Board Minutes Posted and Annual Meeting – 28 March 2013

Hello IGDA Members,

Just a quick mid-GDC update! Meeting minutes for our 21 February Meeting are officially up: http://www.igda.org/board/minutes.

Our next scheduled meeting is 18 April 2013.

We look forward to seeing you at the IGDA Annual Meeting today at GDC!

Yours in service,
IGDA Board of Directors

Announcing Board Candidates and Minutes Update – 28 February 2013

Hello everyone,

The election nomination committee presented a final slate of candidates to the Board, which the Board then unanimously approved.

We are proud to announce the candidates for the two open seats in the 2013 IGDA Board of Directors Election (in alphabetical order by last name):

1. Justin Berenbaum
2. Tom Buscaglia
3. Luke Dicken
4. Brennan Priest

Voting begins on 4 March 2013 – best of luck to all!

Additionally, the minutes from the January Board of Directors meeting are now available online here: http://igda.org/board/minutes.

Yours in Service,
The IGDA Board of Directors

Board Minutes Posted – 22 December 2012

Hello IGDA Members,

Just a quick mid-holiday update! Meeting minutes for November 15th are officially up: http://www.igda.org/board/minutes.

Our next scheduled meeting is 17 January 2012.

Wishing you health and happiness this holiday season,
IGDA Board of Directors

IGDA Has Formalized First European Chapter

IGDA Finland Signed Contract in September

MOUNT ROYAL, NJ – Oct. 31, 2012 – The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has made IGDA Finland the first chapter formalized as a legal entity inside Europe. IGDA Finland registered as an association under Finnish law and its relationship with the U.S.-based IGDA will be governed by the contract signed between the parties in September 2012.  The IGDA plans to continue their initiative to formalize other existing international Chapters in order to best serve its members.

IGDA Finland’s new status allows a greater proportion of funding and support to be allocated to their individual needs, better serving the interests of local members. As its first action as a formalized Chapter, IGDA Finland will begin expanding its service offering beyond Helsinki, starting with a network of IGDA Finland Student Club initiatives across the nation. IGDA Finland plans to eventually provide support to game developers across the country.

Dustin Clingman, Board Chair, IGDA commented, “As an organization, IGDA continues to seek out ways to help improve the lives and careers of our members around the world. With today’s announcement, we are excited about serving our International members directly in their local communities.”

The International Game Developers Association is the world’s largest non-profit membership organization serving individuals that create video games.  The organization has formal and informal chapters in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

“IGDA Finland wants to facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices, help new talent get into the local industry as well as attract foreign talent to Finland. In conjunction with Student Clubs we are able to drive regional development, support local game development hubs across Finland and promote entrepreneurship,” states Sonja Ängeslevä, Chair of the IGDA Finland chapter.

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ABOUT THE IGDA:

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the largest non-profit membership organization serving individuals who create video games. The IGDA advances the careers and enhances the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development and advocating on issues that affect the developer community. These core activities advance games as a medium—and game development as a profession. www.igda.org

CONTACT:
The Bohle Company for the IGDA
Robert Brown
Robert@bohle.com
Tel: (310)-785-0515 x231

About IGDA Finland ry:

IGDA Finland ry is a legally registered association under the Finnish law. The mission of IGDA Finland is to promote the development of careers and professional skills of individual game developers (and individuals of related industries) based in Finland, and to further develop the international recognition of the Finnish game developer community.

CONTACT:

IGDA Finland ry
Sonja Ängeslevä
Sonja.Angesleva@igda.fi
Tel. +358 400 759 817

2012 IGDA Board Election Results

We are very happy to announce the results for the 2012 IGDA Board of Directors election. Unfortunately we did not meet quorum as we only had 979 votes cast and we required 1,253 for quorum. This gave us participation of over 15%, which was down slightly from last year, but up from 2010.

Since we did not meet quorum, the election was declared void and the Board was tasked with selecting the new board members. The board decided to select the top two vote getters for the two open seats.

Selected to the two 3-year board seats with terms to begin April 1 are:

• Sheri Rubin Total Votes: 605
• Ed Fries Total Votes: 570

The remaining vote count:

• Kate Edwards Total Votes: 557
• James Kosta Total Votes: 253

Please join us in congratulating Sheri and Ed, as well as thanking our outgoing board members Tobi Saulnier, Jamil Moledina, David Edery and Scott Berfield.

 

Board Nominees and the nomination process

I am very happy to announce that the 4 candidates up for election to the IGDA’s Board of Directors this year are (in alphabetical order):

• Kate Edwards
• Ed Fries
• James Kosta
• Sheri Rubin

The election will kick off this Friday March 2nd, and all professional members as of February 29th will be eligible to vote. We have 2 seats up for election, and voting is done on an approval basis. That is, members will be able to vote for as many, or as few, of the candidates as they would like. All members should receive an email from the IGDA, this Friday with further instructions on how to vote.

One of the most important changes to the IGDA’s Board of Directors election this year, was the introduction of the Nominating Committee. This committee was tasked with vetting all nominees and providing their recommendation for a final slate of candidates, comprising no more than double the number of seats open for election (since we have 2 seats up for election, the committee was to recommend no more than 4 people).

The board decided that this nominating committee should be comprised solely of former board members, and ideally former chairpeople. These are people who, as a group, are most educated in the attributes that make for a strong board member. Further, we decided that this committee should not have any currently sitting board members, and that the current board would provide some direction in terms of letting the Nominating Committee know the biggest issues we are currently facing, and the things we think are most critical right now. The specific details of the process and procedures were left to the nominating committee, giving them the flexibility to find a process that worked best for them.

The Nominating Committee provided their recommendation to the board last week, and their recommendation was subsequently confirmed.

I have asked Jen MacLean, the chair of the Nominating Committee, to provide additional insight into the process they followed to arrive at their final recommendation. Here’s what she had to say:

Early this year, current Chair Brian Robbins asked the former IGDA Board Chairpeople for feedback on proposed changes to the nomination and election process, as well as support in evaluating this year’s candidates. Brian received detailed feedback from many former Chairpeople, which helped shape the overall process. Additionally, Kathy Astromoff (Schoback), Matt Toschlog, Annie Van Bebber and I volunteered to form the first Nominating Committee. Annie, Matt, Kathy and I took this responsibility very seriously. We met to discuss how we would approach and evaluate the candidates, and we agreed that the best approach would be for each member of the Committee to individually interview all of the prospective candidates. Topics for those interviews would include, but not be limited to:

• Understanding of Board responsibilities and duties
• Candidate background and fit with Board responsibilities and needs
• Understanding of and willingness to honor time commitment
• Experience with the IGDA, including work as a member and advocate
• Experience with group dynamics and conflict
• Other relevant volunteer experience
• Opinions on what makes a good (and bad) board member
• Views on current vision, programs, and services and how candidates would support the IGDA mission

We also agreed on the following timeline, and shared both the interview topics and procedural details with candidates on February 2.

• Feb 2: Committee met to review process, criteria
• Feb 2: Jen sent out an introductory email to candidates introducing nominating committee, process, and timeline
• Feb 3-17: Nominating Committee conducted interviews
• Feb 20: Nominating Committee discussed candidates and recommendations
• Feb 21: Nominating Committee returned recommendation to IGDA Board of Directors

Over the next two weeks, the Committee members reached out to every potential candidate, individually compiled notes on the interviews and made recommendations for the final slate. We then shared our work, discussed our assessments, and proposed a recommended slate of candidates, which was delivered to the IGDA Board on the morning of February 22. While we did miss our deadline by 12 hours, we believe that the amount of effort we spent in speaking with the candidates, carefully considering their qualifications, and coming to a final conclusion was worth the delay.

The potential Board candidates were wonderful participants in the process, and we hope you’ll respect their efforts by voting in the upcoming election.

I would like to thank Jen, Kathy, Matt and Annie for sharing their time, energy and expertise throughout this process. I’d also like to thank all of the candidates who participated in the interviews. Finally I’d like to wish the 4 candidates, the best of luck in the coming election.

Brian Robbins
Chair, IGDA Board of Directors

The IGDA opposes SOPA and PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/Protect IP Act (PIPA) proposals caught the attention of members of the IGDA Board of Directors last year. We have been reviewing the text, and also seeing this issue rise as a key advocacy issue among the members of the IGDA. Our internal consensus is as follows:

The original SOPA/PIPA proposals were overkill. While they addressed the real issue of piracy, they did so in a way that is not tailored to the needs of small content creators, and instead allows big content creators to overreact to perceived IP violations. The net real effect of these measures would be to have a chilling effect on any content sharing, instead of just illegal content sharing. Therefore, it is the position of the IGDA to oppose the SOPA/PIPA proposals.

We are glad to see both the House and Senate have decided to postpone votes on the bills so their significant flaws can be addressed. We are hopeful that the revised versions will provide a more reasonable approach to fighting piracy, but caution everyone to continue following this issue to ensure the final versions better balance both sides of the issue.

IGDA Board of Directors

IGDA Board Nominations Open / Changes to the Board & Nomination process

Nominations for the IGDA Board of Directors are now open. Anyone interested in running for the Board of Directors should download the Board Nomination packet from the elections page here: http://www.igda.org/elections. Nomination certificates, along with the names of 10 members supporting your nomination are due by 12pm Pacific Time Sunday January 29th.

This year we have made some changes to the IGDA Board, and to the nomination process for election to the IGDA’s Board of Directors. The changes were made based on feedback from board members, previous board candidates, IGDA members, as well as various suggestions and proposals that have been provided over the past few years. The key changes we have made this year are as follows:

Board Size Reduced: The Board size is being reduced over the next 2 years from 12-15 members, down to 9 members: 6 elected and 3 appointed.

Member support of Nomination: Nominees must have 10 IGDA members in good standing support their nomination.

Nomination Committee: At the close of the nomination period a Nomination Committee will evaluate all nominees, and provide to the Board for ratification a final slate of candidates to be put forward to the membership for election.

Some of the key feedback we have heard, and are addressing with these changes are:

• The level of work and support needed of board members is not well communicated or understood. These changes should provide better preparation for nominees, and ensure that candidates are more prepared for the commitment expected of board members.
• Members are unable to fully evaluate all candidates to make an informed decision because there have been too many candidates up for election. By reducing the final slate of candidates for members to vote on, members should be able to better evaluate the candidates, and the candidates themselves will be more empowered to reach out to and interact with the community throughout the election.
• The board is too large. For the past few years there has been between 11 and 15 sitting board members. This was increased from 6 board members several years ago as a way to help share the workload amongst board members. The current size has actually made it difficult to do this as the large size has increased the communication overhead too much. This reduction should enable more timely decisions, as well as better empower individual board members to lead and direct initiatives.

The Nomination Committee: This year’s Nomination Committee is comprised of 4 former Board Chairs. These are individuals who span the history of the IGDA going back all the way to one of the org’s earliest board members. As a group, they have already dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to the IGDA, and as a result of their board experience, and their ability to reflect back on their service they are perfectly suited for this role. This group knows better than anyone else exactly what the org needs from Board members, and the types of traits to look for in candidates. The nomination committee is: Jen MacLean, Kathy (Schoback) Astromoff, Matt Toschlog and Annie Van Bebber.

The nomination committee will review all nominees, and will provide to the Board for ratification, a final slate of candidates to be put forward to the membership for election. That final slate of candidates will be no more than double the number of seats open for election. This year we have 2 seats open for election, so the final slate they provide will be no more than 4 candidates.

We are confident that these changes should help us build a stronger IGDA serving our members, and the industry going forward.

–

Brian Robbins

Chair, IGDA Board of Directors

US Supreme Court rules that games are protected speech

The US Supreme Court today ruled 7-2 that video games qualify for the same First Amendment protection as books, plays and movies. This is a significant ruling for our industry as it confirms the creative storytelling nature of our medium. It also supports the Amicus brief we filed with the AIAS supporting the EMA in this case. This case will likely have far reaching impact on the US Game Industry and the IGDA will be looking at this in more depth in the coming days. In the meantime join us in celebrating the strong support of our creative expression this ruling provides.

- The IGDA Board of Directors

Amazon’s clarification fails to address game developer concerns

The IGDA is pleased that Amazon has shown a willingness to clarify its distribution terms, so that all versions on the Amazon site are consistent. However, the majority of our concerns remain unaddressed.

Amazon is still reserving the right to pay developers just 20% of their minimum list price at any time, without notification or advance approval. Additionally, Amazon is still unilaterally preventing developers from ever making an exclusive promotional deal with another marketplace.

In summary, Amazon’s terms still enable it to steeply discount a game developer’s content without permission — a tactic Amazon could easily use to force game developers to absorb the cost for Amazon to compete with other appstores.

We are not impressed with Amazon’s recent gesture, nor is this matter the result of a misunderstanding. We believe that Amazon’s terms, as they currently stand, represent a threat to game developers.

We encourage everyone to join the conversation. Please make your feelings known directly to Amazon and through your network, blogs and websites.