(It’s official — I have been nominated and will be running for IGDA Board. Elections open soon, and that means the candidate statements go up on the IGDA website soon. Since my statement is done and submitted, I figured I would post it here. It’s based off a post I made here some months ago.)

“How will the IGDA tangibly benefit me as a developer?”

Prospective members ask this question time and time again. Often, we struggle to answer. Sometimes we mention one of our excellent Special Interest Groups to convince a developer to join, or we use IGDA events like the Leadership Forum and the Global Game Jam to show what the IGDA does for its community. Unfortunately, sometimes these groups and events alone fail to persuade potential IGDA members, and we lose the opportunity to expand our organization.

As an IGDA Board member, my number one priority will be to strengthen local chapters worldwide by making them a vital part of their local game development scene.

I’ve been an organizer of the Boston IGDA Chapter since 2006, and I became its president in April 2009. I’ve worked to grow the chapter, turning it into a force in the local community. When local developers ask me to describe the benefits of IGDA membership, I can respond with a list of tangible benefits provided by our chapter:

• A place for networking, with 100-200 people at our monthly meetings, grown from 30 people in 2005
• A monthly speaker on game development topics
• A news feed for relevant local events
• An active job board
• Community coordination around large-scale events (discounts to local conferences, placing our members on panel discussions, etc.)
• Political coordination around issues of game censorship legislation, tax credits, net neutrality
• A sense of belonging to a real community of local game developers

If every IGDA chapter worldwide could provide their members with a similar list of services, individual developers would immediately see the benefits that the IGDA brings them. Furthermore, they would see opportunities to volunteer on a local level, which would lead to greater member engagement with the IGDA.

Member engagement and communication on a chapter level are the foundation of the IGDA’s ability to advocate for game developers. Imagine if all of our chapters were strong; the IGDA could respond to hot-button QoL issues as they are raised by recommending that all of its chapters participate in a theme month, where the topic of discussion would be issues surrounding QoL. We could take notes from all the meetings worldwide and compile them on the IGDA Wiki. Such notes would be of value to the IGDA’s ongoing QoL efforts, giving the IGDA a better handle on where developers stand on the issue, and the meetings themselves would almost certainly cause volunteers to step forward and join our QoL initiatives.

I believe in the future of the IGDA — I’ve been a member since 2003 and it is obvious that we are doing more as an organization today than ever before. Yet there is much room for improvement, not just on the chapter level, but on issues of transparency, budget, and election process and policy. I’ll end this statement by encouraging you as a member to research each and every candidate on this page: it’s in your hands to elect the Board you want, so don’t throw away this opportunity to make a real difference.

Volunteer contributions:

• President, IGDA Boston Chapter, AKA Boston Post Mortem (2009-present)
• Coordinator, IGDA Boston Chapter, AKA Boston Post Mortem (2006-2009)
• Technology Co-Officer, Game Education SIG (2007-present)
• Member, Special Member Meeting Task Force (August 2009)

I noticed this morning that the Silicon Valley IGDA Chapter has worked out a sponsorship deal with a law firm which is providing four 30-minute pro bono consultation slots per month to members of the SV IGDA chapter. That’s a fantastic idea, and frankly one that I wish I’d thought of!

So kudos to Ann Burkett for securing a fantastic benefit for her local IGDA members, and for raising the bar for us all.

“How will the IGDA tangibly benefit me as a developer?”

Prospective members ask IGDA volunteers that question time and time again. Often, we struggle to answer. Sometimes we mention one of our excellent Special Interest Groups to convince a developer to join. Or we use IGDA events like the Leadership Forum and the Global Game Jam to show what the IGDA does for its community. Unfortunately, sometimes these groups and events alone fail to persuade potential IGDA members, and we lose the opportunity to expand our organization.

I am a chapter coordinator for Boston Post Mortem (the IGDA Boston chapter), so when local developers ask me to describe the benefits of IGDA membership, I can respond with a list of tangible benefits provided by our local chapter. The Boston Post Mortem gives its members:

• A place for networking (~180 people at our monthly meetings, most of whom are professional developers)
• A monthly speaker on game development topics
• A news feed for relevant local events
• An active job board
• Community coordination around large-scale events (discounts to local conferences, placing our members on panel discussions, etc.)
• Mobilization against, for example, game censorship legislation on the city/state level, and mobilization to pass legislation that would benefit our industry
• A sense of belonging to a real community of local game developers

I contend that if every local IGDA chapter worldwide could provide their members with a similar list of services, individual developers would immediately see how the IGDA benefits its members and join the organization.

The presence of active, thriving IGDA chapters all over the world would provide a way for developers to become more engaged in the IGDA’s activities. Developers involved with dynamic local chapters will have more incentive to participate in SIGs, committees, and other IGDA events. Active local chapters also allow the IGDA to communicate with its members more effectively. An email from a trusted local chapter coordinator about a new SIG or IGDA issue has a personal touch a newsletter from the IGDA Board lacks.

In addition, the increased member engagement and improved communication of an active chapter increases the IGDA’s ability to act as an advocate for game developers. The IGDA did a commendable job of resolving the EA Mythic credits controversy last year, but imagine a hypothetical situation where we had a network of strong chapters in place during that controversy. The IGDA could have recommended that all of its chapters participate in a theme month, where the topic of discussion at that month’s meeting would be issues surrounding credits in the game industry. We could have taken notes from all the meetings worldwide and compiled them on the IGDA Wiki. Such notes would have been invaluable to the IGDA Credit Standards Committee, and the meetings themselves would almost certainly have caused volunteers to step forward and join that committee. Perhaps this effort would have drawn attention to and catalyzed action around crediting issues in local communities.

If elected to the IGDA Board, I will make the growth of local IGDA chapters worldwide my primary issue. I will serve as a mentor for local chapter coordinators around the world. I will use my experience expanding and running the Boston chapter to help chapter coordinators meet their specific needs. I will work with chapter coordinators to develop a written guide to starting and maintaining an IGDA chapter. And I will use my position on the Board to ensure that relevant IGDA activities are communicated to local chapter coordinators, who can then relay that information to their membership as they see fit.