firm. Her presentation was on how to maximize press for independent games. She started off by explaining how core games and casual games are promoted differently. Core games usually have slower build up to the launch, during which information about the game is slowly released so that it gains more interest. She explained that hardcore gamers will usually follow information on new games months before it is released, which is why they start marketing so early. Casual gamers, on the other hand, don’t follow the games as much as core gamers, so the promotion usually only happens when the game is launched. She also explained that when promoting a casual game, focus more on what makes your game different and unique. It was very interesting to learn that casual games and core games are promoted differently due to the difference between types of gamers.

I also attended two presentation about the production of a video game. One was about how Square Enix brought back the Hitman franchise after 6 years, and the other was about what Beenox learned about making their first open world game, The Amazing Spider-Man. The first presentation was by Cord Smith, who is the Director of Marketing at Square Enix. What I found interesting in his presentation is that, when creating the game, the studio set out to create more appealing assets such as challenge maps that were launched before the game released. WThis, he explained, would give the gamers a taste of the game and increase interest. He explained that a good way to market a game was to offer extra content at certain retailers when people pre-order the game. He explained that is the main reason why they offer pre-order and not because the amount of copies are available. The second presentation focused mainly on what could have been done better when creating The Amazing Spider-Man game. Stephen Gravel, the producer of the game, explained that this was Beenox’s first open world game and went over the problems they faced during production. The main feature in the game was not well defined enough when they had to place it in the game, due to needing to be released with the movie. What they learned from this was to plan ahead and to work on the main features of their game so it is fully functional in the finished product. Listening to these two presentations was very interesting, to see two moments in the production of a video game, one on the work before a game’s released and the other reflecting on what they could have done better.

The last presentation was the MIGS Brain Dump 2012, where nine game developers go up on stage and have five minutes to talk about where they believe the future of game is heading. There were many different views of the future of gaming, with art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête believing that visual culture should change and that artist should look in different places for inspiration. Video game designer Lee Sheldon on the other hand believes that we should learn from the past and start to make video games like they used to be. He believed that cinematics should not be used in video game and that there should be a more interactive ways to tell the game’s story. Cord Smith talked how gaming is changing, but pretty much staying the same. He explained that while technology has changed a lot, the stories in games, the types of game, and many different aspects in current video games are very much the same. His talk didn’t really focus on the future of gaming but instead suggested that since gaming has stayed somewhat the same for all these years that it might continue to be that way in the future. The Brain Dump was easily one of the most interesting presentations of the whole event because you got to hear different views from industry experts on where the future of game is going.

What became apparent while attending the many presentations at MIGS was that the future of gaming is unpredictable. Many of the presenters only speculated as to where the future of gaming would go and looked back on how the rise in popularity of mobile and casual games was unexpected. It was also interesting to hear about what game developers are currently doing to make new and innovative games, such as using psychology to make games appeal to a wider range of gamers, employing full performance capture and movie making inspired production to make more emotional and engaging game experiences.

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More from the December issue of IGDA Perspectives: Leadership:

• Zen and the Art of Creative Leadership, Nick Thomas
• It Doesn’t Matter Who You Are, Sheri Rubin
• Serving As a Leader: A Selfless Mindset, Adam Spade
• IndieSpective: Free to Lead, Robert Madsen
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Gaming the Game Developers, Grétar Hannesson
• Leading Change in the Game Industry, Michael Laverty
• Student Beat: Leadership Qualities, Luke Dicken
• MIGS 2012: The Future Unknown, Tehoniehtathe Delisle
• Sponsored: Mozilla ‘Game On’ Competition, Jamie Lockwood

One of the most important aspects of the IGDA is the community of volunteers and members who help ensure that our Organizational mission is a success. Around the world our community thrives and builds a culture of sharing and growth that makes our industry unique amongst our media peers.

Our newsletter this month looks to teach and build skills required for successful community development. I encourage you to take these lessons back into your own Chapters and studios so that the ideas can take root and flourish. Enjoy this month’s Newsletter.  Until next month, I bid you peace.

Sincerely,

Dustin Clingman, Chair
IGDA Board of Directors

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Table of Contents

• Engage!, Anne Toole
• A Recipe for Homemade Jam: Running Your Own Game Jam, Chris Tihor
• IndieSpective: Community Lifeline, Robert Madsen
• Creating and Growing a Culture of Community, Kenji Ono
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Volunteering, Sande Chen
• Do Games Have the Power to Heal Wounded Soldiers?, Mary Kurek
• Funcom Wrap, Jennifer R. Whitson
• Student Beat: A Game Dev Manifesto, Luke Dicken
• Social Media Week, Anne Toole
• IGDA Scholars Program
• Events
• E-Reader version

Editor in Chief – Beth Lameman; Art Director – Cat Wendt; Copy Editor –  Brian Kung; Events Editor – Heather M. Decker-Davis

The IGDA Scholarships are awarded to the best and brightest students and provide access to the conference, individual mentorship from members of industry, opportunities to meet and talk to senior figures
as well as the chance to visit some of the local studios in the areas the conferences are held in, so that students can get a feel for what it truly means to be a part of our industry.

GDC is just the first of what promises to be a very exciting schedule, with more conferences to be announced as we go through the year. You can learn more about the program, it’s history and find out how to
apply on our newly revamped ready-for-2013 website: http://igda.org/scholars/ . Please help us to spread the word about this excellent opportunity for students from around the world.

The Scholarships are made possible by the generosity of our sponsors, the event organisers, the studios who open their doors to us and the members of industry who take the time to help select and mentor our Scholars. We are truly grateful for their support.

The IGDA Scholarships Committee

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More from the Community issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter

• Engage!, Anne Toole
• A Recipe for Homemade Jam: Running Your Own Game Jam, Chris Tihor
• IndieSpective: Community Lifeline, Robert Madsen
• Creating and Growing a Culture of Community, Kenji Ono
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Volunteering, Sande Chen
• Do Games Have the Power to Heal Wounded Soldiers?, Mary Kurek
• Funcom Wrap, Jennifer R. Whitson
• Student Beat: A Game Dev Manifesto, Luke Dicken
• Social Media Week, Anne Toole
• IGDA Scholars Program

Bonding

At the IGDA chapter meeting at GDC this year, regional chapters got together to share tips on building an awesome local IGDA community.

1. Location, location, location – Local IGDA events are arguably the backbone of the IGDA, so easily accessible event locations are ideal.  Many chapters hold events that are close to public transit, and some chapters help organize rideshares for people who can’t get there otherwise.
2. Consistency – Holding monthly meetings at the same time and place improves attendance over time and removes the issue of people not hearing about the next event.  This strategy works best for compact cities, or cities with a central area that is easy for everyone to get to.
3. Variety – Consistency is nice, but often the same events will draw the same people.  Changing things up can change the attendees, too.  For example, while mixers at a bar are always popular, picnics can bring in people who wouldn’t or couldn’t attend otherwise.  An annual picnic in Austin always draws a large crowd.  In some cases, developers will bring their kids as well, so picnics can be a fun experience for all.
4. Engagers – In the middle of a hard work week, it’s easy for developers to forget that there’s an awesome IGDA event going on.  One chapter makes sure they have someone at each local studio to remind colleagues about IGDA events.  These engagers may walk around the workplace or send an e-mail to get people excited about the event that night.  They may also arrange a mass exodus or carpool from the studio to the IGDA event.
5. High level buy in – While engagers on the ground can help bring in individual developers, if the higher ups at a company don’t believe in the IGDA, they may frown upon those wanting to leave work to attend an event.  One chapter address this concern by hosting a sponsored dinner for key personnel at local studios.  The dinner provides an opportunity for the executives to get to know each other and learn how the IGDA can benefit their company and employees.

Bridging

Reaching outside the game industry bubble can provide added resources in terms of money, locations, attendance, and most importantly – ideas!  Whether your city is known for tech, entertainment, or finance, opportunities abound for collaboration.  Here are just a few ideas:

1. Event Co-hosts – While IGDA officially partners with conferences and organizations such as GDC and PAX, it never hurts to co-host a local event outside of the game industry.  IGDA Los Angeles is hoping to co-host an event with Women in Animation, a primarily local organization which focuses on film/TV animation.  IGDA Los Angeles also benefited when it hosted an event through Social Media Week.
2. Salons or one-on-one meetings – Indiecade Impact Award winner “Reality Ends Here” is a card game with ARG components developed at the University of Southern California (USC).  The game encourages students to collaborate on media projects to make deals and win points.  Some of the prizes include “meetups and encounters with alumni, artists, and other industry professionals” (http://www.indiecade.com/2012/award_winners/).  Some of these USC alumni come from outside the game industry and could be anyone, from a set designer to a director.  Students in groups as small as three or four are able to meet mentors and ask them questions directly instead of having to sit through a talk or panel.  IGDA Chapters may also want to consider arranging similar opportunities.  Even without the robust alum network of USC, or having Hollywood in your backyard, these small-scale meetings can have a big impact on encouraging collaboration across related industries.

Do you have other great ideas to bond or build bridges?  Share them with your chapter leader or at the next chapter chat! 

Anne Toole is a WGA-nominated writer and narrative designer, whose credits include THE WITCHER, WIZARD 101, and ROCK OF THE DEAD.  She currently serves as a board member for the IGDA Los Angeles chapter. You can follow her on twitter @amely.

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More from the Community issue of the IGDA Perspectives Newsletter

• Engage!, Anne Toole
• A Recipe for Homemade Jam: Running Your Own Game Jam, Chris Tihor
• IndieSpective: Community Lifeline, Robert Madsen
• Creating and Growing a Culture of Community, Kenji Ono
• Game Design Aspect of the Month: Volunteering, Sande Chen
• Do Games Have the Power to Heal Wounded Soldiers?, Mary Kurek
• Funcom Wrap, Jennifer R. Whitson
• Student Beat: A Game Dev Manifesto, Luke Dicken
• Social Media Week, Anne Toole
• IGDA Scholars Program